I'm finding that most of the front strut tower bars are made from either steel, which will rust, or aluminm which is not that strong. I was wondering if the aluminum is as good as the steel since I live in NY and rust is my enemy?

 

Not much difference in either. Your engine is aluminum. Seems plenty strong to me?

 

^ +1

plus aluminum is lighter in weight. even under hard cornering i don't think the force on the fstb is enough to worry about.

 

The aluminum that strut bars are made of are plenty strong to resist the stretching force imposed upon them. The Cattman "titanium" bars are a complete waste of money.

 

aluminums now are 6061..which i think are aircraft grade aluminum. If airplanes use it with all the g-force imposed on it, i don't see it being a problem on cars.

 

Great I guess I'll put my order in. I was also wondering if a sway bar is a waste of money on my 02 Maxima since the rear axle is a solid, all metal, one piece design and not independent?

 

Don't bother putting one on. It does help reduce body roll, but it will also make your car more likely to spin out. Many members have crashed their cars, and posted about how the rear end slid and was difficult to recover.

 

RSB stiffens up your ride when coupled with the FSTB. IMO corner turn-ins are a lot quicker and the car doesn't have the lean it used to on mine. And its not a waste of money at all.

 

The rear end slid and was difficult to recover? With a FSTB installed? That doesn't sound right. And FSTB does not increase a car's tendency to oversteer. If anything, it would make the car understeer more than it already does in stock form. Even that isn't much of a concern, since an FSTB alone isn't going to make a dramatic change in handling. It make the front end feel stiffer, and I enjoy my FSTB, but it's not a huge difference over the stock setup.

DO NOT BUY THE MOST EXPENSIVE ONE YOU CAN FIND. Try to find an Otto bar or another inexpensive bar online. Ebay usually has some available for around $30 shipped to your door.

 

i've got the front and rear stillen bars (not sure what they're made of) and they work great... also the progress rear sway bar goes well with them my car handles like a dream!

 

you'll be fine with either one

 

WHAT!? How did you come up with this?

 

Did you happend to notice that I was responding to a question about the RSB?