Technical Strut brace?

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Technical Strut brace?

lalli

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need some advice on a strut brace for a stilo multiwagon JTD and what exactly it does. also where is the best place to buy from. Cheers.
 
www.strutbracer.co.uk
A strut brace gets rid of understeer by stiffening up the body of the car at the front. They also give you a lot more feel & feedback through the steering as once fiited you'll no loner have much in the way of chassis flex.
I have one on my abarth £60 from the link above.
 
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Ben, you mentioned previously about having to move a few bits in the 2.4 engine to accommodate the brace?! How easy is this? And how much loading on your insurance, lol?!
 
Don't know about the insurance I was told by mine not to worry about it. I think all this repoting your modifications to your insurance company business a load of old tosh to be honest I think they're only worried when you change the general appearance of your car or double the horsepower. But anywayif you get one Stu pop over one sunday & I'll fit it for you. It's very easy! & it does make one hell of a difference the steering on mine now is so sharp & precise. I tell you what Stu when we meet next week your more than welcome to take it for a spin to see for yourself. (y)
 
cheers for the replies, i think u ment strutbracer.co.uk
abother question was do i just install it at the front or do i need a rear strut aswell??
 
benny, you have an unusual insurance company and I hope you got that in writing since if you have a problem they could invalidate your insurance.
 
Exactly - I am certain that strutbraces are not insurance-friendly - a ding on the front wing usually means a lot more damage with a brace on.

However, something I am deffo interested in, to really sharpen up the steering. Don'r forget, I am sitting higher anyway, even with Eibachs on, have less track PLUS am running on 16s. Quite a few variables.
 
lalli said:
cheers for the replies, i think u ment strutbracer.co.uk
abother question was do i just install it at the front or do i need a rear strut aswell??

You can do although I think it would make it too stiff for the road with a rear one as well you might find the car may tend to oversteer also I don't think they do a rear one for the multiwagon plus if you fitted a rear one you would lose load space & you'd have to cut holes in the trim.

Negotiator I don't have an unusual insurance company you DON'T know what you're talking about so take your opinions elsewhere!
 
Yep, that's right, all those insurance companies who put in their policies:

If you make modifications or changes to your car from standard then you must declare it to us
Obviously put it in for fun.

:rolleyes:

It's not an opinion it's fact. If you're driving around with modifications, your policy states you're not allowed to and you have a crash, they may invalidate your insurance policy leaving you open to a civil court case and a possible CPS prosecution for driving without insurance.

Some insurance companies (like koa's) even require you to state and declare (and even not insure!) all factory upgrades such as leather.

The odd insurance company i.e. CIS supposedly allow modifications without delcaring them aslong as they don't increase the CC of the engine nor make the car into something it's not (a 1.6 stilo dressed as an abarth for example). Though it should still be declared and put in writing that this acceptable.
 
Offtopic; i remember arguing with CIS about declaring wheels on my policy, he was telling me as it didnt increase power or make car anything it wasnt then it didnt even need to be declared, had to argue with him to make a note on the system that i'd fitted it heh :D
 
Well a lot of posts have said this about CIS but you did the right thing since you never know how crafty then can be about "forgetting about phone calls".

Although I bet him "taking note" was him playing pong on his computer ;)

I am sure Stu will spllit the thread when necessary.
 
Back to the topic in question! A strut brace will actually strengthen your car as well as make it handle & drive better. In the event of an impact it would take some considerable force to move it & damage the other wing if anything it'll withstand a greater impact than the same car without a brace. I would just like to point out I know this because I am a bodyshop technician by trade & I work on crash damaged cars day in day out. I can't see any insurance company saying "no you can't fit that" because if you were to have an impact that heavy the front bumper & bulkhead would probably damage the other wing anyway. The guy on the phone at my insurance company said "so long as the car hasn't been altered drastically in A: it's appearance & B: the engine has not been increased in size or performance.( this is about the 5th time I've said all this :bang: )
 
And for the third time in a thread, that is specific to your insurance company....not a general rule. Who insures you?

Front strut brace can increase the chance of frontal susp. damage. It strengthens the front of the car hence in a specific type of crash, the energy can't be removed through ductility of the materials as much but can caused damage elsewhere, e.g. suspension.
 
Yep and being a bodyshop tech you will know that replaceable parts such as wings being damaged is great, suspension turrets being damaged isn't.

This is the whole reason why cars have been given compression zones at the front, to take out energy from an accident inelastically. A strut brace changes this....

Which insurance company are you with?
 
bennyboy said:
Back to the topic in question! A strut brace will actually strengthen your car as well as make it handle & drive better. In the event of an impact it would take some considerable force to move it & damage the other wing if anything it'll withstand a greater impact than the same car without a brace. I would just like to point out I know this because I am a bodyshop technician by trade & I work on crash damaged cars day in day out. I can't see any insurance company saying "no you can't fit that" because if you were to have an impact that heavy the front bumper & bulkhead would probably damage the other wing anyway. The guy on the phone at my insurance company said "so long as the car hasn't been altered drastically in A: it's appearance & B: the engine has not been increased in size or performance.( this is about the 5th time I've said all this :bang: )

Cheers Benny, I will probaly buy the front one alone.
 
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