I see people paying what I think are outrageous prices for a front strut bar like the richie bar. What makes one of these more expensive bars so much better than something generic on ebay? Could I just get the strut bar from a 350z to save money?

 

So you're aware, the bars from the Z cars won't fit the G35! It took at least
three years for someone to come out with a bar for the G, I believe Stillen was the last. The cost of these bars depends on what name is applied and
what they're made of. Richies bar is the only one that will fit my G due to
my 1/2" spacer. If you don't want to go the spacer route (and lose the ability
to make more HP) there's a lot of bars that are not adjustable. My choice
of course is the Richie bar!

 

You think the Richie strut bar is expensive? LOL!

It is among the cheapest strut bars as far as prices goes. In fact, it was the first affordable strut bar for many. Prior to the release of the Richie strut bar, only the ARC and VRT strut bars were available - both of which will run you $500+.

As far as what makes the ARC bar expensive - the titanium alloy material and ARC name. And as far as VRT's brace (now Relentless Autosports) is concerned - it is among the more rare braces. It has a unique design, atypical to the ARC, Richie/NRG, Stillen, and CRC Motorsports bar. It is not mass produced, and as a result has a higher cost. The material for it isn't cheap, either.

The 350z strut bars will not fit the G35.

 

All of the above mentioned bars have been tried and tested.

The Richie Strut Bar is one of the most costs effective ones on the market.

The generic units on ebay may not fit properly and/or require some alterations.

 

^^ but are you saying Stillen is not as good as ARC because of the material it's made out of? Does the titanium alloy actually make a noticable difference over the Stillen brace?

 

It's difficult to measure how well strut bars perform as everyone will offer their opinion only. However, a titanium alloy is less vulnerable to flex than alulminum. I have yet to hear of an ARC bar bend, but I have heard of the Richie/NRG, Stillen, and CRC Motorsports bars bending under harsh driving conditions at the track. But obviously not everyone is going to drive their cars this hard, so the above mentioned bars will typically suffice for the daily driver enthusiast. I have the Richie strut bar and am very happy with it. So don't think that I am bashing his, or any other aluminum, strut bar. Also, just because I haven't heard of an ARC bar bend yet doesn't mean it's not possible.

Equally, or more, importantly is the design of the bar - IMO. All the strut bars mention in this post share a similar design. The Relentless Autosports bar, although much more costly, has a unique design. In a purely first impression POV, the Relentless Autosports bar looks to be quite "solid."

 

random question.. just thought i'd post it here since this is a thread about strut bars.. is it necessary to jack the car and take the wheel off the lessen the tension of the strut or is there a way to bolt it on directly with the car sitting on it's wheels?

 

I don't know anyone that has jacked up the car and/or taken the wheels off to install a strut bar on this car...

 

that's what i thought till i saw some random DIY thread with pictures and he did this extensive description with taking off the wheels and moving stuff around.. im like WTF?

 

It may make it easier to put the actual bar itself (not the mounts) on, but is unnecessary IMO.

 

buy my brand new Richie strut bar....

 

This might be slightly off topic... but ....

What bars fit with the factory engine cover on a sedan? I like the look of the stillen one but I'd like to keep the cover if possible.

 

Richie strut bar and the NRG Strut bar

 

+1

The material is only part of the determining factor on how rigid the bar is. Is it a single wall, single chamber bar? Dual chamber or more? I'd take a flat, wide dual chamber aluminum bar over a titanium bar... one piece or at least an adjustable would be nice too... And sorry if I'm using the wrong words for what all this is called.

Another thing to look out for when you're looking for a good quality bar is the mounts. I've had a DC titanium for a different car, and the mounts were flexible enough for me to bend with my fingers. Some ebay bars have plastic mounts... needless to say, those do not last.

 

I can't see where taking the wheels of would help at all. Especially if you are jacking up one side at a time, that be strange indeed.

Basically there would be two options.
1: Make sure the car is on level ground, correct tire pressure on all tires and do the mount.
2: With a block under the front cross member, slightly jack the front end up until the struts are totally extended (wheels just about to leave the ground) to 'unload' the suspension. This way however, you would have to carefully make sure that both sides of the car are equally spaced from the ground as to avoid 'tweaking/twisting' the unibody before mounting the bar. The advantage (in theory) is that when you 'unload' the suspension and mount the bar it ends up 'preloaded' when the car is sitting at rest. The only real way to know if this method could help would be to carefully measure the distance between the strut towers when it's 'at rest' then do the jacking and measure again. Really hard to do with just a tape measure though. You need a straight bar with sliding points on it.

Why would someone 'preload' the bar and which cars flex enough to matter would be the question I suppose? Now this is all theoretical, but if one 'needs' a bar and knows how the G feels both without then 'with' it, those are the people that surely would notice as well as appreciate the difference between a 'preloaded' one and not.