Strut Braces

[ArBe20]

Im looking at getting front and rear strut braces sometime soon. Obviously theres cheaper and more expensive ones but whats the go?

Is there really much of a difference in handling between a whiteline strut brace and say, a $70 one off ebay?

Anyone have any personal experiences? Honest answers

Cheers.

[r33cruiser]

DONT DO IT MAN.

i bought one off ebay. it didnt fit, it had to face backwards, which would not fit..

i went with a NISMO front strt bar with brake stopper

and a NISMO nissan rear strt bar.

BEAUTIFUL wen used with bilsteins.

flat as a tack sliding around corners

[Sydneykid]

Im looking at getting front and rear strut braces sometime soon. Obviously theres cheaper and more expensive ones but whats the go?

Is there really much of a difference in handling between a whiteline strut brace and say, a $70 one off ebay?

Anyone have any personal experiences? Honest answers

Cheers.

Firstly, strut braces have to be strong in compression as their job is to link the upper control arms from side to side of the chassis. So standing on one to determine their usefullness is a waste of time. Unless you stood it up right on one end then tried to stand on the other end, good luck balancing.

A front strut bgrace on R32/33/34's is always a good idea as the front control arm is bolted to the inner guard. Adding a strut brace effectively doubles the strength of that mounting.

A rear strut brace on an R32 is a reasonable idea, although not high on the list of priorities. On a R33/34 they are virtually a waste of time. Why? Take a look at the upper control arms on the rear and you wil find that they are bolted to the subframe, not the chassis. So sticking a strut brace between the top mounts does nothing for firming up their location.

Why are they less efective on R33/34's? Take a look at where the shock tops (where the strut brace bolts to) are on 33's and 34's, directly up under the rear parcel shelf, whereas the R32 shock tops are in the boot on the inner guards. The rear parcel shelf on the 33's and 34's effectively links the shock tops, so a strut brace does very little, if anything, to help general chassis rigidity. At least the 32 chassis benefits slightly from the rear strut brace.

Cheers

Gary

[R DIRTY 3]

LOL@ standing on a strut brace!!!

As stated though, get a decent one. Not one of the cheapy ones from Supercheap etc which are pretty much made out of recycled pepsi cans!

S2 33 comes standard with a rear brace, but its pretty much more "bling" than anything else.

[r33cruiser]

i disagree. when i fitted my rear strut bar. chassis roll was substantially lower.

that was my experience

Edited January 24, 2008 by r33cruiser

[Sydneykid]

i disagree. when i fitted my rear strut bar. chassis roll was substantially lower.

that was my experience

Are you confusing swaybars/ stabiliser bars / anti roll bars with strut braces? Because there is no way a strut brace will reduce roll.

Cheers

Gary

[ISC-Performance]

Also disagree, I have added strut braces to many of my past cars as one of the first modifications and it definetly reduces body roll.

Ryan

[Sydneykid]

Also disagree, I have added strut braces to many of my past cars as one of the first modifications and it definetly reduces body roll.

Ryan

Physically impossible, a strut brace is not connected to the wheels, so how does it reduce body roll?

You have not increased the spring rate (the springs do that)

You have not increased the anti roll (the swaybars/stabiliser bars do that)

You have not increased the damper rate (that's shocks)

You have not changed the roll centre (changing the suspension arms mounting points)

You have not changed the centre of gravity (moved weight lower in the chassis)

Hence the roll couple remains unchanged (RoC - CoG = RC)

You have not increased the vertical load capability of the suspension mounts (a roll cage does that)

All you have done is to connected two pieces of body work together, at the front that will help to maintain the suspension geometry under side load, mostly camber. At the rear they virtually do nothing.

So please educate me, how does fitting a strut brace reduce roll?

Cheers

Gary

[Eug]

didn't notice any improvements with the addition of front and rear strut braces on the 33. maybe a little rigidity at the track, but definitely no improvements on bodyroll.

placebo effect quite possibly?