For anyone interested, I’d like to give my impressions of a 320 mile drive I took yesterday with my new STMPO Front Chassis Bar.
For starters here’s the test bed so you know what the STMPO bar was added to:
01 NSX-T
OEM Wheels and Shocks
Dali Track Swaybars (on middle setting front and rear)
Eibach Springs
Dali “Trike” Rear Strut Bar
Dali Rear Chassis Stabilizer Bar
Falken Azenis 215/45/16 front 255/40/17 rear
The car used to have the upper and lower Type-R bars, and let me start there for those of you that don’t have them. The Type-R bars did what I considered a nice, refined job of gently stiffening up the chassis on my Targa, and reducing a tiny bit of cowl shake. A subtle “Honda” effect.
In contrast, the STMPO bar almost makes everything in front of the cockpit feel as if it actually one piece.
The Sunday Drive was 40 or so miles on the Intestate and the remaining 280 on two lane roads in the SoCal mountains and deserts. Some of the pavement was ruinous, some was standard, some of it was less than two months old, so I feel (for myself) that I had a good representative sample of road surfaces to experience the bar.
The Interstate: the bar did not in my opinion effect ride quality in a positive or negative way.
Lousy pavement, sweeping turns: The car tracked very nicely (given the road conditions) and felt more level and even than it has on previous drives over the same roads.
Great pavement, sweeping turns: Whoa. Front end locked in and back end just came with her. I was easily able to do double + 10mph of the recommended speed in “Curve” signs. Car just stuck to the road, felt level and tracked smooth.
Lousy pavement, tight turns: Different than what I’ve experienced before. When I end up with a little too much speed on lousy pavement in a tight turn, the car used to bounce around in a few different directions. With the STMPO bar, the car as a whole, “hopped” and then grabbed. Things settled down very quickly.
Great pavement, tight turns: Driver having too much fun with well worn Falken rears. Front end again seemed completely locked in, unfortunately my lack of skill and over enthusiasm caused the back end to wash out twice,
but the front was so glued that recovery happened very quickly. New Azenis rears are sitting on my back porch saying “I told you so!” :tongue:
As they say, opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one. Mine is, if you enjoy throwing your car down two lane roads with a huge grin on your face, buy this bar.
As for the quality of this bar on the track, that is for others on Prime more skilled than I to comment on.
For starters here’s the test bed so you know what the STMPO bar was added to:
01 NSX-T
OEM Wheels and Shocks
Dali Track Swaybars (on middle setting front and rear)
Eibach Springs
Dali “Trike” Rear Strut Bar
Dali Rear Chassis Stabilizer Bar
Falken Azenis 215/45/16 front 255/40/17 rear
The car used to have the upper and lower Type-R bars, and let me start there for those of you that don’t have them. The Type-R bars did what I considered a nice, refined job of gently stiffening up the chassis on my Targa, and reducing a tiny bit of cowl shake. A subtle “Honda” effect.
In contrast, the STMPO bar almost makes everything in front of the cockpit feel as if it actually one piece.
The Sunday Drive was 40 or so miles on the Intestate and the remaining 280 on two lane roads in the SoCal mountains and deserts. Some of the pavement was ruinous, some was standard, some of it was less than two months old, so I feel (for myself) that I had a good representative sample of road surfaces to experience the bar.
The Interstate: the bar did not in my opinion effect ride quality in a positive or negative way.
Lousy pavement, sweeping turns: The car tracked very nicely (given the road conditions) and felt more level and even than it has on previous drives over the same roads.
Great pavement, sweeping turns: Whoa. Front end locked in and back end just came with her. I was easily able to do double + 10mph of the recommended speed in “Curve” signs. Car just stuck to the road, felt level and tracked smooth.
Lousy pavement, tight turns: Different than what I’ve experienced before. When I end up with a little too much speed on lousy pavement in a tight turn, the car used to bounce around in a few different directions. With the STMPO bar, the car as a whole, “hopped” and then grabbed. Things settled down very quickly.
Great pavement, tight turns: Driver having too much fun with well worn Falken rears. Front end again seemed completely locked in, unfortunately my lack of skill and over enthusiasm caused the back end to wash out twice,
but the front was so glued that recovery happened very quickly. New Azenis rears are sitting on my back porch saying “I told you so!” :tongue:As they say, opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one. Mine is, if you enjoy throwing your car down two lane roads with a huge grin on your face, buy this bar.
As for the quality of this bar on the track, that is for others on Prime more skilled than I to comment on.
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