That washer is designed that way, so that it'll rest against the sway bar so you can tighten it, otherwise it would spin around. Whether its centered or not, as long as it tight, its good to go, and as for its effect on sway bar performance, once again, as long as its bolted up and tight, it plays no role other than a connection point.



"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a *****, but only enough blood to run one at a time."

 

Thanks a lot ducatiguy! I really appreciate all your help!

I just wasn't sure... When lowered my car, I loosened the wrong bolt (passenger side) then couldn't get it to match up to the same positioning as the driver side. When "tightened" the "L" bracket was close, but not touching the sway bar. In about a month or so, the suspension became noisy and bouncy. When I looked, the "L" bracket was now touching. The bolt still felt tight, but I guess it may not have been as much as it could be.

Since then, the bolt has been re-tightened, the "L" bracket has been somewhat re-centered and the suspension is working well again.

In summary, I was just wondering if there was a proper way to tighten that bolt and have the "L" bracket perfectly centered - just in case the suspension becomes noisy and bouncy again.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

 

first post- just wanted to share cuz yesterday I picked up the sways from Performance Nissan for $395.11 including tax, and installed them on my non-lowered 5AT black coupe earlier this afternoon. Took about 3 hours to install with the help of a friend (I'm mechanically retarded). Ducatiguy's right- the difference is pretty dramatic. I took a test run up the 110 freeway here in LA... with the new bars I can take the all the turns at +10 mph, possibly more if I really pushed it. Lots of fun and well worth every penny. Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

 

Thank you guys for the info, I'm getting the Nismo on monday and no, the car is stock for suspension,

 

Out of all the sway bars you can get, I haven't seen one that would not be better than the OEM bars. However, not all the known makers are forthright to comeout and admit the stiffness of their product vs oem. One thing should not be lost sight of and that's adjustability. Sway bars should be used to fine tune the suspension to get the car to behave like you want it. A bar set that is not adjustable locks you into that makers idea of what the the handling balance should be. Adjustability isn't just for people that would track their car, it's for anyone that is installing a mod where increased performance is the goal, you'll get more out of a setup that is dialed in to how you can best exploit it's abilities. That being said their are other bar set you can get that will allow you to dial out more understeer than the Nismo set can do. I have read about a Nismo 350Z floating around that has a R-tune rear bar to address this issue.

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

Do the nismo sway bars interfere with normal driving conditions, will the car feel tighter around streets all the time or only when pushed to the limit?

 

IMO, the ride is a little rougher/stiffer in general.. but only a little bit...

I can really feel a difference when I push it hard, or when I take any sharp turn/U-turn faster than usual.

 

how do you guys think the Nismo sways would be with the tein s-tech springs? I don't really want to lower too much so i may actually go with the H-tech. Question is, if i go with the lowering springs, would the nismo sways make enough difference in handling for me to say that it was money well spent? Thanks in advance for the feedback! peace- bobby

 

Since both versions of the Tein springs transfer a lot of roll stiffness to the front and would increase understeer the non adjustable Nismo bars would not allow you to tune that out. You would be better off with the Eibach bar set or any bar set that allows you to compensate. Even the Cusco bar set would allow you to set the front bar softer to make up for the softer rear Tein springs. Frankly, RSR springs would be much better if a mild drop is what you want (.6"), they don't alter the spring rate balance at all.

Here's what I mean about the Tein springs
Stock spring rates (Linear) F/R in lb/in
350Z and G35 coupe: 347/419

Tein H-tech for G35 Coupe (and sedan)
F/R Progressive spring rates listed rates are final rates
324/263

S-tech G35 coupe (and sedan)
358/274

S-tech front to rear spring rate balance to OEM balance
+3% front -33% rear (transfers 30% to front)

H-tech front to rear spring rate balance to OEM balance
-7% front -35% rear (28% transfer to front)

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

I may have missed something, but why do the Nismo bars list for "non-VDC" cars? Has this become a problem for you ducati, or anyone else? Unlike the Z, don't all G35's have VDC?

 

Sway bars - CANNOT and will NOT effect "the ride" of your G! They will NOT give you a stiffer or firmer ride - That is effected directly by your shocks, springs and wheels (tires to be specific).

They only aid in controlling BODY ROLL in and around turns.

And regarding the VDC questions, thats an easy one. Sway bars are designed to be used by people who know how to use them! They will not make your average driver a better driver. In fact most people who buy sway bays are often the ones you read about who've gone flying off exit ramps and smacked up their rides.

