Friend was helping me install my struts/axle and peeked under my car. He asked me "whats this huge bar under here? You dont have independent suspension? hahahaha"

He drives a 3 series, rwd, so im guessing he's never seen this setup before.

 

Nah, according to some it was better than the independent rear in the 3rd gens...

Plus that doesn't matter. As your car sits now you could give his 3 series a serious run for his money. 00VI, headers, and exhaust and it wouldn't be a contest (on a closed course obviously).

 

Don't be so sure about it...he didn't exactly say what 3-series it was.

S

 

For sure....though had you said 335...well completely different story.

 

hmm i tried googling a 3 series and it only shows 4 inline...his is a 6. He has it modded like a M3 with body kit and stuff. Now that I think about it, i could be wrong. Its deffinetely NOT a M3 though.

 

If it's a 325i you'll kill it.

If it's a 328i then you'll still romp on it (especially with VI lol) top end on those cars is...well there is none.

As far as ride/handling goes, yes BMWs are better. There are ways to greatly improve the handling on your Maxima for sure though.

 

I noticed on my car the rear wheels at the top seemed tilted in ... and when they did the wheel alignment it confirmed it wasn't my eyes - but because the postive camber is even on both sides is this just a symptom of being lowered?

 

It doesn't matter if he has an 318 E30 or a E92 M3, his suspension, both front and rear, is vastly superior to anything in a Maxima. You may be able to beat him in a drag race, but that's where your advantage ends. Our suspension design is laughable from a performance standpoint.

 

Lowering a beam setup does not change camber, that's fixed by design. The tilt inwards, which is negative camber, not positive, is correct.

 

The rear beam is not a bad design. If bent to zero toe it will out handle lots of cars.

 

But finding one of the two people in the country who can do it properly makes that more difficult than it should be

 

And he said that he doesn't have the tools to do the 5th/5.5 gens either

 

I know

 

whats it bent to at stock?

 

About 1-2mm toe in.

 

I now own a '99 i30 with RSB, FSTB and an e90 330i w/ sport package. Granted the sport package helps with handling a lot, but there is absolutely no way my i30 even comes close to the handling on the 330i. Amazingly, there's people out there that still modify to the M3 suspension which is even better handling. As far as acceleration, a 4th gen is slower then new 328i/330i. These cars average low 6s (6MT) in 0-60MPH and maybe varies .3ish seconds based on the driver and car.

 

my 02 with RSB, FSTB, springs, struts and wheel spacers outhandles my friends e30 318 with every poly bushing, springs, struts, sway bars, etc. Not to mention that in a straight line its like 3-4s faster through the 1/4 mile (318s are reeeaaal slow, he figures it might make it through the 1/4 mile in a day or so, lol). Its all in the way that you set the car up and drive it. and to answer the question, the rear beam is NOT a bad thing. Its not as good as the IRS cars on uneven road, but the rear beam is effective on smooth pavement

 

Somehow I really doubt that.

 

doubt freely

 

Even with the amount of suspension mods I had on my maxima, it felt great...but now in my GTP with a few mods I will outhandle my maxima easily

For what its worth, my maxima had:

Illumina/Eibach's
SE Front Sway Bar
RSB
FSTB
RSTB
Fender Braces
LTB Stage 1 (turned into stage 2 custom)
SFC (Welded and attached to the LTB)
ES Bushings everywhere
5zigen FN01R-C's 17x9's with 255 wide tires
Front Camber plates

 

Its not a bad design, the stock toe in holds it back a bit but that can be changed. On a smooth road its a great design as long as its well designed, zero camber change ftw but ride quality does suffer over bumpy road. IRS does have the ability to change the roll center, and I have no idea how that applies to a solid axle. I've driven an older now 318i and can honestly say my car easy will out handle it despite the weight advange . But its not near as much fun to through around, I wouldnt even try it with my max nor does it ride nearly as nice as the bmw.