I had my 97 at the tire shop on the rack. The guy asks "why do you have a sway bar on there? I said "it came with the car". He said "it is not doing anything it is not tied in, basically it is just piggy backing the beam. you have a solid axle, you do not need this, it is doing nothing"


is he right? has anyone thought about this?

 

Have you never felt a max before and after the swaybar? It is a night and day difference. The tire shop guy was incorrect when he said it does nothing.

 

its a add on to the beam, stiffening up the rear suspension. The way its designed is completely beneficial.

for my stillen rsb, the brackets are connected from the side rails with only the bar itself trailing underneath the beam

 

find a new shop

 

problem: maxima's handling sux

solution: add a RSB

result: maxima handles better

therefore he's wrong.

 

mechanics think they are god just cuz they work with cars. they think anything they say is the absolutle truth.

ask him if he has ever installed a RSB on a car owned by him and experienced the difference, if no then he needs to STFU

 

The sway bar restricts the motion and the angle of the trailing arms relative to the beam. It keeps the beam more level and resists body roll a lot more than the stock suspension.

 

maybe hes never owned a car with multilink suspension (i think thats what ours is called?). I havn't put mine on yet, its AWEFUL without it.

 

I was told the same thing by Jeff at Maximum Tuning. He basically told me that it was nothing more then a BRACE not a real sway bar. A REAL sway bar is connected to the chasis and bends with the movement of the suspension trying move the other wheel up in relation to the other wheels movement.

 

but thats the thing.. it IS connected to the chassis via the trailing arms. The arms flex during cornering and the sway bar restricts that motion by stiffening up the torsion between the two trailing arms, aiding the beam

 

The guy's a moron. Swaybars absolutely effect handling, and to a great extent. It's really just another form of a spring that compensates for certain lateral movements...actually, it's kind of difficult to explain by typing.

 

What I meant was, it is not physically welded to the chasis therefore its not a true sway BAR. Its more of a BRACE. There is not doubt that it helps but not in the way people think.

 

My swaybar on my IRS 3-gen is not welded to the chassis

 

i was about to say that also. Most sway bars i've seen, including the front sway bar in our cars are bolted on rather than welded. Its engineered as something replaceable, so it wouldn't be feasible to weld it onto the frame.

 

I was trying to see where it connects while doing the Koni install. I didnt really crawl in there though. Where is the 3rd gens stock one connected?

 

donald, don't u remember us staring at it for 8 hours while doing your rear suspension?

its connected by this huge bolt holding in the sway bar to the rear struts (the one we were about to cut off )

 

hahaha, how can I forget that, OMG that was a nightmare. Thanks again for the help I still have your blanket thingy in my garage, I have not used it.

I just did a Koni/Intrax install on Ricky's 92 it seemed like wed busted it out so much faster and that included modifying the fronts for the Konis. It took 5 hours, but I think with air tools it would of been 2 hours. It really isnt that bad to me now. Just breaking suspension bolts is always a pain.

 

glad to know you finally found it. now its only time for you to show up to some meets

 

the way i see it, the rear axle can move independently on both sides. the way the swaybar works is it resists the motion between left and right. your mechanic is used to seeing swaybars on independent suspensions. look at the front sway design in comparison to the aftermarket rear. anyway, the rear swaybar makes a huge difference. the car is more willing to be rotated, more roll stiffness, and less understeer.

 

those meets are too far out of the way for me, as far as Monrovia and those regions and we all know I will not go to RPM again.

wanna roll to C-Bad this weekend?

 

1. mustangs, camaros, chevelles, etc. - they ALL have a live rear axle (essentially, a beam), and a rear sway bar. out sway bars connect to the trailint arms and the beam, and it does provide resistance to the rear suspension's movement. it does help - my car's handling now is pretty neutral, it doesnt understeer as much. playing with the distance at which the clams are secured to the beam (dont think trailing arms matter here) will affect under/over steer. mine are set about 3-4 inches away from each end of the bar.

2. welding the sway bar to the chassis or any suspention component will effectivery nullify its effectiveness, since it wouldnt be able to move. it will become a brace.

 

I have finals this week up to saturday, so i'll have to see.

and about the sway bar-
I know it works because i used to have a 2k1 auto with fstb and rsb only and it takes turns differently than my 2k1 5spd with sprints/agx and fstb. I take the same mountain roads to get to my house

 

where at in San Bernadino and OC?

 

find a new shop indeed >>>>>>>>

 

I have been going to this shop for around 3 years. I am pretty sure he knows his stuff, he has lots of connections in the import world and has a SWEET S14B.

 

I remember Jeff telling me the samething, but since I already bought it, he installed it, and my car still rides better with it than stock!

 

Has this guy ever seen sway bars on full sized pickups? I guess they do nothing too.

The only opinion I have of using the rear swaybar on a lowered Max is that the springs will reduce a lot of the sway so adding a swaybar will make the suspension really stiff through cornering. Some poeple here have had scares with using them on a drop.

 

Yeah, it can scare someone who is not trained or used to oversteer. Yes, I said oversteer folks. You have the right drop combined with the right RSB bar size and placement, and your a$$ end will be so tight that it can actually skip out from under you in sharper turns (most times it's sharp turns with severe uneven sections...also known as bumps ) But I think oversteer in a FWD car is easier to modulate than in a RWD car for the simple fact that it's VERY hard to spin out in FWD vs. RWD (which is quite fun, actually). OK, I'm blabbering now, so I'll shut up...

 

i agree with you, I almost never can get my car to swing its tail in the dry, primarily due to the tire sidewall flex (15 inch honeycombs, baby!)

 

If you're also running on stock suspension it's going to be even harder... the guys above are talking about cars with modded suspension. Unless you have RWD you really need a much stiffer rear suspension to induce oversteer.

 

Do you guys know what oversteer is? real oversteer?

I would like to see a Maxima that oversteers, it would be one hell of a set up.

 

Umm, bump induced oversteer is not my idea of fun. Nor is having a suspension so stiff that it will do this on any regular basis.

 

AGX 3/6 and progress

 

Ah, good for you....

....but on 15" honeycombs?

 

I did a 270* a month or two ago, Eibach/Tokico/BlehmCo RSTB/ST RSB/Otto FSTB and ****ty tires on stock wheels. I was going too fast on too tight of a turn, lost it, over corrected and bam it happened (it was also the first time driving the car with the new suspension on all 4 corners sooo....). Aside from that just taking sharp turns and such I really dont have an over steer problem. The rearend tracks very very well, but theres only been a few times (normally when its wet out) where the rear end has actually slid out, and even then it really wasn't anything to really think about). I'm sure with some larger wheels and better tires there will be a huge improvement

Having my current setup makes the car soooo much easier to drive in the twistys compared to stock, not to mention fun (btw, sure you cant make the meet this Saturday )

 

for sho'! i think my car will look off the hook on 17x8 Borbet Type E, but i'd probably bend them pretty quickly. NYC streets are ravaged by potholes, and i just cant crawl over them at a snail's pace.