Thanks, Eric . . . Merry Christmas.

 

yep u too.. mm gona give the G a good wash and wax.. finally haha man i needed this break

 

I have a positive experience too, but I'm running softest Front and medium rear.

 

My understanding is that with the 2005 sport tuned suspension, the front swaybar is ~18% stiffer and the rear is about the same as the '03-'04.

Hypothetically speaking, if you put a pair of 2005 sport tuned sway bars on an '03-'04 coupe with OEM springs and wheels, you would introduce more understeer.

However, with that being said, the spring rates are 314 front/427 rear on the sport tuned coupe. The '03-'04 spring rates are 314 front/342 rear. So that is an increase of 25% stiffness in the rear springs. I suspect that is to compensate for the stiffer front swaybar. If you consider the swaybar stiffness and spring stiffness increases, essentially the 2005 sport tuned suspension has increased the stiffness 18% in the front, 25% in the rear. I guess, that would even it out to about neutral-to-oversteer.

On an '03-'04 coupe, the Stillen stiffness settings are:

Front and Rear
Soft: +7%
Med: +51%
Stiff: +70%

Given that stiffer swaybar that the sport tuned already has, I believe the Stillen settings compared to the '05 sport tuned are:

Front
Soft: -9%
Med: +28%
Stiff: +44%

Rear
Soft: 7%
Med: 51%
Stiff: 70%

If you set the front to soft, it would be only 7% stiffer than an '03-'04. Its actually 9% softer than the OEM sport tuned sway bar. So the softest setting is "no good".

If you set them med front/med rear, it would be 51% stiffer front and 51% stiffer rear on an '03-'04. On an '05 sport tuned, my guess is that it would be 28% stiffer front, 51% stiffer rear when compared to the OEM '05 sways. That coupled with the stiffer rear springs, probably makes the car tend to oversteer a bit. You may feel that the rear is sliding out too easily.

So to remedy the situation, you can either stiffen the front more or soften the rear. Which brings you to the next problem. If you stiffen the front too much your front will slide out prematurely in turns.

If it were me, I would to get the Stillens to match up to the OEM sport tuned as closely as possible. Which I believe was what was attempted in the beginning, by trying to match the holes.

I would set the rear on the softest setting (because the springs are already so stiff). This would make the rear ~7% stiffer than OEM sport tuned. The problem is in the front. The softest setting is too soft, 10% softer than the OEM sport tuned. If you set it to med it is too stiff, ~27% stiffer than OEM sport tuned. Your front end may slide when taking corners hard (which is safer I guess). This is a bit of a dilemma. Almost makes me want to go invest in TEIN flex and an EDFC after seening Randys_G tear up the track and pass me twice, but that's another story.

However, remember the Stillen bars has half settings (making it five-way adjustable). For the front bar, you can put the left hole on medium and the right hole on soft. This will give you a medium-soft setting. I believe it to be ~8% stiffer than OEM sport tuned.

So if you put it on medium-soft front and soft rear, that would be about ~8% stiffer front, ~7% stiffer rear. Theoretically, it would be about the same as OEM sport tuned. So the oversteer/understeer characteristics should be about the same. Then go do this https://g35driver.com/forum/showpost...75&postcount=3

Then you can either incrementally increase the stiffness of both front and rear(to get less body roll). Or increase the stiffness of the rear (to get more oversteer). Or increase the stiffness of the front (to get more understeer). If you ever get aftermarket wheels, tires, or springs, you may have to adjust your swaybars again to get the handling that you want.

Personally, I have my front on the softest setting and the rear on the medium-stiff setting. Medium on the rear for me was still to much understeer. Stiffest in the rear was making it difficult to handle in the rain. So medium-stiff was the way to go for my setup.

 

I installed my Stillen sways 2 days ago... I have a 2005 6MT sedan (with sport suspension, obviously). Stock tires/wheels/suspension.

You guys crack me up - Stillen can be pricey, but usually make good quality stuff. Just because the diameter is the same, doesn't mean the material isn't stiffer. It's possible to use a different alloy, produce a thinner (lighter) bar, and it still be stiffer. It's a win-win... better materials, lighter weight. True, for 2005, the OEM front sway bar was stiffened up a bit... but still was too geared for "understeer" in my opinion - I still got a lot of body lean in corners.

Stillen made the bars in the same diameter so that the stock mounting/bushings could be used. I set mine at med/med.... and am VERY pleased. This setup introduced hardly any additional harshness to the ride of the vehicle, and I notice less body roll in normal turning conditions. But when pushed to the limit, the real difference is felt - it's night and day. You won't feel the difference in handling until you get near the limit... that's when the additional stiffness really comes into play. That understeer is no more... the front tracks and the rear tucks in and follows it around the curve... If you can't feel a difference at med/med... you aren't pushing the vehicle hard enough.

