ive done searches so please dont flame but how effective is the bar on the max. i have spring/strut combo now and still there is great lean and crazy understeer. i just want to get some feed back pos/neg about the bar like will it create uncontrollable oversteer.(wife drives car with my son). i had a acura type r and was an avid auto-xer and always had great handeling cars but they werent family cars and my type r would oversteer on a puddle of cat ****. so i dont want that for a family car. i njust want the lean taken out. they dont make a full front an rear sway bar kit that would beef up the front oem and then give adjustability in rear. i even added a little camber in the front to stop all the understeer. it helped alittle but not enough. if anyone could help me out that would be great. thanks

 

About all you can do is add a front strut tower brace, new springs and shocks and a rear sway bar. A rear strut tower brace actually doesn't do much on our cars. I've found that really nothing I've changed has given me noticable under or oversteer. The biggest thing I did to help the handling was ditching the stock Potenza's in favor of Pilot Sports. If I were you, I'd get the Pilots before anything else because if the tires don't grip, the rest doesn't matter at all.

 

very true. stock tires were ditched. does the front strut bar do anything noticable?the strut towers arent that far from the firewall to begin with? again thanks for the help

 

After I installed my RSB I noticed a big difference in roll or lack thereof. After I installed my FSTB it made it feel even a little tighter, especially up front. It didn't make a huge difference as it can only reduce chassic flex so much. Not to mention the fact that you can get one to your door from ebay for less than $35. Have you thought about SFCs or LTBs?

 

Ditto for the FSTB. Best bang for the buck. I noticed a big difference on my '03. The front seems to be planted way better now.

 

A quality, properly installed FSTB makes a significant difference in Maximas when you drive at the limit. LTB might also help.

What you can do with your front sway bar is get some stiffer bushings or, if you have a GXE or GLE, you could get an SE bar which is a little thicker.

BTW:What shocks/springs do you have?

 

You have it backwards, sir.

FSTB makes about the smallest difference of any "suspesion" mods out there. Good bang for the buck (since they're cheap), but not a big difference. The LTB, on the other hand, is MUCH more noticeable.

RSB makes a significant difference in roll, and DOES add oversteer. The LTB counteracts the RSB and returns the car to a more neutral handling.

 

so the irish the max with the rear sway bar produces that much oversteer? maybe i pass on that and just get upper and lower braces. i dont want the wife to take the max and get into a snap oversteer situation. thanks for the feedback

 

Not really, especially combined with a FSTB and/or LTB. To be honest, with the way the stock suspension is set up I don't think your tail will swing during daily spirited driving if you have just a RSB and 'good' tires.

 

i have maxspeeds and tokico blues

 

not "much"...here's my take (assuming running stock tire pressures)

stock: some understeer
+FSTB: some understeer (marginal change)
+RSTB: some understeer (marginal, if any, change)
+RSB: some Oversteer (not excessive)
+LTB stage 1 or 2: slight understeer or balanced

Ideal setup for street, IMO, is RSB + FSTB + Stage I LTB - particularly if using stock springs/struts. For track, things change...

I ran an RSB only for several months (with stock suspension) and though you can feel the oversteer a bit, I never had a problem with snap oversteer.

not sure what you're referring to by "lower braces" though....LTB?


btw, I have run with ALL of the above setups, plus different spring and strut settings and cambers.....

 

sorry meant as the strutbars and ltb

 

As far as I understand, LTB helps keep proper camber while cornering, which means it improves traction in the front... How exactly can LTB contribute to understeer?

 

if you have the adjustable one from stillen, adjust it for more oversteer...

 

get the RSb it makes a big difference. I got the Stillen knockof f and it works lkike magic. The FSTB is more for the looks than anything else.....

 

I am in agreement with the bulk of the folks on the org site, the FSB makes a slight difference in the vehicle's handling when cornering agressively, but the RSB makes a huge difference.

I have an 03 MAX SE and recently added both to my vehicle. I started by adding the FSB, Otto Brand, which is nicely made and not too pricey. Takes about 20 minutes to install and it helps with chassis flex, in the front end, but is not a radical difference, although the car seems to track better in the corners, without as much lean. I added the Stillen RSB and I thought it made a huge difference. It takes out most of the lean in the rear of the vehicle, which improves handling immensely. I think the combination of the two has been a big improvement in overall handling. Next on the list is a slight drop in the suspension, I plan on adding H Techs and Illuminas when I can put together the cash, hopefully in the next couple of months.

 

i recently removed my rsb just to see how the car felt without it. i added the rsb before i did springs and struts (maxspeeds and kyb gr-2) so i wanted to feel the difference. only extremely sharp lane changes did i notice any difference and i expected it to be much worse than it was. i realize not all manuevers can be calculated enough to keep the chassis on par with the turn but i have found with my style of driving, it suits better with it off. i also forgot how heavy my addco bar was not including the hardware.