for now im driving a totally stock 95.

now and then i enter in to some 'spirited driving'

i was told the best bang for my buck is a ypipe and a FSTB.
my thinking is make the car handle better, then make it go faster. i mean its not like our cars are slow stock.

anyway, poking around redlinemax.com and theres 2 choices of FTSB and a RSB and RSTB.

1. could a total car noob install one of these things?(FSTB, RSTB, RSB)
1a.if not how much to have a mechanic slap it on?
1b. why is this fstb so cheap.... $35? seems like a piece of junk
2. will i notice a differance with a FSTB(or FSTB + some other bar?)
3. catman titanium FSTB or 'polished FSTB'
4. Stillen Rear Strut Tower Brace $175.00 and Stillen Rear Sway Bar $245.00, do i want either and is it worth the money?

basically i dont know what im doing, give me some aim!

ps: i read the FAQ, all 3 items i mentioned seem to help according to that. so i just need some input from those who have them!

 

FSTB & RSTB will give you better steering response by reducing chassis flex. A FSTB will also decrease torque steer to a certain extent. Will do nothing for body roll.

RSB will eliminate a good portion of your body roll by stiffening the rear end of your suspension. Increased handling.

I have an Ebay FSTB and am happy with it ($30). My RSTB is from Courtesy Nissan and I like it as well ($90). My RSB is from ADDCO and it rocks ($120). I installed all of them either by myself or with the help of a friend. Easy stuff. If you want to spend big bucks on the "Brand Name" stuff then go for it. It just wasnt that important to me to have STILLEN or CATTMAN on something that most people wont see anyway.

IMO out of all the "bars" the RSB was the biggest bang for the buck. Half way through the 1st turn I took after the install my smile was from ear to ear.

Please note that after stiffening your chassis this much you do increase the chances of reaching the breaking point of your cars ability to stay on the road through a turn. There is much less warning if your car where to break loose from the pavement during a turn.

 

Did you read the Mods Sticky?

 

thanks for the input thats what i wanted to hear. personal experience.

though what you say there concerns me a tad... id prefer to not go flying off the road or into something with no warning that im pushing too hard..

have you experienced this yourself? any experience with it?

yeah.. i wanted some first hand experience.

 

I have experienced it ONCE. I was driving pretty stupidly trying to keep up with my friend's Prelude through a long turn. About half way though I slid like 5-10 feet sideways. I was going pretty fast for the turn I was taking. You really have to push it hard, but if it does go.....look out. All I did was let off the gas so the car could regain traction. Had I have been going 5 or 10mph faster I may not have been so lucky. Point learned: Dont try to hang with a modified 2 door sports car in the turns.

 

At least its not another Sea Foam thread.

 

A rsb will increase oversteer so letting off the gas will induce the spin. your arent makine any sence.




I have had ebay and stillen FSTB. the stillen is nothing but looks. RSTBs are just for looks also. A RSB is the only one that actually changes the cars ride. mostly for the worse. but it does reduce body roll.

 

Well it may not make sense, but I was in the car driving when it happened. Plus I said nothing about my car spinning, it slid to the side. Some times you have to take things for what they are. No offense intended. Its just been my general experience that when my car looses traction the best thing to do is let off the gas and naturally slow down. Be this hydroplaning or from taking a turn too fast.

 

now im really confused.. a RSB will reduce body roll but have a negative effect on ride? and the other 2 dont do anything?

youre the only one ive seen so far that has anything negative to say about these mods.

sidenote: for $35 should i just get that FSTB form redline? if i can install it my self then it cant do any harm..... right?

 

Its all going to be up to you. Read as much info as you can find on them and make a decision that YOU are happy with. Its your car, do what you gonna do.

 

in general, a strut bar is a strut bar is a strut bar - no need to get expensive unless you want looks. In my experience, an RSB will make your car handle and feel controlled in "spirited driving". however as was stated above, it will change the feel of steering in normal driving to where its not as smooth to just lightly turn the wheel during a turn when driving normally - its more something you have to experience to understand. also as stated above, it will decrease your margin of error in an extreme turn (in terms of spinning out) but you should never drive to that extreme on the road anyway. all in all - the fstb and the rstb will give you what your looking for for everyday driving; the rsb adds to that in controlled spirited driving. hope that makes sense. i plan on getting all three.

 

A RSTB and a FSTB make the maxima body more rigid. The more rigid the body is the better the car will handle. A RSB reduces body roll.

 

^ the red in your sig answers about 60% of posts here

 

lol - thus the red lettering.

 

o shiet im confused as well, so a RSB is bad if i want to corner and turn hard?

 

http://www.advanceautoparts.com/engl...0021001hs.html

Decent explaination of sway and strut bars. You can also goto this website
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question432.htm

 

Our Maximas understeer a lot. That means if you turn the wheel, the front wheels slide across the road and it just goes straight.

A RSB makes the car oversteer and slide. This gives the car better balance because it does away with understeer, but that means it'll oversteer some more too. If youy drive it right, it will corner much better, but if you're not careful, it'll spin on you.

I'd get the bar, it's A LOT of fun. Oversteer in a FWD car is easy to manage.

 

just because your car has less body roll does not mean it has more traction. i feel 1000x more confident with no RSB. I have not had mine installed for quite some time.

Read: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ight=rear+sway

 

I was certain about getting an RSB for my stock 98, but now i dont know if i should or not since some people say that its a lot better, and some say its worse.

 

me too... i dont know what to do.. ill start with at least the FSTB, and maybe a RSTB. the front is only $35 on redline, so ill grab that and find a cheap rear. (anyone know where i can get one?)

as for instalation.. how hard are these? i assume ill have to have the sway bar installed. how east/hard will the tower bars be for a total noob? it looks plug and play for the front, but the rear doesnt look as easy...

anyone with a rear tower bar, can you please post pics of how much trunk space is used by it.

 

a RSTB for a 4th gen is not cheap like a FSTB. Stillens is $200 or some crap,the other is the Courtesy and im not sure if they still make it. The best is to buy the 200sx front and rear strut bars and use the rear mounts with the front bar. Its the exact same as the Courtesy bar.

200sx bars hybrid:



Here is the 5th gen bar (from ebay) installed, BUT its not a direct fit since the mounts are too big. I drilled and bent them. Im not excited about it but whateva.



Basically dont bother with it.

 

so the 200sx fstb fits perfect for a rear strut bar on our cars?

 

i thought rstb really didnt do much at all..

from what ive learned if you really want to improve handling the bars are a good place to start but they arent even close to how much a good pair of lowering springs and shocks can do for your car handling wise. if you really want to get serious about having your max not handle so much like a boat then you need to get a hold of some spings and shocks. but lets not let this turn into another what springs should i get thread because Lord knows there is plenty of those. check the stickys or go here http://maxmods.dyndns.org/index.php?FrontPage

 

im wondering the same.. if so ill hop down to the junk yard and grab one

 

I just got a FSTB from Ebay. Its probably the best investment I made so far. The Car definetely feels more planted. I haven't explored other options like the RSB or RSTB but I can only see myself investing in shocks in springs as that is the best way to remove the unwanted floating Maximas feel.