What platform were you thinking about? I know Nissan markets the Z as a "Midship" but it's basically still a front engine RWD.

 

I might get these before it gets cold out, so Hole 2 = 1845 lbs/in (48% Stiffer than stock) and Hole 2 = 655 lbs/in (125% Stiffer than stock) is what you guys recommend to start off with? Seems like a huge difference in %'s. I know understeer sucks but hole 1 would seem to still oversteer a little with 80% in the rear and still have 48% in the front.

125% seems crazy for a regular DD, then again idk, my last car got me in trouble with the sway bars.

 

I have the hotchkis sways and went with the second softest setting in the front and the softest setting in the rear. +80% rear and +48%front.

I have 275/40 17 rear tires and 255/40 17 in front.

I didn't install the sways untill after I installed the RS-R Ti2000 springs and got just a bit of understeer.

My point is that I used the sways to balance the car relative to where it was before the sways.

The "best settings" will depend on where you are and where you want to be.

If the car is just a little loose, I would consider installing the front only at one of the two softer settings. If it's a little tight as mine was, the rear sway's softest (+80%) will probably make the car oversteer too much without putting in the front sway bar.

-My

BTW; The settings (+80R and +48F) worked great with the rest of my setup. - as close to neutral as I have ever felt.

 

Yea i figured that setup would be ideal to start and probably like it.

 

Sorry if I'm too late, but I'm running full stiffness in front and medium in the rear to create some oversteer. The Z in stock form has a lot of understeer and I was trying to create a more neutral set up.

I'm running 255/285 on 19's with my car pretty much neutral with a hint of understeer when pushing it hard on the track.

 

To revive an old thread. I don't understand how you guys are saying Hard front/Soft rear promotes Oversteer. It's always been stiffer rear = oversteer.

Personally I'd rather a little oversteer. Understeer is worste in my book.

 

bump for rear bars

 

Nice bars, bought mine longer time ago than I am willing to admit and finally installed them this month.

Running center hole rear (med-80% stiffer than stock) and since the front has 4 holes, "med" is one of the two center holes. For starters I set the front 2nd hole from the end of the bar (48% stiffer than stock). I may move it one setting toward the stiff side after I have more miles on the sways.

For reference here's the settings list:



The recommended settings of max stiff front and max loose rear sound like lawyer intervention, setting the front to 129% stiffer than stock and the rear 80% sounds like "How to Train your Car for More Understeer" in one easy setting.

Also highly recommend the Power Grid endlinks I picked up from Z1 Auto, excellent quality and bulletproof. I wasn't completely convinced they're worth it until I installed them.

I was more than a little concerned when I looked at the OEM end links and seeing they're about as beefy as the OEM links from my '91 SE-R. Busting an end link at 80 mph in a corner with the suspension fully loaded on a track day can cost you a lot more.

 

I have the nismo sways and was wondering if the hothkis would be a bigger improvement over them? I want to find out if it would make it too difficult on street compared to the nismo if I set the front and rear to medium.

Thanks.

Nismo Specs
F Stiffness: 18% (1299lbs)
R Stiffness: -1% (375lbs)

Hothkis:
F Stiffness: 9-32-63% (5-way)
R Stiffness: 54-92-146% (5-way)

 

I'd be very reluctant to change the NISMO sways just for the sense that they're pretty close in the front already, and the rear you really don't want to dial up much or risk ending up tail happy on the softest setting.

Since I installed my rear end links, even with the 9.5" NISMO Rays LMGT4 rims and 275/35 rear, I need to dial back the rear - softer. The #2 setting is making rear feel pretty loose, combined with a 0 deg toe-in alignment and -2 deg camber setting. I really need to get the car up to speed to see, most of my impression is not at high speeds where transitions are a little more subtle.

Hole #2 is feeling too stiff with the slight preload on the sway with the adjustable end links. I'll probably put it back to the 520 lbs/in setting next weekend.

You might be better off working with adjustable end links and balancing out the load on the existing sways. If the NISMO Z got the same end links as stock Z33/V35's, that's a good place to consider replacement - both for strength and adjustability.

 

I am running medium front, medium rear on my 07. I would recommend this setting.

 

The sway bar stiffness should be matched appropriately for the spring rates you are running on your dampers.

JET

 

Im running full stiff front and rear with Stance coils and have been quite happy. The rear will come out on just hard corners now if provoked, and understeer has been virtually eliminated.

 

There is no one setting that is right. As has been said already there are so many interactive factors going on in relation to your spring rates, dampers, tire sizes, track widths, ride heights, toe settings, tyre pressures, even your diff setup etc. etc that will all affect the steer characteristics of your car. Unless you are comparing two stock cars from the factory, every car will respond to bar settings differently depending on what your setup is.

The simple solution is to do exactly what the factory recommends. Start with a safe setting as recommended stiffest front, softest rear then see how it feels. Try all sorts of combinations to find out what works best. There seems to be a fear that the wrong combination will see you fly off the road the minute you drive the car which is not so. The differences are subtle and only really noticeable when pushing the limits consistently as you would on a track day.

I run front stiffest, rear softest, which you would think would be an understeering pig. But my car is neutral because I run a square tyre setup and my spring rates suit that. I went through every other combo from max oversteer to find this out. Lots of track testing, see how it feels, look at lap times etc. On the road, just make a change and drive around for a few days to see how it feels. Then try another setting if you're not happy.

 

What's a good balanced setting for an 04 with stock suspension on 265-35-18 and 275-35-18? With the Powergrid endlinks installed, of course.

 

I emailed Hotchkis asking if they have a recommended setting and this is what they emailed me back with:

(click to read the full email)

 

Yeah.... that is what they tell you in the installation instructions that come with the Hotchkiss swaybars.

JET

 

^That's the settings that I run on my car.

 

How does the car handle with those settings? Is it better to run that setting or med/med?

 

edit: nevermind