My new 02' was recently lowered with eibach pro-kit springs and tokico blue struts which made a huge improvement in handling, but not nearly as nice as my boyfriends 01' which was lowered 10 years ago with tokico illumina struts and progress springs. His car is slightly lower than mine and also has a strut brace and sway bar. My car handles good around bends but his car handles flawlessly with pretty much no body roll. I plan to get a sway bar and strut brace eventually($$), do you guys think this will fix my problem or do you think my suspension set up is part of the problem? Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks,
Ashley

 

The Rear (Anti)Sway Bar makes a huge difference. It really levels the car. The front strut bar stiffens the front but the overall impact is much less noticeable. I have both (Stillen), but if I only could have one I would definitely go for the Rear Sway Bar.

 

I don't believe there's any measurable difference between the two bodies. It all comes down to the suspension, additional stiffening (sway and strut bars).

Wheels and tires also make a difference. If he has light weight wheels and better tires that will be noticeable. Especially the tires.

Proper alignment is also very important after a drop. I have the same springs/struts as you and had to have the rear aligned by a specialty shop. I believe they bent or bowed the rear beam to get it to align properly. It sounds extreme but it wasn't that expensive. Not every shop will be up for it though.

Also also, he's probably upgraded the mounts and bushings with solid urethane pieces over the years. Control and trailing arm bushings, motor mounts, sway bar mounts etc... will make a HUGE difference in handling over the 12+ year old rubber pieces that are probably in your car.

 

Well the 02 does have more power.

More power without too much upgrades in other spaces would mean it wouldn't handle as well.

 

The RSB will be the difference maker for your 02. Do that first and go from there.

 

Thanks guys, rear sway bar is on my xmas list

 

Hi I just did a rear sway bar in my 2003 GLE (on rears) and it's a day and night difference in driving the car,picked it up at my local junkyard from a wrecked Maxima!

 

Okay, so...

Coilovers
235/45/16 or 17 or 225/50/16 or 17.
Control arm bushings
Chassis brace
Rear spacers
and apparently g35 18" rims now.
I think my motor mounts are fine but the tranny mount might be a little off.
is this it?

 

my Addco rear sway bar just came in yesterday after waiting about a month since they were out of stock, they seem to be the only one still making an RSB for our cars. I haven't had a chance to change my throw out bearing so it may be another week or 2 before I am able to test it out.

I have front and rear polyurethane bushings installed, Megan racing springs, Gabriel Ultra struts and 245/40-18 tires on 18x8 350Z touring wheels. the car handles pretty good on the highway, hopefully adding the RSB will get rid of the body roll.

I read in another thread that 2000 and 2001 Maxima's have stiffer suspension than 2002 and 2003 so I have 2000 struts on my 02. they were pretty cheap on Rockauto.com...