i just ordered my RSB and RSTB from stillen today nad i wanted to know how much more the RSTB will improve my handling along with the RSB that i hear wonders about! if anyone has this combination please let me know what i will expect im hoping some bad *** cornering! esp with my 245/45/17's, springs and FSTB!

 

From what i know and personal expereince in other cars the rstb don't do much the rsb is the good one.

 

oh well i oredered it i guess i will see when it gets here! it should do something

 

Why wouldn't a rstb help the rear-end-beam hop?

Granted its the movement of one wheel by the other, but would a rstb help keep the rear-end in line more?

Someone help me out here. I want an answer (no, my *back* wants an answer) that doesn't include the words "stiffer springs and shocks."

 

I have a rsb/fstb and don't think I would bother with a rstb (at least not before springs). I hear that it works best with long sweeping corners. It would be the last component I would put on but sure it helps reduce any rear roll and complete a suspension mod setup.

 

I never said it din't do anything. It's a conterversal subject some like it some don't. Im just one that don't. IN some cars it works others it don't ive never been in a max with one just other cars. For 200 bucks i'd rather have a smaller pulley. like a nice 2 inch pulley hahahahaha

 

A strut tower brace is intended to stiffen the chassis against lateral/torsional displacement (caused by suspension loads) by tying the two towers together. It's most beneficial in cases where the towers are part of the structure that directly affects wheel camber, like up front on most cars (including the Max) and in the rear of many cars (but not the Max). All a rstb will do on a Max is stiffen the chassis slightly - not a bad thing in itself, though not likely to make much difference outside of an autocross course. Since rear wheel camber is determined by the stiffness of the beam "axle", stiffening the spring/shock attachment points cannot improve rear wheel grip.

I haven't experienced the "hop" that you mentioned, but strut tower flexibility is not the first thing that I would blame. Other things like the overall stiffness of the lateral locating link (including the effects of the bushings), rear suspension frequency (aggravated by shocks going soft) and rear axle steer effects are more likely causes.

Norm

 

well thats good to know but this is my last suspension mod besides the koni 5-way adjustables! so i think it will help out with the combination of springs, fstb, rsb, and rstb and soon to come the konis! so oh well i spend 200 where i want to if it helps good if not i have a rstb and u dont! it will be here on thursday! cant wait!

 

Accelerate on a wide sweeper, with a expansion joint. The rear end will "step-out" a bit.

I'm surprised you haven't experienced this. It's a major complaint of any beam/solid axle car. (GM's in my experience.) Have you had an IRS on all your previous cars?

I'm pretty sure it is caused by the movement of one wheel as it hits the bump, transferred to the other wheel 'cause of the solid axle, aggrevated by the lateral forces on the wheels. Stiffer shocks/springs will transfer less of the movement from one wheel to the other, but I don't want to do that.

Seems that a RSTB would keep the rear end in line more, but I wanted to see if anyone had any real experience with it.

 

IRS on 2 of them, RWD axle on the rest. The Malibu in my sig (and the compact RWD car before that) benefitted from some suspension mods and wider rims/tires and isn't bad unless I'm cracking the whip on a LOT of horses at the same time.

When cornering, as soon as you lose much (theoretically any) vertical load at a tire contact patch you gain some slip angle. As you note, with any beam axle, both tires will lose some grip. At the rear that's an oversteer effect.

The rear antiroll bar will probably help more by limiting the rotations of the axle during a one-wheel bump.

There's another factor - how much rear axle roll steer exists. This is an unavoidable consequence of the arcs that the axle ends of the longitudinal control arms must follow. It's possible that the inside rear wheel, being more lightly loaded than the outer wheel, rises further in response to the same bump. This is even more likely with progressive rate springs, since the inside wheel drops into the softer portion of spring travel. That will change the orientation of the axle in plan view and hence alter the rear wheel steer angle. Given that Nissan's design philosophy on rear wheel steer is to add a little understeer with increasing roll, greater bump motions on the inside wheel will actually tend to reduce this roll understeer. From the driver's seat this will also feel like oversteer.

Norm

 

Y2KevSE has RSTB so contact him if you need more info..i think he said it didn't do much...he did it to complete that suspension package...FSTB,RSTB,RSB...hehe