Stiffer bar on front more understeer. Stiffer bar on rear less understeer until your goes rear neutral and too stiff goes to oversteer.

By stiffening the front YOU diminish the effect of the rear bar.

Taking the car as a whole WITH new adjustable front and rear bars, you actually have 10 or more adjustments to the roll stiffness RATIO.

Usually too much for non experts to test and optimize that why I say just add the rear bar and get that correct then play with a front bar IF YOU MUST.

The front tires are the most overload [static weight] plus turning load so the front tires wash out FIRST.........why a larger front bar is less than optimum.

With a stiffer than oem front bar you need STRONGER than oem front tires. Tires with a stiffer sidewall AND a higher than oem LOAD INDEX RATING.

A good rule of thumb is to half the load index increase........a 20% stiffer front bar needs TIRES that are 10% STIFFER and STRONGER to achieve the exact same slip angle for the bar increase in load shift. TRICKY depending on tire brand and size design..........but something to think about!

Why the oem front bar is too stiff to begin with to create a measure of understeer for oem safety and bad drivers.

 

By the book your right of course. However, as you are very well aware of any course on betterment has to bare out in testing and actual application. Since you are not a owner and you don't look into where owners actually make these things better your going to continue to work the book angle vs real results that are beyond the base principles. Two and a half years ago, I might have said the same thing for that matter. However, my own testing totally does not agree with your thinking that the oem bar is too stiff and that the only the rear bar should be made stiffer. I even tried it the whole oem front bar/aftermarket rear bar thing, ate up the inside's of the front tires in a hurry as the front tires contact patches rolled over and played dead. The secret to this platform is to make the front tires do thier work across the contact patch. In the strongest measure possible I recommend that owner's start with a front and rear adjustable bar setup with the settings set to med/med. If the owner's preference takes them to a soft/med settings after that, so be it.

 

I 2nd your opinion. From putting on frt/rear sways on my old maxima and putting the Hotchkis sways on my stock G35 sedan, both cars benefited from a stiffer front bar. The front bar really reduced the front end dive when you enter a corner. It was much more pronounced on my front heavy fwd maxima though. I think the front can benefit from a stiffer bar "to a point". Pass that point and yes, the front will understeer too much. The Hotchkis settings are:

Stiffness settings for the front/rear sways: Front - Rate Increase over stock +9%,+32%,+63%
Rear - Increase over stock +54%,+92%,+146%

It appears that the rear does have much more room for a stiffer bar than the front but the front does indeed benefit even from a mild 9% increase. The great thing about these bars is the adjustability

 

ate up the inside's of the front tires in a hurry as the front tires contact patches rolled over and played dead. The secret to this platform is to make the front tires do thier work across the contact patch.

Well of course they did, why I pointed out the front tires are the weak link with stiffer rear bars. The stiffer rear bar decreases the rear traction and the load stiffs forward [the body sway forces don't disappear they just get shifted] so you need STRONGER FRONT TIRES. You need front tires with a load index increase higher than the added rear roll stiffness.

Stiffening the front bar does the converse you need stronger rear tires.

If you stiffen the rear bar by 30% say the overall rear stiffness goes up by 7-10%..........you need a front tire that is 10-15% stiffer/stronger [at the same inflation psi] to maintain the slip angles.

Most times you can get by with just raising the front inflation pressure but 4-5 psi until you get to 45 psi but you must use a tire tread pyrometer to adjust the camber gain/static camber preload to equalize the tread contact patch temperature.

 

One of my rear end links started creaking a couple of weeks ago. I initially thought that it was just the bushings that needed to be re-greased, but after doing this, and re-installing, the noise remained.

It's the top part of the end link that attaches to the chassis that creaks. I tried to spray lube on it, but nothing penetrates the rubber covering.

So I was wondering, is it worthwhile just replacing the end links with the '05 ones, or are the NISMO adjustable end links worth the significant extra $$$? Any one know a good source and price for the NISMO ones? I was told that Performance Nissan had them, but I haven't yet e-mailed them for prices.

TIA

 

If you're still under warranty just have Infiniti replace with the 05's... Not familiar with the NISMO version but I got the 05, so has DaveO and several others that I've read about out here... I haven’t had any problems since having mine replaced.

 

Unfortunately, I just passed my 4 year mark. So I'm doubtful that they'd cover them for me.

They actually started creaking just before the anniversary, but I thought it was the bushings, so I waited until I got under there to lube them.

Are the '05s noticeably beefier than the previous versions?

 

Honestly I have not looked at them side by side but I have been told by two reliable sources that they are indeed beefier.

 

Just opinion i know people have different ones but i want to know from personal experience what people perfer... Hotchkis or Stillen bars.

1) I have been reading and i hear that the hotchkis ones are good but u need to get a collar on them and on the hotchkis do u need Polyeurethane Bushings?

2) And w/ the Stillen do u need the Polyeurethane Bushings too?

3) Are the bushings that important?

4) My friend is selling me a pair of Hotchkis bars for $200 is that a good deal and is it worth to get that or new ones of either Hotchkis or Stillen.

5) W/ the offmarket sway bars since the car is lighter do u feel any difference in speed around corners or in general at all?

6) And.... is front soft/ rear med, the most perfered and maybe best setting for the bars? (coupe)

Lots of questions i know but im just trying to figure out from experience since im new to my coupe. Thanx ahead of time for all the help and maybe more can benefit from my many questions off of one post. Thanx again.

 

Thank you.. Helped alot

 

1) I have had my hotchkis for 4 months already without the collars. I have not noticed any movement on the bar.

2) I don't think they come with the bushings, U have to use the OEM ones.

3) For a long run yes.

4) Not a bad deal, but u can get them cheaper if u look around. (got mine 140 brand new in the box)

5) The car is flatter during hard turns and the general feel is better.

6) U have to play around with the settings and find out which one suits u best. I found that stff/medium is the best for my driving style.

 

Remember, now the Hotchkis sways come with collars welded in the front and the rear. But you have to make sure of that and ask the vendor, some are still selling old stock!

 

I picked up the Progress sway bars and they feel great on my sedan, but the rear sway bar sits on the exhaust. Does anyone else have this problem with whatever sway bar?

 

dofu: my stillen sways have a bend for my oem exhaust to pass underneath

 

just a follow up on my rear endlinks. i put in about another 3k miles from the last post about my rattling endlinks. Im going to swap mine out this week as im starting to hear it rattling over 20mph over rough roads.

im going to set it back at med on the rear for now. so, front-soft/rear-med.
the car is a tad too loose on the rear at the firm setting. although fun to
drive like that, it's hard to keep the tail from oversteering at times.

running 245/35/19 and 275/35/19 S03's.