sway bars....
 

okay guys, i'm looking towards my next mod. i'm going to get an intake system from K&N, just need to wait for them to produce the final version.

but i was wondering about the sway bars. i'm looking at the Stillen version and the Hotchkis version.

which one? i mean they both look to be very good.

I would get the stillen especially if you keep stock suspension.

can you please elaborate on the reason to go with Stillen if i decide to keep stock suspension? so if i'm going after a new suspension kit, hotchkis then?

cusco the whole way for me... JIC coils + cusco sways / struts + gt spec chassis bracing

I haven't tried either of them, but If I had to pick between the two I would pick the Hotchkis simply because they have three adjustment settings in the rear and Stillen only has two judging by the photos on their website.

Personally, I will wait a bit longer until someone comes out with an adjustable front sway bar.

Yea... like whiteline :)

I have hotchkis, I ordered before stillen came out with theirs. It just looked better to me, and it gives more info about the stiffness. lol I said stiffness.

I hope Whiteline makes stuff for the 370Z! I love their products.

Lets call whiteline :) I would be interested. Had them in my STI

^^^ +1

i googled whiteline. they are in Australia?

wished they were local so maybe i can give them my car for a week and get some deals on the sways.

They are in Australia but they have a main US distributor. Just like how Volk is in Japan type of thing. I am not sure if the US distributor has the ability to R&D parts for Whiteline, but I have already sent out an email to them :).

hehe maybe they do have something in the works already.

what other companies makes good sway bars?

370Z was released in Australia on May 1st so they might have something in the works soon.

If I have time before I drop my car off I will remove the Hotchkis bars. They and the Eibachs were not part of the deal. I won't bother with the effort to remove the Eibachs.

The Hotchkis bars seemed to be a good product.

I think the car suspension and handling as it is stock was engineered to perform a certain way and when you start altering it the whole handling dynamic starts to change depending on how extensive you go about it..once you add this or that it makes something else the weak link or a shortcoming..

so when I say if you keep stock suspension im saying the stillen seems to have the least difference from stock though still stiffer than other manufacturers...so you get the bump in performance without going overboard in having to buy more things to fix it..although the same could be said of the nismo sways as well since they were made for a slight increase in handling.

Sway bars do not change handling dynamics as long as you keep the ratio of front to back stiffness the same - you run into issues when you change only the rear to be stiffer (oversteer) or the front (understeer)... The important thing they do is keep your car flat through turns when normally the suspension would encourage body roll

so should we try to keep the stiffness the same on both of the bars? or should the Z have different stiffness in the back and front for optimal handling performance?

The front bar is stiffer than the rear by design.

Bars are all about balancing the chassis... The Z seems pretty neutral to begin with but could probably use a smidge more rear bar.. Seems Stillen (and Hotchkis I would assume since I haven't seen their bar rates) have done therir homework on this already with the rear bar (at it's softest) a modest % stiffer than their uprated front bar. You can dial in more oversteer if you like by going to their stiffer settings (of the 3) on the rear. Caution though...This might be good for drifting and street tricks, but too much oversteer can get you in trouble fast if you're not an experienced driver, particularly in the rain.

^ truer words have seldom been spoken - thats how my Evo X met its demise - all it took was a little more oversteer than i was used to...

Alan, before you dissappear into Porsche-world, I'd like to know how your negotiations went down with Nissan when you said you wanted to return it, but you had already made some mods... was that straight-forward ? did you use local lemon laws ? did they resist ? etc... thanks

Re sway bars, I've got the Stillen set on... they are not stiff enough for me, if you look at this pic, you can see that the car is still rolling heavily in front and rear... fine for street, and fine for my casual track days... but if you compete, will prob want more

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/bodyroll.jpg

and here are a couple pics of the stillen bars

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...vis370Z015.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...vis370Z021.jpg

Two holes on each side... I think that means three possible positions, right ?

