What is the use for a rear strut tower bar. is it necessary at all, because i have a FSTB and a RSB waiting in my garage, and i was wondering if i should buy a rear strut tower bar ?

Thanks

 

You dont need it, its there mostly for looks. You will be fine with the front bar and rear sway bar.

 

Most people will tell you that it doesn't do any good, but I installed one about a year ago, and I was plesently suprised in the difference that it made.

Not nearly as "worth it" as the FSTB or RSB, but if you've got the money, it will help handling out a little.

 

Doesn't our 'Multi-Link Suspension' do the same exact thing?

 

hey medicsonic are those the 17 maxima rims? Got a side pic

 

A buddy at work has a rsb & fstb. He added the rstb. What we noticed was, he lost traction on aggressive curves. When he would remove it, traction improved. I guess it kept the car too rigid. You need a little roll. The other thing might be. He needs to upgrade his shocks & springs. That he hasn't done yet.

 

I belive the Multi-link crap keeps the rear wheels acting as one more or less. The RSTB connectes the top of the struts in the back.

Maybe I'm the only one, but the RSTB did make a noticable ( although small ) difference in the stiffness of the rear of the car.

Just my two cents.

 

the multilink beam doesn't do the same thing as the rstb. the multilink beam is a type if non-independent rear suspension, with the theory that the rear wheels will stay perpendicular to the ground, thereby maximizng the contact patch of the tires.

the rstb stiffens the chassis or the body/frame of the car. i couldn't really feel the back one too much after i put it in. i could however feel the front one noticbly. the rear of the car is already boxed together by the package shelf/metal on the seat backs. on a car that uses struts, the upper strut mounts do indeed take on a lot of stress and therefore the stb helps more than on cars with control arms/wishbone type suspensions. the front one makes much more of a pronounced difference as the closest thing holding the strut towers steady is the firewall. also, you're in a front wheel drive car where the engine and a majority of the weight of the car sit in the front part of the car.

if your car handles worse, that means that the suspension tuning of the car is incorrect and not complementing the chassis. typically, the stiffer the chassis the better, as it lets the suspension do it's job. you want the suspension to be able to control the movement of the wheel by giving it a solid platform to work from, not the wheel to control the movement of the body by flex, thereby making the suspension just something inbetween.

the stiffer body will result in less rattles and creakes...

-V