The problem becomes this, body roll, under steer and all that stuff we "performance enthusiast" talk about being a bad thing, is actually designed into the car by the manufacturer. These factor allow the driver to feel the limits of the car, and prevent he or she from pushing its limits.

Now by throwing on a set of sway bars, the car becomes much more neutral in and around turns, thus leading you to believe you can hit the turn harder and faster, but this only works if every aspect of the suspension system and the tires have been matched acordingly. Otherwise, its a lot easier to spin the car out now as your sense and what the car is doing become mixed. Your body feels the car holding, your steering is tight, the car seems level, so you push it, but the lack of give of maybe your stock suspension and or ability of your stock tires, wont hold, and its time to grab the "oh crap" handles....

Sway bars are more for people who know how to drive their car on track like condition, on the street. Someone who knows their cars boundaries and knows how and when to push them.

The WORST thing you can do is go out and buy a set of those adjustable sway bars, set them up on the highest setting, and then go out for a drive. Your cars gonna feel like an auto-x champion, but there's gonna come a time when you're gonna hit a turn and even though everythings gonna feel solid and strong, you're gonna go into a tail-whip type spin and loose it, and then you're gonna say - what happen?

This is why sway bars are NOT for everyone. The first thing I do when I get into my G, besides buckling up is the VDC goes off. I hate that stuff with a passion and if I could I would rip it out my car, but if you're one of those people who drive with it on all the time, then maybe you shouldnt be looking into sway bars. But if you want to get the most out of your G and really want to feel what the car can do, then by all means go for it! The VDC if anything will be activated earlier than normal, thus performing its duties better with sway bays, but like I said, you cant use sway bars to their max with any VDC system.

Oh and lastly, Nismo does say to get their whole "package" (sway bars, suspension and wheels), and that pretty much goes hand in hand with my explantion that a sway bar on its own will only work so good, but when used together with a well setup suspension and wheel combo, they do the job even better and only then will they give the driver the proper feedback he or she needs to better drive the car.



"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a *****, but only enough blood to run one at a time."

 

wow that was really informative...

My only prior experience with sway bars was with my 97 accord, it didn't have a rear sway bar to begin with, so I added an S/T rear bar on, and I loved it, the difference was so dramatic. Before then I pretty much knew the limits (albeit crappy... but I still loved that car) of the car since I owned it for the previous 6 years, so after the install I pretty much hit the gas on every turn as I pleased/felt was safe. Keep in mind I'm not that reckless- I've never slid or even come close to getting into an accident in the 10 years I've been driving. Then again, that was a FWD car, so that alone might explain a couple things...

I didn't know that there could be such a discrepancy between what I'm feeling and what the car was doing. I'll be sure to be a little more careful next time, or at least get a better feel for the car first before really pushing it (haven't had it that long). Last thing I want to do is get myself killed, or even worse, hurt someone else. I think I'll go to an empty parking lot tonite and turn off VDC and try it out... obviously I need a little practice. Wheeee....

Oh and I'd like to reiterate my previous post about the ride being stiffer after the install as being my honest opinion. I only know what the voices in my head tell me.

 

Good info in this thread. Anybody know how the Nismo sway stiffness compares to stock, Stillen, and maybe Cusco. For example, Stillen can be adjusted between 7 - 70% stiffer over stock. How does this compare to Nismo?

Last, do the stiffer bushings that come with the Nismo sways help much over stock bushings? Do Cusco and Stillen come with better bushings?

I have a 6MT sedan, will keep stock springs, and want about 25-35% stiffer sways.

 

Nismo does not publish stiffness rates of the bars to OEM stiffness. And we have no idea what the wall thickness is on those hollow bars. Only Hotchkis tell's us their wall thickness, but their web site also tells use how their bars stack up on stiffness to OEM. I have a hard time buying into claims of over 50% front bar stiffness from stillen and Hotchkis on their adjustable bar sets. The front end links are only so long as to reach to bolt into the holes that would have to be rather far away to leverage that kind of stiffness. But in the same breath, I would advise against using that kind of front stiffness anyhow. I love the Cusco bars I have, front bar is set 37% stiffer I wouldn't set it any higher even if I thought I could.

The Nismo's and Cusco's reuse the oem bushings. Hotchkis says they come with greaseable bushings, that sound's like poly urathane, but they don't say that in print. I don't know what the Eibach's come with if at all. Only the EVO350 bar set is known to come with poly urathane bushings. It should be noted that the EVO350 bars are by far the most popular bars amongest those that track and compeate their cars, no other bar comes close with that crowd.

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

The Nismos I got came with new firmer bushings...