Originally Posted by
KaribaHow do you find your ride quality, handling, etc are this installation?
I'll start off with the fit and quality of the products. The rstb and triangulator are strong and surprisingly light. I was very impressed by the quality of the everything (which includes all hardware needed such as nuts and bolts)--I guarantee you will not be disappointed in the quality. Everything fits excellent, which is very important because there is very little room for variance in some spots.
Installation of the rstb is very easy--easier than changing your oil and requires only a 10mm and 12mm socket.
Installation of the triangulated brace, on the other hand, is harder; it took me five and half hours, but is well worth it. Although the triangulated brace did not come with any directions, I was able to install it simply by looking at pictures that Octotat and Superblackz have posted on this forum or the old one. It comes with different sized bolts, so installation is common sense and you can't really screw it up, although you must be patient and accurate when drilling holes into the chassis. The installation requires a power drill and some sort of dremel tool to widen holes left by the power drill.
As for my impressions of the ride and handling, I've had the rstb on for about two weeks and the triangulated brace on for 2 days. I installed everything onto a car that has a 150k mile stock suspension and b14 se-r wheels clad in Kumho Ecsta AST. I tightened the rstb on pretty tight and could feel the strut tower bars being more connected from the start--the back felt tighter. In turns, the back of the car stayed flatter while the front of the chassis twisted more, making turning easier (less understeer). After installing the rstb and triangulated brace, I took the car out for some spirited driving on local roads. I felt more confident and the car felt more capable when taking high speed turns and thus allowing me to drive faster through the twisty roads I have driven through many times before. In general, I was able to change directions faster. U-turns were easier to take because the car stays level. Ride quality is definitely improved as body roll is reduced.
Let me preface this comparison by saying that I have never tried Active Tuning rstb. If you look at how that Octotat's rstb is designed compared Active Tuning's rstb, you'll notice that chuck's rstb attaches to all 3 of the suspension studs per tower where as the Active Tuning rstb only attaches to 2 suspension studs per tower. I've also read that the Active Tuning rstb can be felt when by passengers in the back. However, with Octotat's bar design passengers can't see or feel the rstb. PM forum member MR-4Door-SR20DE who has both the Active Tuning and Octotat's rstb. Octotat's bar also has the advantage that it can be attached to his triangulated brace for even better handling. Since Octotat only makes these things in batches I highly recommend you buy whenever they are available (such as they are now) or you might have to wait for a while.
For more information on Octotat's rstb and other forum member reviews see this thread and the links in it:
B13 RSTB W/TRIAGULATOR GROUP BUY $250 SHIPPED - SR20 Forum
B13 Active Tuning RSTB
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