strut tower brace question

have a vert and was thinking of ways to take out some of the body flex. Do strut tower braces really work? I have seen some cheap ones on ebay from China. Any input or experience with braces and opinions on the inexpensive ones would be greatly appreciated!

the solid sparco style bars are nice if you can find one that fits your car. a proper strut bar will actually reduce flex. jack your car up on your front subframe and your strut towers will flex apart. mine flexed almost a 1/2" in the bronzit. with the IE sparco replica the strut towers didnt move at all.

IE makes a rear shock mount brace as well, which should help.

Edit: Nevermind. Somehow I forgot you have a vert (senior moment).

As steve said the IE bars are nice, you will definately notice a difference, VAC also makes a rear subframe brace that bolts to the rear subframe brackets. That piece will also help increase the rigidity.

Real strut tower braces have a threaded section to pull them together, these ones work great. the ones that are just a bar that goes across are just cosmetic .....

A cheap China one that has threads work just the same as the over priced polished ones

send from space command

Originally Posted by Burning2nd

Real strut tower braces have a threaded section to pull them together, these ones work great. the ones that are just a bar that goes across are just cosmetic .....

A cheap China one that has threads work just the same as the over priced polished ones

send from space command

Waitwut? So the Sparco bar is just cosmetic?...I don't think so..

The threaded strut bars are not as rigid as a properly installed sparco.
The adjustability of the threaded ones is testament to how they can change dimension.

A really effective front strut bar would be one that triangulates back to the firewall with a plate behind the firewall.

m

Originally Posted by Burning2nd

Real strut tower braces have a threaded section to pull them together, these ones work great. the ones that are just a bar that goes across are just cosmetic .....

A cheap China one that has threads work just the same as the over priced polished ones

you have no idea what your talking about. cheap china ones flex makign them purely cosmetic

Originally Posted by Burning2nd

Real strut tower braces have a threaded section to pull them together, these ones work great. the ones that are just a bar that goes across are just cosmetic .....

A cheap China one that has threads work just the same as the over priced polished ones

Methinks you just like to toss out random opinions on anything and everything with little to no real understanding about how they work.

anybondy ever fabricate their own?

A couple members on R3V have made rear strut bars.

Originally Posted by Ryan...

A couple members on R3V have made rear strut bars.

Yup, White325is, I have one in my e30.

fabricating a solid front bar is alot more difficult then the pre-school simple rear bars.

Originally Posted by anstead610

Yup, White325is, I have one in my e30.

like 10 other members made them as well.

although they arent really bars made to take body roll away. they are mostly just to reinforce the metal of the shock tower.

Originally Posted by fcsteve

fabricating a solid front bar is alot more difficult then the pre-school simple rear bars.




like 10 other members made them as well.

although they arent really bars made to take body roll away. they are mostly just to reinforce the metal of the shock tower.

2 that I know of, White325is started making them first (that i have seen) and some other guy saw the crazy business he was doing and tried himself..but failed.

Originally Posted by anstead610

2 that I know of, White325is started making them first (that i have seen) and some other guy saw the crazy business he was doing and tried himself..but failed.

misc people have been selling them for years. mike was far from the first and i doubt he'll be even close to the last.

here is a guy back as far as 2007:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...rear+shock+bar

I bought a used on off the guy that sold me his tranny. Paid $10 and he made it himself at work (works at a machine shop) and ran it for couple months before parting the car. I'll put it in for ****s n giggles, doubt I'll feel any difference to be honest.

you wont feel a difference at all with a rear bar.

Originally Posted by Ryan...

Methinks you just like to toss out random opinions on anything and everything with little to no real understanding about how they work.

yes i do and no your wrong...

Im quite understanding of how it works... lets just say Ive been around the track... I just don't choose to explain my self @ everyone who things you can read your way in to a engine


The threaded brace's are for applying pressure to chassis,
and same apply for lower tie bars.... the ones that just bolt, more so for general stiffing..


I just dont have the time to sit here and exsplain it all... idk what to say..

your not supposed to be bending your chassis with an adjustable bar.

they both do the exact same thing.

except 1 is adjustable in width(often the china ones) .. which is to allow them to be a universal fit onto any e30 vs fitting only the 1 or the other e30 strut tower width.

go ahead and explain your theory on how the more rigid, solid setup bars are cosmetic while the adjustable, often thin, flexible bars are structural ...

Originally Posted by Burning2nd

yes i do and no your wrong...

Im quite understanding of how it works... lets just say Ive been around the track... I just don't choose to explain my self @ everyone who things you can read your way in to a engine


The threaded brace's are for applying pressure to chassis,
and same apply for lower tie bars.... the ones that just bolt, more so for general stiffing..


I just dont have the time to sit here and exsplain it all... idk what to say..

The stress bar is used to brace the U shaped engine bay by completing a box. the stress bar retains the dimension of the chassis. By boxing this part of the chassis, you eliminate body flex that is messing up the ability of the suspension to do its job properly.
Using screwed together lengths of pipe won't be rigid.....For the same reason that you don't see threaded sections in between sections of roll bar pipe in race/track cars.



m

Originally Posted by fcsteve

you wont feel a difference at all with a rear bar.

Yeah, with the shock tower area having so much structure around it a brace will be unnoticeable. My car has something upward of 350K on the chassis so I put one on

Originally Posted by 7pilot

The stress bar is used to brace the U shaped engine bay by completing a box. the stress bar retains the dimension of the chassis. By boxing this part of the chassis, you eliminate body flex that is messing up the ability of the suspension to do its job properly.
Using screwed together lengths of pipe won't be rigid.....For the same reason that you don't see threaded sections in between sections of roll bar pipe in race/track cars.

exactly. well said