trey - all good points; i hadn't thought of chassis reinforcements as cumulative - but the increased "resistance" to flex seems logical.

our cars should have come with a STB - really does close the loop on the front suspension...

 

i've tried pushing/pulling on the richie stb and the car barely moves... i guess due to the position that's its mounted in, i have less leverage as opposed to what the vrt was set up.... it's fairly stiff with little to no deflection noticable...

 

I would think that if you had a strut bar that connected at 2 points on the car it would get the load from two points that flex (opposing sides of the car). If you had a strut tower bar that connected at 4 points as the VRT, it would receive load from 4 points, which would create a box. So I would think an equivalent test would be almost impossible, but the VRT bar would need to be twisted to verify its strength, and the Richie STB would need to be compressed from both ends to verify its strength. Isn't the main focus to not allow the struts to deviate from a completely upright position as possible?

 

i think the vrt would be slightly stronger esp the stage 2 reinforced one that looks like the dc sports huge bar in this pic

and 4 points are better than 2 but i've had a strut bar on my maxima and it was pretty stiff still and really tightened up the front end of a very loose car and usually most bars (no matter how cheap) dont flex and are strong enough to prolly lift the whole front end of a car or pull the car

 

Sorry, Richie,

There is a cheaper & stronger bar in town. $149

https://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-suspension/145552-has-anyone-come-across-strut-bar-before.html

 

^^^ rubbing the ac line (at least for sedan) looks like it might be much more of an issue with this bar than Richie's... at least from the looks of the pic – the mounting bracket is much thicker.

I posted that here rather than the link because the link is in coupe forum.

 

on that new fstb, they seemed to have removed the ac bracket on the driver side entirely

i got the ritchie, and it does make a big difference, fitment is also excellent

 

twinsnails' post from another thread

Thanks Richie for a great product. No issues installing it with the Greddy Turbo kit and the Kinetix intake manifold. I had the bar polished as well!

 

i wanna install mine now

 

wow nice picture.

 

I wish more people would review products as in depth and as honestly as Trey does. It's exactly what the site needs. He gives the detailed positives and negatives of each and every mod he installs. I'll admit I was pretty resistant to the idea that a strut bar would do much for these cars, but after reading Trey's review and also Jeff's, my opinion has changed. Thanks Trey.

 

Hopefully i'll have time this week to install mine and then i'll write up a review

 

thanks to richie and anh for helping me install the bar at the last chino hills gtg!

now for my two cents:

when i first bought the strut bar, it was intended to look cool only. i wasn't really buying it for the "performance" at all - nor was i expecting to notice any. from the reviews that i've read thus far, the bar does not make a night/day difference - so i wasn't hyped exactly hyped up about it.

the bar was initially installed on it's lowest setting, but it was still pushing the driver side of the hood up a bit. we turned the bar around and it fixed this. however, i still have ~1" of clearance between the bottom of the bar and the top of my plenum (i have MD's 5/16" spacer/no engine cover) so i plan to have the mounts dremeled down a bit to allow more room for adjustment.

in addition, i must have lost two of the washers so the bar was installed with only two. the next day i went to home depot and picked up some washers to put on. however, when i went to remove the nut it would not come off. the bolt had to be broken to get the nut off. i was surprised with how easily the bolt broke. it was shocking/disappointing. once i got the new bolts, i compared the four (two old ones & two new ones. i decided to replace both.). the two bolts that came with the STB were noticeably weaker/softer. so weak/soft that one of the guys could bend it with their hands.

also, the bar tended to move upward a little (as richie already pointed out to me) when we were putting the nut back on. therefore, we needed one guy to put his weight on that side of the bar while the other tightened it. by not doing so, the bar would creep upward a tad bit - just enough to push my hood up when i closed it.

anyway, as expected, there was no night/day difference with this mod for me. i'd spend more time on an actual review of how it performs, but i'd basically be repeating what others have already said. in short, even after having it installed on my car i could live/drive without it. but i'd prefer not to.

btw, my current suspension setup: tein basic coilovers w/ richie's STB

 

Good review hero.

You stated there isnt any obvious night/day difference. When you say this, you mean as in daily driving?

Did you really push the car a bit? Or was this statement directed toward daily driving?

I'm pretty sure the differences arent as obvious during normal driving. But I was hoping it was during hard driving.

Can you clarify?

Also, im guessing an engine cover with the 5/16 spacer is a no-go?

.