i have two questions. first off i installed my front strut bar today (ebay) and now i notice when i turn the wheels hard the car lifts up on whatever side im turning towards! is this normal, it never did it before?

also, i didnt really notice any difference with the dang thing on. i feel nothing. going around turns seemed the same and nothing felt better. maybe i installed it wrong? i dont see how you could install such a simple thing wrong but has anyone else had similar experiences? thanks

-todd

 

I remember reading somewhere that if you install it backwards, (meaning that you put the left side of the strut bar on the right strut tower and visa versa) that it will not affect the suspension. Try re-installing it the other way (Spin it 180 degrees) and see it you feel a difference. Have you tried to feel a difference at higher speeds? Like 70+?

 

Yeah, try flipping it around. If you have a camera, post a pic and let us see if you did some thing wrong on it. I noticed a BIG difference with mine on even at normal speeds.

 

mecconable has a pic of his old max with his FSTB installed backwardZ on his cardomain. if yours look like his, please swap it.

 

My ebay strut bar was my very first mod, and god makes a difference.

 

Yeah I noticed a big difference too. Also does anyone remember, can't you adjust it?

 

ok thanks for the input. i just took it out and went about 70 and felt no difference. even around turns it seems like nothing has changed. i just took some pictures of the strut, so maybe you guys can see if i did anything wrong?!? thanks again for the help
-todd

 

yeah i never really felt a BIG difference either........just a minor small one. but i did feel a HUGE difference when i put on my rear sway bar. i highly recommend getting a rear sway bar

 

try violently turning the car back and forth with the "warming up the tires routine" you see at races. and accelerating out of the turns. then can you possibly see a difference. that is exactly how my installation looks like. one way you can test it is to do the "violent turning" with and without the strutbar. and you can feel a slight difference with less chassis flex cuz thats all it does. with upgraded suspension and all you can feel a very nice difference.
i think it is adjustable. but adjustability with the point taht it is basically pushing the two parts away from each other to stiffen the chassis. if its not correctly adjusted, it wont do its job.

 

Lotsa people had fstb as their first mod and it made a huge diff. But once u pack on the major suspension players, like springs, the effects of fstb are less noticable.

Anyways, try taking a right hand corner at 20-25mph. You should be able to hang it with the fstb. FTSB shows itself in initial turn in. Once you're in the turn and exiting, I doubt you can tell much diff. It's also great for transitions, like a left-right combo curve.
Also, I noticed w/fstb, when understeering, the front end "plows" whereas stock, it will "drift".
Good luck
Jae

 

mine made no difference. u can't install it wrong left to right, meaing spinning it 180 degrees won't make a difference, you had it right. some people dont feel a big difference, i didnt, no biggie. if you want to feel a difference get ur whole suspension done and ditch the fstb

 

Ditto!

 

MaximaTodd, The FSTB is not supposed to correct body roll. That is what you need a Rear Sway Bar for. The FSTB keeps the struts from having "sideways" travel. If you will notice (I notice at lower speeds, but really at all of them) when you really get on the gas, the steering wheel seems to want to go left to right and left to right. It is just bouncing around too much. The struts in the towers on the front are traveling sideways(which is not their purpose, but a byproduct of driving) instead of just up and down, which is their purpose. When you put the FSTB on, you should be able to feel a little less of this "sideways" travel of the struts in the front end. Not too noticeable at first, but very nice, and just overall more stiff and steady.

By the way, you have it installed correctly. You cannot put it on but one way. The holed are such(being a triangle) that the brackets will not fit on but one side.

To adjust it, just take one of the brackets off from the bar, and turn the bar so that it expands. Then, put the bracket back on it, and it will bet pushing out on the strut towers. It gives them more structural rigidity.

 

In 90% of handling manuvers you will not feel the effects of an FSTB (or RSB, for that matter). It is only at the edges of the stock handling characteristics that you will feel differences, and even then it should be gradual, so you will not really notice it. What you will notice is that you can turn more sharply with less "give" in the corners. An RSB will balance this by making you stay more level, thus keeping things more stable overall.

Like I said, most differences are felt at the edges of the handling limits, not in normal driving. I notice it most on highway onramps.

BTW- see all of my handling mods in my sig. I went RSB, then FSTB, then springs/struts.

 

thanks for all the input. i was probably just expecting too much out of it! im going to get tokico illuminas struts with h&r springs this month or next month, then i will probably get the RSB. that should help a bit. thanks again for the help.

 

No prob, man. Sounds like a good plan.