I just installed the addco rear sway bar. I did feel it perform on the turns...but I guess I expected more because of the hipe that I have been hearing about it. Also, the install was so difficult. The "[" bolt didn't fit very well on the trailing arm. I had to bend it a little to fit. The "U" bolt was a perfect it. Other than the "[" bolt install was easy. As I was installing the bar...I was looking to see how the suspension of the maxima was setup. After that I was wondering how and why the RSB would work? The reason is because everything down there is WELDED...the beam and the trailing arm. Does this mean that the RSB just tightens up the suppension in case there are stress caused by turns? Thanks all.

 

A RSB will not really help you take a corner at all. The purpose of it is to reduce "sway", a good test to feel the true gains of a RSB is to do a fast lane change and then change right back into the lane you just changed out of. By doing this test you will notice the cars rear ended stays right were you want it, not swaying about wildly. f you try this the gains will be very noticable. A RSB makes any sudden movement far more controlable.

 

what suspension mods will help in cornering the most?

 

-Springs
-struts/shocks
-FSTB

 

Huh....when I installed my Addco RSB I would feel a significant difference in body roll. Keep in mind the type of tires you have also affect cornering.

The RSB works best if you already have the FSTB. And if you lower the car, it will handle even better...although it still won't outhandle a 5-series with sport package.

 

I also think that the RSB helps a decent amount in smooth cornering, but not as dramatic as I had thought. I havent' tried any jerky movement/transitions as in switching lanes like emax95 said.

I believe you get most out of the RSB when alot of weight transfer happens, hard corners, as a good amount of it is being directed to the outside rear instead of sitting on the outside front. Also in the case of quick lane maneuvers, emax95 example, as this weight transfer happens quicker.

 

FSTB will not help you in cornering.

 

People just don't learn.

 

i felt a nice difference with the RSB..it was my first mod and i loved it..addco is good for the price..worth it..

sabe

 

rsb does help in cornering. on a FE/FWD car like the maxima the rsb balances out understeer tendencies to help the car rotate better. That said, you probably wouldn't notice much unless you drive your car really hard or at the circuit. I've heard that the Maxima 5spd on the track is just as fast as the Type-R. Never tried it, my girlfriend wouldn't let me do that to her Maxima (auto)

 

I'd like to toss my .02 out there... the first mod I ever did was the FSTB, which is what I heard was going to make the most significant difference for $$ spent on handling initially. I feel this was incorrect. Although I did notice a slight difference, the car still had way too much understeer and was still very sloppy in corners. I put a Stillen RSB on about 5 months ago, and immediately noticed a very large difference in my car's understeer. With no throttle in a hard corner, my car with the RSB actually completely lost it's understeer at times, and I even notice some oversteer. With the throttle on through a corner, especially wide open throttle, I still get understeer, but not near as bad as without the RSB. With the significant reduction in understeer, this allows the rear struts to finally give the front struts a brake from doing all the work for once. All this is with an otherwise completely stock SE suspension. This is going to change soon, too though.

 

The function of any sway bar is to link both the left and right sides of the suspension together. As the left is pushed down, it pushes down on the right (and vice versa).

On making a turn, one side of the suspension tries to compress, and the other extend. The sway bar links both sides and reduces this tendency... making the car handle flatter around curves.

The Addco bar CAN be adjusted by moving the "[" (side) brackets further or closer to the end of the bar. The closer to the end of the bar they are moved, the less effect the bar has. Why is this???

The bar functions by being twisted. It's easier to twist the bar by handling it by the ends, rather than close to the bars axis of rotation. In other words, the car has more leverage in bending the bar when the "[" brackets (side bushings) are close to the ends. The more leverage the car has in the bending the bar, the easier it bends, and the less effective it is.

My Addco bar works best (stock suspension) with the "[" bracket and bushing about an inch from the end of the bar. A stiffer suspension (and larger front bar) would be able to take advantage of a stiffer adjustment of the rear bar. Making the rear bar too stiff just makes the front end sway and act weird in the turns.

Good Luck!

 

Thats funny because Motor trend tested a SMX maxima with and with out the RSB and the max that did not have the RSB went faster threw the slalom and it pulled more G's in the corners. So again, a RSB will not help cornering at all. BTW MT said "wow ever" the maxima is a lot easier to drive fast with the RSB.

 

A modded maxima will EASALY out handle a 5-series with the sport's package. I have no idea were you get that info from. Please don't make me pull out the car mag's . Also in terms of raw #'s {Skid pad & Slalom} I believe a stock 95 5spd max out handeled a 5-series with the Sports package. If you recall, the 95 SE maxima had killer times in terms of handaling #'s, equal to or better then a lot of sport cars.

 

What a rear stabilizer bar does (or a firmer rear springs and shocks for that matter) is to focus more lateral weight transfer towards the rear of the car and more specifically more to the rear tires. This means that less weight transfer is absorbed by the front tires and therefore since the front tires are stressed to a lower degree, better turn-in and better overall cornering speed can be obtained.

As for the case with the Stillen Maxima vs. stock Maxima in Motor Trend, I am not surprised that the Stillen version didn't gain any peak speed in the turns. Because that car has progressive rate Eibach springs. With the Eibachs, the front end firms up faster than the rear which then brings the balance more towards understeer again.

With stiff springs and struts, they don't tend to compress very easily -- so then those compression forces are transmitted to the next softest link in the chain which is the tires themselves. Once this concept is visualized, then it becomes easier to understand why stiffening the rear makes more oversteer and stiffening the front makes more understeer.