People with Stillen rear sway bar, must read story
 

This is a story I never disclosed before because it seems I'm the only person who has had this happen, and maybe I'm a bit embarrassed. I had the piece for a real long time, it was probably bought about 3.5 years ago today, maybe they changed the design since then, but here's my story:

When I had my Maxima I had a stillen rear sway bar. I installed it myself at first and all was well. I made an adjustment, bringing it forward a little (about to the middle/front of the multibeam). The next day I was on the FWY having fun with a WRX going about 95 an suddenly I had no brake pressure.

I limped the car home using the ebrake and engine braking. I saw when I got home that the bolt/screw thing on the sway bar had cleanly rubbed a hole right in my Stillen SS brake line. I don't know if it rubbed it or got caught but there was a significant kink and leak in the line and it lined up directly with the sway bar bolts.

Anyways, I assumed it was installation error so I took it down to my mechanic and had him replace the brake line and reinstall the sway bar. He reinstalled the sway bar and it appeared to not have any interfence with the brake line. The sway bar was moved back to the center/rear section of the multibeam. One year later it happened again, car ended up doing a 360 in an attempt to get it stopped.

I called Stillen and told them about the issue. The guy didn't even want to hear my story he kept claiming installation error. I admitted perhaps there was installation error, but I followed the instructions the first time around and then I had it professionally installed with the notion in mind to NOT HAVE IT HAPPEN AGAIN. He said well ya both screwed up then. I said well isn't it scary that we both can even have the ability to screw up like that. This isn't a minor thing, I could've died twice because of your design. He's like sorry sir there's nothing I can do for you, I recommend you purchase a new one and start over with the install. He then said I have to go cater to real customers now, bye.

Anyways, horrible company, I hope they burn down.

Re: People with Stillen rear sway bar, must read story
 

Yikes. $tealin=@ssholes Least your alive.

Re: Re: People with Stillen rear sway bar, must read story
 

Yeah but seriously I had friends in the car at the times, and I really feel blessed. Imagine at any given time having your brakes go out (both of my times were over 45 MPH). I was REALLY lucky it didn't happen at any other time(s).

How did you use the ebrake to get home if the brake line was leaking? Im guessing there was enough pressure to get their slowly, no?

E-brakes are cable actuated, not fluid actuated.


Dave

Ebrake is strictly a cable (that's why it's loose sometimes). All four brakes are on the same pressurized system, if there's a leak on one line your pedal will go all the way to the floor without applying any actual force to the discs.

I know a socal member this happened to as well. :wall:

Phone calls and e-mails are easy to ignore. Mail a letter to Stillen, including the higher-ups, and tell them about your brake line incidents and how the phone call with the Stillen rep went. You could politely inform them that there is a possible safety-related design issue with the RSB, and that it would be in their best interest to redesign it (if they haven't already). If they're smart, they would want to avoid risk of possible ligitation that would result from future accidents.

Which design was this with? The "adjustable" one that hooks up to the sides with the blue clamp like thingies?

Auuugh....Brian
 

Did you install the bolts the correct way per the instructions? Maybe that's something recently added to the instructions you don't have.

The bolts on the rear brackets are supposed to have the heads on the inside and threads on the outside to prevent the threads from sawing through the brake line.

Like here:
http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...0_132_full.jpg

The left most brackets' TOP bolt is the one that cuts!

Here is an example from Paul's install page(http://www.paulwendy.com/maxima/) if you don't put the threads AWAY from the brake lines:
http://www.paulwendy.com/maxima/phot...amagedhose.jpg

wow that is terrible the way stillen treated you when you were trying to bring to their attention a potential problem with one of their products.....Ive dealt with the service at stillen many times and they just dont seem to care about the customer....Anyways, its a scary thought thinking that my rear sway bar could be slowly cutting a hole in my brake lines......




-Steve

i have had my stillen RSB for 4 years now.. no problems whats so ever

thanks....i'll check mine when the weather gets better

how about u get an attorney to write them a nice letter, im sure ull get an apologetic phone call real soon...

