Racingline Strut Bar Review

[mike.alwa]

Hi ALL! I never post, but I thought I would give a Racingline strut bar review, because I had trouble finding any when I was thinking about buying one. I have a 2012 altima 2.5 sedan, bone stock except a stillen rear swaybar. When I got the sway bar I noticed a bit of a difference and the car felt a little more planted. It wasn't night and day for me, because I got it with low miles and the car already felt like it handled decently well. I'm the kind of person that knows the corners on the way to work where I can safely get the car to slide a little bit, so as irresponsible as that may be I definitely tried to feel the affects of my sway bar. It was a god upgrade, but not life changing. Also, I'm no driving expert, but I've spent time reading books on popper driving lines and how to take corners etc. That doesn't make me experienced, but you dont know who I am I'm just saying I'm not some idiot that doesnt know anything. I like cars for functionality not to put big chrome rims and think I'm cool. My favorite cars hands down are the Lancia Stratos and the Lancia 037 if you get the idea.

Now I got the racingline strut bar installed. First off it was a bitsch to get them in. I ended up filling some of the holes on the brackets to make it fit. I think they could make the install easier if they contoured the brackets to the shape of the strut tower before they shipped them or reconfigured how they drill there holes. I was a little disappointed about that, but it went on easy pz with a tiny filing job on one of the bracket holes, you cant even tell. Yes I tried jacking the car to move the strut, but thats super hard solo. Anyways, now that its in I went for a drive and I noticed a difference right away... backing out of the garage... I took the car around a round about multiple times the difference is amazing. It's hard to describe, but I felt more confident going faster around the corners and around the round about. I know the way a strut bar function and it doesnt reduce body roll....but it felt like the car was staying flatter! Thats the only way to describe it. Tires dont squeel as much and you feel less floppy going around 90 degree corners at slow speeds as well around town. It made a significant difference at any speed.

Sorry if this is a bad review and I sound stupid... I would think the sway bar changes the balance of your car, something you would notice on a track our when you take your car to the limit which I never realy honestly do, but the strutbar makes the car feel more solid at any speed and changes the feel, not the handling characteristics. Thats all I can say.

[TitoValchev]

Hey man,

Thank you for your quick review. I know Racingline Performance offers some nice parts on the low, especially since is very hard to find things for my '10 SR. However, after my bad experience with my first purchase (grounding kit) I was very sceptical if I wanted to deal with all this again. It was a pain!!! I may give it a go one more time and hope this time everything goes smoothly. If you do not mind me asking, where are you located and how long did it take to receive the part?

[seldomseen]

I agree....nice write-up! However, don't bother with Racingling again --- unless they do a complete 360 with their business practices! Until then, Racingline's business practices are a joke and there's really no need to make excuses for them. There are tons of complaints online about Racingline that consistently say that Racingline will charge your credit card, and make a buyer wait several weeks before sending the item that was purchased, in addition to several online complaints about how they do not respond to customer emails or calls once an order has been "processed".

In addition, Racingling is clever in the fact that they will email buyers a confirmation email that their ordered was "processed" --- but will never provide any information regarding the shipping date or provide any sort of tracking number on the shipment. Doing so essentially allows Racingline to temporarily circumvent fraud allegations if any sort of local or federal charges were made against them. I personally think these bums will charge a person's credit card -- even though the item that was purchased isn't "in stock", which is most likely why people are forced to wait several weeks before receiving their purchase. Racingline should only charge a customers's credit card if the item will be shipped within 24-48 hours. If the young guys that ran this "company" had the decency to communicate to their customers, and were just forthright with customers, their online reputation wouldn't be so bad/questionable --- and they wouldn't lose so much potential business.

[TitoValchev]

I agree....nice write-up! However, don't bother with Racingling again --- unless they do a complete 360 with their business practices! Until then, Racingline's business practices are a joke and there's really no need to make excuses for them. There are tons of complaints online about Racingline that consistently say that Racingline will charge your credit card, and make a buyer wait several weeks before sending the item that was purchased, in addition to several online complaints about how they do not respond to customer emails or calls once an order has been "processed".

In addition, Racingling is clever in the fact that they will email buyers a confirmation email that their ordered was "processed" --- but will never provide any information regarding the shipping date or provide any sort of tracking number on the shipment. Doing so essentially allows Racingline to temporarily circumvent fraud allegations if any sort of local or federal charges were made against them. I personally think these bums will charge a person's credit card -- even though the item that was purchased isn't "in stock", which is most likely why people are forced to wait several weeks before receiving their purchase. Racingline should only charge a customers's credit card if the item will be shipped within 24-48 hours. If the young guys that ran this "company" had the decency to communicate to their customers, and were just forthright with customers, their online reputation wouldn't be so bad/questionable --- and they wouldn't lose so much potential business.

Real talk right here! I agree with everything you said. When I purchased my grounding kit it came incomplete 24 days after I placed the order!!! Emailed Joe explaining the situation I missed two wires out of the kit... He said he will send me another kit and I could keep the incomplete one, too. Well, that did not happen. Thankfully, I paid using Paypal and got fully refunded.

Before school started again I wanted to get some suspension work done. I wanted strut bar, sway bar, endlinks and a traction rod. Before I ordered I email theses guys to get an estimate for delivery. This time I did not want to wait another month, although I understand these parts may take a little longer...for whatever reason. About two weeks after I placed the order I received two emails with information about the shipping, including carrier, number of pieces, and tracking number. Hopefully, I receive everything needed to complete the installation with no hassle.

[mike.alwa]

Sorry, late to this, but I live in SE Wisconsin and it took like 1 week or 2 to ship.

[Jwils]

Thabks for the review