I am going to try soft/medium in a few days, after I get used to the current med/med setting and will post up my experience from that. Might get additional front bite, but will also rotate the rear around easier.... so it may not be so great. I really like the balanced nature that the current med/med provides. Lots of high-speed sweepers where I live... Not to mention that "neutral balanced" in dry conditions can quickly turn into "easy oversteer" in rainy conditions... I want balanced handling with a slight tendency for understeer, since I am most concerned with street use, not tracking.

Also, when VDC is on... I notice I can corner harder before the slip light comes on... interesting.

I am very pleased with this upgrade... they perform exactly as I would have hoped - better handling, but not a harsher ride.

 

Firefox,

Wow . . . You said a mouth full. After having had spoken to another local member, yesterday . . . I think your view points maybe right on the money. In any event, thanks for your input . . . Gotta love this place!

 

wow, thanks for the MUCH needed detailed clarification FIREFOX!

That is why I didn't go with Soft in the Front yet. I have tokico D-Specs, Eibach Prokits and WIDE a** rims and tires, 9.5 fronts and 10.5 rears. I have them MED/MED and I was thinking of making the rear Stiffer and go from there. Well it's been raining on and off so I haven't really gotten a chance to rip thru some corners yet. I have dones some minor testing last night when it was dry.

 

Enjoy your break! My son is home on his Winter break from UNLV. Gotta love it when the he comes home.

Relax, have fun and give your G a good detailing. From what I've seen your G is coming up great!

 

Disco -

Since you have wider rear tires, you should theoretically have more traction in the rear, and could use a stiffer setting for the rear sway than what other may find appropriate. Maybe try med in the front, and med/hard (half-setting) in the rear.

 

I had mine installed a day after they arrived and have mine set on Med/Med, I can tell the difference instantly, that being said I have an 5AT so no sport suspension for me but after it stops raining I may give the rear a stiff setting and see what it does.

 

+1 . . .

 

good write up firefox.

 

Thanks for all the input.

Won't the "half-settings" make the car unbalanced left - right? Making it stiffer on one side as opposed to the other? Or is that just the way Stillen designed them?

How do I use the Half-Setting on the REAR? Left side side MED and right side HARD or the other way around?

 

I don't think it matters, but I have the driver's side on MED and the passenger side on HARD without any problems (knock on wood).

After going through all the trouble of putting my car on jack stands to change the settings, I found that it was much easier to just do it while the car was on the ground. The rear takes 3 minutes to change, I haven't tried the front yet.

For the rear, you just lay on your back, reach in there, and find that bolt. It's pretty space constrainted, let the exhaust cool down first so that you don't burn yourself (in case you just ran at the track and you need to play with the settings). I found that it is somewhat difficult to jump from soft to hard while it's on the ground, but jumping one hole (med to hard) is pretty easy.

The problem with doing it this method is that my torque wrench will not fit under the car while the car is on the ground. Therefore, I just hand tightened the rear bolts with a normal socket wrench. I think the spec is 40ft-lbs? You can get a good feel for what 40ft-lbs feels like.

The only other comment that I feel obligated to say is that someone once said that adjustable length end links are needed for these half settings. I've heard that the car may sit a little funny, one side higher than the other. A set of these end links can be had for $150. http://performancenissanparts.com/ca...oducts_id=2099.

Here is the thread where it it was mentioned (using the 2 other settings out of the 5). https://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-suspension/77291-broken-end-link-need-help-asap.html

Personally, I haven't used these adjustable end links and I haven't had any problems with one side being higher than the other, only time will tell. I figure if an end link breaks, I can just replace it with a stock one for ~$13 instead of $150.

 

I second Firefox 's comments.

As far as people getting aftermarket sways and put soft front and hard rear - be very careful! In my experience and speaking with fellow VQ owners, such setting could cause a snap oversteer that makes for a very dangerous situation on the road. Case in point, I have Hotchkis sway bars. Specs:

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

At medium/medium setting (which I currently have), the sways make the vehicle handle much more neutral without having snap oversteer kicking in. Such setting transfers 60% stiffness to the rear end of the vehicle. Now if someone had set front soft and rear hard setting, you will be transfering 137% vehicle stiffness to the rear - YOU WILL HAVE SNAP OVERSTEER!

Take a close look at this thread for further information.
https://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-suspension/55776-sway-bar-summary.html