I recently purchased a front strut ower brace for my 2000 Maxima SE. I got it off custommaxima.com The drivers side wont mount because of that brace that is welded to the side of the engine bay. My friend has an 01 Maxima and he bought one from stillen and they gave him the hardware to bypass that brace........I never got it.....was I supposd to??????Does anyone havethe same strut brace that has had the same problem???

 

Take the rings off of the bar, put the rings on at an angle. Then put the bar in place and tighten up everything.

 

Should I take off the stock rings that go around the studs on the top of the strut mount??

 

That's what I had to do with my 2000 SE, so yes.

 

You're welcome.

 

I also had a question, once I got my FSB on do the adjustment bolts have to be the same on each side, also the custom maxima fsb is really close to the engine is that how it should be, close as in looks like its touching

 

The bolts should be similar. As long as it doesn'y hit the motor, you should be fine. Make sure you test it in reverse as well. THat is where mine rubbed.

 

what did yall do to prevent the rub. i heard you can just put washers on to raise it a lil. i just put mine on tonight and i have a lil rub when i 1st start the car and when i turn her off...oh yeah and how tight did you guys torque the bolts down? is it bad to torque em till it can't tuen no more?

 

My I35 also rubs, mostly in reverse. Thoughts?

 

thought= you should have gotten the OTTO FSTB

 

By the way, How tight do you think the front strut bar should be. I tightened mine so I couldn't move it with my hands, drove it for a few hours taking turns, curves and straights. I then checked it and it was a tad bit loose but I really had to use some strenth to get it to move. Any specs on how it should be tightened?

 

i have that strut bar and didnt have any problems installing it, and it doesnt rub at all....as for how that one should be tightened, i believe they say 32-38lbs for the custommaxima one, and somewhat higher for the stillen one....i dont have a torque wrench so i paid attention to how tight the bolts were when i took them off, and re-tightened them accordingly putting them back on...or you could go borrow a torque wrench from a friend or a local shop to use for a hot minute since the install is very quick...

 

My Custom Maxima looks like its about 2 pieces of thick printer paper away from rubbing I'll take some pics so you guys can compare it, also I had someone my rsb on and it looks ugly from the back like the 2 brackets that are holding in on are running on the back of the bar when I thought they are supposed to be placed on the sides of the bar as in the shorter sections of the bar.

If any one can take some pics of their custom maxima front strut bar and progress rear sway bar it would help thanks.

David Lott
02 SE

 

I have the custom maxima bar in my 03 GLE and had no problems installing it. I tightened the tower nuts to 50 ft-lbs and the bar-to-bracket hardware to 30. I adjusted the bolts evenly and slightly wide so I had to work hard to get it in the brackets. You should tighten the lock nuts so that you can not twist the bar with your hands. Like you I received no hardware to accommodate that brace you mention. I don't think it's an issue for 02-03 cars. It does seem close to the intake but will never bump it. There is one area of the black plastic intake plumbing that might just barely bump it, but there is plenty of 'give' in the rubber connectors so it will not hurt anything if it does bump.

Regarding the RSB, I agree the mounting brackets on the non-stillen versions are kind of ugly. I noticed them one day on a 4th gen and decided to pay the extra cash for the stillen. BTW... You won't feel the RSB in the steering wheel like the FSTB, but man, when you attack an on/off ramp for the first time, the difference is huge!!! It's still GLE soft, but the car remains flat. The body doesn't have all those squishy, bobbing, uncontrolled movements it used to have.

 

I have the custom maxima front strut bar on a 2003 maxima and its not even close to toching anything on my engine. I can take a photo or two if you want to see how it sits!!!

 

Heres some pics of the strut bar installed! It was tough to get a good photo as I am in a sling after having shoulder surgury. But as far as clearance, I have at least 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch clearance all the way across.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...72_33_full.jpg[/IMG]

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...72_34_full.jpg

 

YIKES!

The manual recommends a MAXIMUM tightening of like 44ft/lbs.

I tightened mine to 40ft/lbs... others do between 32 and 35ft/lbs.

50? TOO MUCH! You CAN cause damage or otherwise by having them too tight!

 

Because custom maxima didn't include ANY installation instructions, I found the stillen version somewhere on the org. It seemed logical that the torque value would not vary that much between mfgs since you are simply attaching a flat bracket to the tower. I don't recall exactly what the torque range was in those instructions but 50 was well within the range. I think 58 ft-lbs was the upper limit. At any rate, I did put my torque wrench on a few nuts before I removed them to test the current torque and even 60 ft-lbs did not budge the nuts. I'm very sure they are not too tight.

correction... used instructions from greghome.com 43-58 ft-lbs.

 

it sux though, how do i know if its too tight. i dont have a torque wrench to find out. i just turned it till i can't turn it no more..i don't know anyone that had any probs with it and have it just as tight

 

If you are into cars, a $50 torque wrench is a good investment.

 

i might have to get one then....and the custom maxima should be high 30's?

 

Just do a little adjusting and it should fit.

It should not be that big of a problem.