I don't recall which way I had the bolts, but the first time around the instructions were followed to the T, and I'm sure my mechanic (aware of the problem the first time) would've installed it in a manner which would be least likely for it to happen.

Sprint: I know lots of people who haven't had problems, I never had a problem until I moved it far enough forward, and I don't know what happened the second time. I'm sure not many people have experienced it, if any. However, one person posted that they know someone it happened too. This is such a potentially dangerous situation that it shouldn't ever happen even once.

The installation of this bar is so customizable, many holes, can be installed in several manners that who knows how many people have picked the correct configuration, but the fact of the manner is, there should be no available configuration for this to happen.

The fact that Stillen doesn't care is surprising. One day when someone dies or gets seriously injured due to this, a lawyer will have a field day and I'll send them a nice letter then saying, "I told you f'ing so." In the mean time, it's not worth my time, they're obviously not going to do anything about it. The best I can do is warn people on this board to:

PLEASE CHECK YOUR SWAY BAR AND POSSIBLE INTERFERENCE WITH REAR BRAKE LINES.

However, if enough people have experienced the situation and we could get a handful of people, perhaps then I would hire an attorney and get some proactive action against Stillen. When I called I wasn't seeking a refund, I wasn't seeking any compensation, I wasn't seeking an appology, I was just making them aware of a potentially dangerous part and they didn't even want to hear me. I hope it bites them in the A$$ (however, I hope no one gets injured, except Stillen financially when it does come and bite them).

when installing the rear sway bar i saw that as a potential problem.


to correct this, i switched the installation of the bolts so the heads were facing out instead of facing in. I then got a old piece of rubber hose and cut a 3 in section off. i then cut it lenghtwise so i could wrap it arounf the ss brake line. I moved the brakes lines by have to sww where, if any, they would rub. i placed the rubber hose over these areas and then zip tied them.

every time the car is up, i check and see if there was any rubbing..

none so far..:)

GOod idea, but that should've been implemented or mentioned in the instructions. I still feel if the bolts were reversed that the problem could still happen, just not as likely.

true..



but i am not too sure if i would feel safe if the instructions told me to wrap my brake lines cause the sway bar MAy cause you to cut your lines and then.. NO BRAKES..

brian,

your right about the fact that there are so many combinations to install the stillen rsb with all the holes present in the bar. I think the main reason stillen recommends the 3rd and 5th hole plus the reversal of the bolts on the top side of the brackets is used to prevent the brake line problem. I've seen members that have the rsb way up towards the front of the car, almost clearing the rear beam with no problems.

Do you remember which holes the brackets were mounted to on the bar itself?

Had mine for 3.5 years, no problems... But now your gonna make me check...Ive already had 2 instances with both front brake lines, the tire cut the brake lines at speed, cattman's coilovers didnt come with a brake line holder....damn zip ties werent on tight enough...ebrake, engine brake all the way home.

I don't remember which holes, but I remember the first time I installed it I installed it with the recommended holes. The last time it was in a somewhat onorthodox confiuration (the two blue brackets were pretty close to each other).

Bumping an old thread for installation error. Installer forgot to put in the spacer that moves the cable away from the sway bar brackets.

INSTALLATION ERROR!

Clearly you have no idea which is the brake hose and which is the parking brake cable. There is no spacer for the hose.

The brake hose is close to the hardware for the RSB bracket.

http://greghome.com/images/Maxima%20...%20bracket.jpg

Spacer for parking brake cable

http://greghome.com/images/Maxima%20...20attached.jpg

Another old one....:o

Has anyone else had problems wit Stillen?

No they make great stuff, things like this happen all the time. Just because an issue arose doesnt mean you shouldn't deal with them and I have a sneaking suspicion that the phone call the OP made didnt go exactly as described either. The Stillen name goes hand in hand with motorsports, hell they used to call Pikes Peak Millen Mountain.

I'm glad I went with a Progress RSB.

what is that blue thing? i have the same thing saw it when i was changing my wheels. original owner heavily modded the max and i dont have a full mod list from him