This is the one my kendo club signed for me when I came back stateside. My actual wearing-tenugui is green, although I haven’t done kendo in going on 20 years. I miss Japan. I’ve got two trips to plan, not sure when - take my best friend to Tokyo Auto Salon (January usually) and take my kid for Hanami/cherry blossoms.

I miss Japan. I’ve got two trips to plan, not sure when - take my best friend to Tokyo Auto Salon (January usually) and take my kid for Hanami/cherry blossoms.

 

everyone needs a good interior guy. Electrostatic applied felt with adhesive.

new carbon fiber PPF looks like real CF. Huge upgrade from the previous vinyl. Picture doesn’t do it justice

 

New sway bars finally showed up yesterday. It was 10 days before z1 even shipped them. The front is an absolute beast! I'm actually scared of how much of a difference it will make. I hadn't realized just how thick until it got here. The oe is 26mm, this is 43mm! I put a 28mm in my Camry and that handles crazy.
Unfortunately the wife won't be happy if I spend mother's day in the garage. Will have to wait til memorial weekend to do sways and diff bushing.

 

I'm still not convinced that bigger is necessarily better when it comes to sway bars. I understand that one can use increased area over stock to dial in much more oversteer and have zero body roll, but is the ability to push the rear of your car out easily and not distribute the load to the tires on the L/R what's being measured as the performance gain? On a DD, what are the tradeoffs of not being able to transfer some of the roll from side to side?

I found some interesting tidbits on the topic in Stillen's blog here: https://www.blog.stillen.com/stillen...ide-sway-bars/

Assuming that RWD of the following FM platforms use the same diameter front and rear sway bars: RWD Sport Coupe and Sedan & RWD 370Z, then look at the diameter used on the much more aggressive 370Z Nismo. It seems Stillen took the Nismo formula, and added some level of adjustability to it.


Reference: Sway Bar Diameters - Nissan 370Z Forum

Also, on the other end of the equation at the Hotchkis site, they note the following about their very popular setup for our cars: https://www.hotchkis.net/product/200...-sway-bar-set/

Specs:
Front Sway Bar 35mm (1-3/8 in.) Hollow
+230% Stiffer than Stock G37
+205% Stiffer than stock G37S (maybe they forgot Sedan vs. Coupe?)
+230% Stiffer than stock G37S (See above, or, did they mean G35S since they included it in the rear comparison below)

200% seems like alot - full go cart level traction? What do we lose? Strike a pothole and feel like a wisdom tooth has been dislodged?

Rear Sway Bar 28.5mm (1.125 in.) Hollow
3 Way Adjustable
+130 +185 260% Stiffer than Stock G37
+15 40% 75% Stiffer than stock G37S <--Seems like a good set of options
+60 100% 155% Stiffer than stock G35S

Anyway, I have always been happy with the handling of my car, but I am lowered on sport suspension, spaced and have my alignment dialed in through trial and error with the stickiest tires I can afford. There is some roll I guess, but I have to push the car hard to notice it. Understeer feels almost neutral, but slightly closer to understeer vs oversteer, which is probably more of what I am used to compared to the GT Mustangs of late 1990s that could easily send you into a tail spin.

Is the goal to get this angle as close to 0 in order to maximize the grounded tire patch in a turn?



Seems that there is alot of Physics at work here and I'm not confident there is a one size fits all. Would love to hear from someone that understands the tradeoffs for a DD that is constantly dodging Marianas trench sized potholes.

 

You've definitely thought more about this than I have. IDK where I got 43mm from, the z1 is the same size as the Hotchkiss 35mm. As far as over/under steer, I don't drive the G anywhere near being able to notice either. I'm Only replacing the sway bars since I have to take apart the rear for the diff bushing. In there anyways, and working on a car with no rust is a treat for me.

 

The first year that I bought my car, I took it to an Auto-X event, bone stock. It was an understeer monster, so frustrating. I went again the next year where the only mod was Eibach swaybars and a FSTB. This time I was slaloming though the cones point-and-shoot. This reduction in body roll impacts everything you do while driving the car, not just when you hit the extents of traction... highway on/off ramps, quick lane changes, powering out of a turn, roundabouts, etc.

If you only ever do one mod to the G, it should be swaybars.

 

I think the point is - how much is too much.

I actually think there's a good middle ground (looks like Stillen brought the engineering, and Hotchkis is designed for the stock spring/shock setup) and TBH - I've overshot on this car. The Konis/Red Nismo Z springs/Hotchkis bars are too damn stiff. If I find nice pavement and push it, they're amazing. But on normal pavement and just driving - even spiritedly - it's 'need-a-mouthguard' rough.

