Strut brace... whats it all about?

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Strut brace... whats it all about?

Visorfett

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A colleague at work has bought a new car, 54 plate Seat Ibiza cupra thingy. 1.8 turbo thing.
Nice enough car, if thats what you like. however, he hasnt even got the car yet and has ordered a strut brace for it.

Having never had a strut brace before, do they make that much of a difference? Wouldnt you wait to see if you needed it first?
Why would Seat etc. spend millions developing a car and then not put one on themselves?
If it is to stiffen the front end up, is it suffering from severe handling problems?
The lad in question is a wannabe boy racer type and has never been on a track in his life!
I am so confused by it!

Somebody explain... please...
:confused::confused::rolleyes:
 
A colleague at work has bought a new car, 54 plate Seat Ibiza cupra thingy. 1.8 turbo thing.
Nice enough car, if thats what you like. however, he hasnt even got the car yet and has ordered a strut brace for it.

Having never had a strut brace before, do they make that much of a difference? Wouldnt you wait to see if you needed it first?
Why would Seat etc. spend millions developing a car and then not put one on themselves?
If it is to stiffen the front end up, is it suffering from severe handling problems?
The lad in question is a wannabe boy racer type and has never been on a track in his life!
I am so confused by it!

Somebody explain... please...
:confused::confused::rolleyes:

You just about got it TBH. No real need on a road car driven to legal limits tho, its a Posers add-on with a street car. Probably essential on a race or track day car though, can be fitted on front and rear and it stops the suspension tucking in under heavy cornering loads.
 
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no real need for a strut brace tbh. all it does is stiffen up the front end of the car just a little bit, which is both good and bad for handling. Good, because the suspension geometry is kept a little more constant during hard cornering, and bad because a stiffer front end helps understeer.

i had one on my old car, and i dont think it made any difference anyway.

they look cool though (y)
 
i dissagree, do either of you have one fitted? or tried one on your car?

i find mine makes a nice change and reduces the amount of bodyroll, for £70 i wouldn't say no in the future to one...
 
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It also makes sure if you are involved in a front end shunt that is slightly offcenter....your car is written off as it will twist the chassis!

P
 
A colleague at work has bought a new car, 54 plate Seat Ibiza cupra thingy. 1.8 turbo thing.
Nice enough car, if thats what you like. however, he hasnt even got the car yet and has ordered a strut brace for it.

Having never had a strut brace before, do they make that much of a difference? Wouldnt you wait to see if you needed it first?
Why would Seat etc. spend millions developing a car and then not put one on themselves?
If it is to stiffen the front end up, is it suffering from severe handling problems?
The lad in question is a wannabe boy racer type and has never been on a track in his life!
I am so confused by it!

Somebody explain... please...
:confused::confused::rolleyes:

the lad in question?
he's clearly not in question, because if you had actually of asked him these questions you wouldn't have needed to make this post and ask us lot:rolleyes:
 
i dissagree, do either of you have one fitted? or tried one on your car?

i find mine makes a nice change and reduces the amount of bodyroll, for £70 i wouldn't say no in the future to one...

i said in my first post that i had tried one :rolleyes:

reduce body roll? man something is seriously out of whack with the standard chassis if a strut brace does that.
 
yea, you know what your right, i cant think of any argument to think why it would reduce bodyroll.

reduces inner wings flexing in thus reducing caster (i think you would call it caster?) and thus reducing understeer....

maybe it just gives a feeling of reduced body roll because understeer is reduced?
 
hmm.

come back when you learn something about suspension setups.

now im no expert, but i know one or two things.

harder front end = tends towards understeer
harder back end = tends towards oversteer.

the thing you are thinking of is camber (and also toe in certain situations)

i would explain it to you but tbh im a little tired and a little grumpy.

go do some reading.
 
Strut brace can also help keep your car from developing creaks and groans if your running higher than recommended spring rates. Mate had a galant which he lowered 40mil and then developed creaks in the cabin moving slowly on uneven surfaces the extra torsional rigidty helps it not to do that.
 
i guess thats why i work with computers :)

EDIT: going back on that, here is the world according to wikipedia

A strut bar is designed to reduce this strut tower flex by tying two parallel strut towers together. This transmits the load of each strut tower during cornering via tension and compression of the strut bar which shares the load between both towers and reduces chassis flex.

On the Saab Sonett mk2 and mk3 the overflow container for the cooling system doubles as a strut bar. The longnose version of the Saab 96 also came with a factory mounted strut bar.

Performance: Resulting from the improved chassis rigidity (similar to that gained from a lower tie bar); may be improved steering precision under high load conditions (cornering and braking). Reduced understeer, tire wear and metal fatigue in the strut tower area may also be experienced.
 
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Dont believe EVERYTHING you read in Wiki...

just about to say that. You need to actually read books or something on the subject, not just what random unknown people have written on the internet according to what they think.

Although there is no absolute right or wrong with regards to suspension. if interested, you need to read a few different people's opinions and ideas.
 
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its really very simple, a strut brace is an elasticated band that goes over your shoulders so that you walk like a gansta.
 
i wanted a lower brace for my car, but that would mean the lowest point on the car wound be about 2 inches from the ground....

so what have you noticed kris? what hs it actually improved? grip? steering feel? just interested.
 
a good alternative is; instead of buying a shopping car buy a proper car that doesnt need any assistance to maintian its suspension geometry, like an alfa 156 with double wishbones up front and multilink at the back :D
 
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