Ha ha i hope you are joking... Im pretty sure you use the same hole as in... same hole both sides...

people use asymmetric sway bar settings all the time... i've never done it, but it's done plenty i understand

here's a discussion on it http://www.whiteline.com.au/articles...metric_adj.pdf

When getting swaybars, a few things to consider is whether you want hollow or sold bars, the level of adjustment you desire, then price and fitment.

Whiteline typically makes solid bars at a decent price. They should be similar to Cusco bars, but at a lower price point. Another good bar to consider are progress bars.

With Stillen versus Hotchkis, I don't think you can go wrong with either.

If it were me though, I'd get coilovers or shocks/springs to begin with, then decide what the car needed from there. Another thing to consider is whether the bars will fit an aftermarket exhaust if you decide to get one.

Only two positions. The two holes are to allow adjustment of the sway bar. The hole closest to the bar is the stiffest setting, this is the Stillen rear bar. The Stillen front bar is not adjustable.

I seem to remember a certain fav mechanic of mine telling me "that rear Stillen bar you got has three settings, I put it on the stiffest setting" ;) btw, coilovers arrived today... will drop those off next week

eibach will be coming out with there sways soon

Hotchkis is probably cheaper & lighter than the Stillen set. But IMO, I'd wait a little while longer, like someone said someone else will make an improved set eventually.

Cusco and or whiteline - if you are listening - go make me some sways!! ill buy both haha

Just to update if you're still looking. The hotchkis sway bars make a noticeable difference in the handling. A good cheap mod that will give you a little more confidence in the car.

Ok... so many things in this thread. The Stillen front bar is 29% stiffer than stock. The rear is 3 way adjustable from 37-70% stiffer than stock.

The stock front sway bar in the 370z is pretty close to optimal for agressive street use, but the rear sway bar is just too soft for aggressive street driving or track use. The soft rear bar keeps the car understeering though and going to a stiffer rear bar will start getting you oversteer, which is bad for novice racers.

I have the Stillen bars with coil overs that are set up way stiffer than stock, but a little too soft for racing. I have the rear stillen on the stiffest setting and the mix is outstanding for agressive street driving. With readjustment of the shocks, it would be good for track days, but I would lose a couple of seconds per lap if it were a gutted track car because the Stillen's are still a little too soft for hard core racing..... except that a track car will be lighter and make the current design closer to ideal in a lighter car.

With -2.5 camber rear, -2.0 camber front with stock Re050A's and the rear Stillen bar at it's stiffest setting, the oversteer in low gear at full throttle is still liveable. Try full throttle in low gear in a Mustang, Camaro, Corvette or Viper and you'll be doing doughnuts. My last car was C6 Corvette with Z51 suspension and you could powerslide it through every corner (with -1.6 camber). I had traction control shut me down right after apex at 50 mph in 3rd gear on 305 width RE050A's. The rear end on the 370z really hooks up, partly due to it's -2.2 degree camber in the stock setting.

Anyways, the reason I posted at this particular time is that the Stillen bars are on sale in May for $285 and they work well for agressive street/occasional track use.

Cheers!

-Phim

Can you explain what aggressive street use is?

Driving hard enough to bring your tires up to temperature and then driving fast enough to make the car oversteer or understeer using good form, IE smooth inputs, single apexing corners, etc. Similar to what you would do on a track, but for a short burst at a particular section of road when you have reasonable control, like no traffic around, no watching eyes and clean road surface.

Cheers!

-Phim

Ha ha Love the disclaimers lol

Yes, I always observe those disclaimed conditions on the street as well ;)

I'm not really all that well versed on suspension-y stuff. One thing I've observed on the stock (sport) setup lately though is that it seems that I've rolled the front tires over a little bit lately. I can see some (very light) scuffing on the passenger side front tire going over the corner of the tread onto the sidewall. Treadwear looks otherwise normal, I think the sidewall just didn't hold up on a recent corner. Do any of the suspension/camber changes help prevent this, or do you simply need lower-profile tires?

The rear Stillen sway bar is only two way adjustable.

What where your hot tire pressures right after driving hard or track time?