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HippoSleek · 09-27-2001, 08:35 AM

Great link - I'm going to have to spend some time with that one.

As for the difference - Lance is dead on.  Think of it this way - strut bars improve your car's ability to guide its mass around a corner;  sway bars improve your tire's ability to maintain traction with the road surface.  As for effectiveness, a set of bars will do wonders even with an otherwise stock sus.  If you have a base model (no rear bar from what I understand), the addition of bars will do more for your handling than you would imagine... BUT, the SE comes with a reasonable set of bars from the factory.  As such, the additional rigidity will be noticable, but perhaps not worth the investment at this stage, IMHO.  Plus, the added stiffness in the rear only (or even in concert with the fronts) may be too much for your stock susp., and induce severe oversteer.

I guess my advice would be to buy a rear bar (either ST, Whiteline, or even a JY-spec S13 SE bar (that's junk yard!)) if you have a base model.  If you have an SE, take that money and open a savings account (DON'T TOUCH IT)... add money for a few months... buy yourself some decent adjustable shocks/struts (I understand KYB AGX's are nice for the S13).  Even with stock springs, this will make your car feel so much better than you could ever imagine.  With a 10 year old susp., your dampers are likely ready for the trash bin (springs last forever) and the addition of stiffer rates will give you a much better ride.  Also, if you have/get a stock SE bar and then move to an aftermarket bar, you can adjust your dampers to balance the handling of the car.  In the short term, it sucks that you don't have some cool parts, but in the long run, your car will handle like crazy after dampers and will only get better from there.

09-27-2001, 08:35 AM	#8
HippoSleek Nissanaholic! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: elsewhere Posts: 2,081 Trader Rating: (0)	Great link - I'm going to have to spend some time with that one. As for the difference - Lance is dead on.  Think of it this way - strut bars improve your car's ability to guide its mass around a corner;  sway bars improve your tire's ability to maintain traction with the road surface.  As for effectiveness, a set of bars will do wonders even with an otherwise stock sus.  If you have a base model (no rear bar from what I understand), the addition of bars will do more for your handling than you would imagine... BUT, the SE comes with a reasonable set of bars from the factory.  As such, the additional rigidity will be noticable, but perhaps not worth the investment at this stage, IMHO.  Plus, the added stiffness in the rear only (or even in concert with the fronts) may be too much for your stock susp., and induce severe oversteer. I guess my advice would be to buy a rear bar (either ST, Whiteline, or even a JY-spec S13 SE bar (that's junk yard!)) if you have a base model.  If you have an SE, take that money and open a savings account (DON'T TOUCH IT)... add money for a few months... buy yourself some decent adjustable shocks/struts (I understand KYB AGX's are nice for the S13).  Even with stock springs, this will make your car feel so much better than you could ever imagine.  With a 10 year old susp., your dampers are likely ready for the trash bin (springs last forever) and the addition of stiffer rates will give you a much better ride.  Also, if you have/get a stock SE bar and then move to an aftermarket bar, you can adjust your dampers to balance the handling of the car.  In the short term, it sucks that you don't have some cool parts, but in the long run, your car will handle like crazy after dampers and will only get better from there.