Having said that, I'm not in love with the idea of switching from the Hotchkis bars. I do have softer springs to put back on the front of the car.

 

I definitely Red Pilled on this one. As with any mod, I always want to figure out what I am improving, and what I am giving up as there is rarely a performance mod decision which doesn't involve tradeoffs.

 

This was my point exactly Mike. Our cars ship with a 'factory tuned' setup which compensates for alot of driving conditions, so it will never be ideal at any one use case. We as enthusiasts then go in and lower, space, brace, modify factory alignments and add stickier performance summer tires - skewing the original formula for under/over steer and lateral weight transfer. Hence this is why I often look to the Nismo Z for direction since its virtually the same platform, albeit a tad shorter and a few hundred pounds lighter. I tried calling the folks at Stillen this morning as they are local, but not much guidance was offered other than they recommend customers start with the middle hole in the rear.

Problems like this one are what I am trying to avoid: Stillen Sway Bar Review & Question - Nissan 370Z Forum
"But the rear feels like its losing control sometimes. The best example I can give is when driving over a sewer cap cover, where there's maybe .5 inch of a difference in the road, the rear end feels like its about to give out on me, like a fishtail. And i actually am starting to hate it."

I can hear my wife...."why do you keep spending money to break your car" ....what she said when I lowered it.

 

I think your approach is pretty apt here... don't just throw mods on, actually put the engineering effort in first. Also helps to know what you want as an end product vs just racing to the end with whatever products you find.

I actually screwed up on the G. The suspension mods I've done to other cars, on the G, went overboard and I ended up with a luxury car that rides like a buckboard wagon on normal roads. Had I been building a track car it would be (and is) awesome, but I don't track this car and our normal roads in SC are wretched. The best Lamborghini for SC is the tractor LOL.

Thankfully I haven't cut/welded/permanently 'clearanced' anything so it's all fixable with time and money. First step was ditching the Nismo red springs - back to OEM sedan sport on the rear - that plus the Konis and the Hotchkiss bar are much more tolerable but still nicely stiffer than stock. I need to swap the front Nismo springs out with 370Z non-nismo and see if that lowers without making it too stiff. Otherwise I might have to cut a coil off the OEM front springs to get the small drop I want but not have an essentially solid suspension. Also hoping that changing the tires from Max Summer (Kumho PS91s) to Continental high perf all seasons helps some too...

 

I get the hobby, but I think you're overthinking this. I think it was rotarymike who once told me I'll never get the answer I wanted when working on my brakes last year, so I should stop obsessing over whatever it was.

My point is, the G37 responds very well to aftermarket swaybars, with no perceived trade-off. So take the simple, affordable win, and enjoy the upgrade.

 

Add-on - felt this needed more than just an edit.

Past cars I've worked on I've gone full-tilt race suspension and dialed it back on the adjustments, and it's been fine. FB3S, FC3S, Miatae, my RX8, my Mazda 3. I did go back and forth on the Cherokee but TBH I was trying to prep that to tow way way more than it should have been towing.

Hitting the street-rod sweet spot in the G has been difficult.

 

If you want to switch, I noticed that used Hotchkis bars are selling in the classifieds for close to what a pair cost new. What you describe is exactly what I am trying to avoid Mike. Also, have you tried dialing down the Konis? I heard (or read, I lost track) that settings 3-5 will jar the fillings from your teeth. Based on some dialog with John and confirmation on the pros and cons, I think I will try the Stillen bars as I like that they are the same size as the ones on the Nismo Z, yet adjustable and can also use my OEM end links and bushings, all of which I just replaced.

 

The Konis are still on their softest setting. I've thought about dialing them up to midrange to see if there's a difference but haven't had the time to be under the car in a while. I'm using OEM end links (I think ZSpeed has some HD ones that I've got; I can't recall).

 

@rotarymike I don't think you should revert the front red Nismo springs. From my research:

https://www.myg37.com/forums/brakes-...ml#post4287727

The front spring rates are comparable to stock RWD sport springs. The rears are where the bigger difference are. There may be a difference in the shock travel / dampening though because the nismo springs are lower than stock, so not sure how that interacts with your Koni's.

I'm riding on the nismo springs with Eibach sways set to the middle adjustment in the front and the softest in the rear and it feels pretty good. Other suspension mods would be a FSTB and (if this matters) 2-piece rotors and lightweight wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport all seasons. I don't have any experience tracking cars though so my perception is surely not as finely tuned as yours is. Also I'm 39 years old and don't appreciate a car that's too stiff lol