Technical Strut Braces for an Abarth

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Technical Strut Braces for an Abarth

Pooley

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As a follow on from my suspension question in another thread, I'm looking to install front and rear upper strut braces on my Abarth Stilo.

Although the suspension mounts in the front of the engine are welded to the crossbrace under the windscreen, I think a separate brace would add some strength to the setup.

OMP seem to be the de facto supplier for braces, has anyone fitted these and would like to comment on the effect of the brace on the handling?

Are there other strut braces that I should investigate, and do you have a link for the website that would supply these?

Thanks again.

Pooley.
 
In my experience a brace has little or no effect on handling. What it does is tighten up steering feel and may help maintain even wear in the front tyres as it reduces flexing in the front suspension components, particularly the struts...
 
Thanks for all your help, and the link to the strutbrace thread, very interesting.

I'm just off to order a front and rear from strutbracer.co.uk. Decided to fit the rear one as well, even though it'll affect the storage space in the boot, as I fitted an OMP brace on the rear of my Integrale and it made a big difference to the handling going into corners. I hope it'll have the same effect with the Stilo.

Cheers all.
 
In my experience a brace has little or no effect on handling. What it does is tighten up steering feel and may help maintain even wear in the front tyres as it reduces flexing in the front suspension components, particularly the struts...
That's a very honest and interesting opinion considering you have one fitted (y)
 
Order the braces from strutbracers over three weeks ago, and they still haven't arrived. I'll contact them tomorrow to find out where they are.

Then I'll have the fun of trying to fit them. Not looking forward to this bit!
 
Order the braces from strutbracers over three weeks ago, and they still haven't arrived. I'll contact them tomorrow to find out where they are.

Then I'll have the fun of trying to fit them. Not looking forward to this bit!

Have been warned myself about Strutbracer's delivery time-scales. Never actually used them yet, but was advised to use Proven Products. They also do the System 2 suspension kit, which I'm looking into getting, though wouldn't mind stretching to a Bilstein or Eibach kit. Could only see the front strut brace on there though :chin:
 
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Order the braces from strutbracers over three weeks ago, and they still haven't arrived. I'll contact them tomorrow to find out where they are.

Then I'll have the fun of trying to fit them. Not looking forward to this bit!

A few years back they were really good from personal experience, but it seems service has dropped off a little now:(
 
I'm just off to order a front and rear from strutbracer.co.uk. Decided to fit the rear one as well.

Did you get and fit your rear strutbace as I've got one now and was wondering how you managed to fit yours?
 
Well, sorry for the long break from this thread, but at last I've had the braces fitted to the car. Sort of...

Rear strut brace went in fairly easily, just needed a bit of "work" done to the internal trim to allow the strut to go across the back of the boot space.

However, the front was a different matter, as those of you who have had this fitted, or have investigated fitting one, can guess. Yes, the semi-auto gearbox fluid reservoir needs to be moved to allow the brace to connect to the strut. We used bolts to fit the strut brace on, rather than the self-tapping screws/bolts that are suggested on the fitting guide. Then the reservoir was trimmed, and the battery box was also trimmed, to allow everything to fit back together. Unfortunately, we were unable to fit everything back properly, so the reservoir is now wedged between the battery box and the strut brace. Even though it's not fixed down, it can't move from it's current position as the hoses and the fact it's wedged down by the battery box means that it's not going anywhere. Longer term, I plan to have new reservoir fabricated to replace the original one. It shouldn't be expensive, and I can get it done by a company nearby that does custom bits for racing bikes and cars.

The effect on the handling is very positive. The car now feels more secure on the road, and coupled with the recent damper/spring upgrade I did, has removed just about all of the roll in corners. This was my main issue with the Stilo's handling, too much body roll. The other big improvement is that the understeer I felt previously has turned to oversteer, which I greatly prefer. Comfort wise, I don't think it's made the car feel any different, and anyway the firm dampers/springs I had fitted have had a much bigger effect on the comfort of long distance driving.

One other thing, the front tires on my Stilo are always more worn on the inside edges, so I hope the braces will help alleviate this.

Overall, it's a great upgrade for not a lot of money. Just a bit fiddly. It removes a lot of the car's understeer and I hope it will help with tire wear.
 
Well, sorry for the long break from this thread, but at last I've had the braces fitted to the car. Sort of...

Rear strut brace went in fairly easily, just needed a bit of "work" done to the internal trim to allow the strut to go across the back of the boot space.

However, the front was a different matter, as those of you who have had this fitted, or have investigated fitting one, can guess. Yes, the semi-auto gearbox fluid reservoir needs to be moved to allow the brace to connect to the strut. We used bolts to fit the strut brace on, rather than the self-tapping screws/bolts that are suggested on the fitting guide. Then the reservoir was trimmed, and the battery box was also trimmed, to allow everything to fit back together. Unfortunately, we were unable to fit everything back properly, so the reservoir is now wedged between the battery box and the strut brace. Even though it's not fixed down, it can't move from it's current position as the hoses and the fact it's wedged down by the battery box means that it's not going anywhere. Longer term, I plan to have new reservoir fabricated to replace the original one. It shouldn't be expensive, and I can get it done by a company nearby that does custom bits for racing bikes and cars.

The effect on the handling is very positive. The car now feels more secure on the road, and coupled with the recent damper/spring upgrade I did, has removed just about all of the roll in corners. This was my main issue with the Stilo's handling, too much body roll. The other big improvement is that the understeer I felt previously has turned to oversteer, which I greatly prefer. Comfort wise, I don't think it's made the car feel any different, and anyway the firm dampers/springs I had fitted have had a much bigger effect on the comfort of long distance driving.

One other thing, the front tires on my Stilo are always more worn on the inside edges, so I hope the braces will help alleviate this.

Overall, it's a great upgrade for not a lot of money. Just a bit fiddly. It removes a lot of the car's understeer and I hope it will help with tire wear.

your tyre wear will improve mate, has with mine, very even across the front tyre, my rears are worn on the outside, but i havnt changed them since it was new so thats probably why:D
 
your tyre wear will improve mate, has with mine, very even across the front tyre, my rears are worn on the outside, but i havnt changed them since it was new so thats probably why:D

Red, did the OMP front brace foul on the connectors plugging in to the ECU? (Top right hand side of engine). They look like they would at least knock against the bar..?
 
Thanks for that Red. I'm probably going to get a full set of Toyo Proxes fitted soon, damn good even if they're not the bargains nowadays that they used to be. Front tires are a set of Vikings, horrible but I needed something to get through the MOT and they were the best I could get on the day. Rears are some rebadged Continentals, been meaning to replace them but they're lasting forever. That'll be the last of my work on the suspension and tires.

One other thing I forgot to mention. The guide on this site states that the front strut brace should be tightened to push the struts out (I think). However, John at Bob Brain Developments down in Cinderford said that the brace needs to be set at the middle, neutral position, whilst the car is sat on the road. Don't know what other people think of this, or what everyone else has done. Comments?
 
Thanks for that Red. I'm probably going to get a full set of Toyo Proxes fitted soon, damn good even if they're not the bargains nowadays that they used to be. Front tires are a set of Vikings, horrible but I needed something to get through the MOT and they were the best I could get on the day. Rears are some rebadged Continentals, been meaning to replace them but they're lasting forever. That'll be the last of my work on the suspension and tires.

One other thing I forgot to mention. The guide on this site states that the front strut brace should be tightened to push the struts out (I think). However, John at Bob Brain Developments down in Cinderford said that the brace needs to be set at the middle, neutral position, whilst the car is sat on the road. Don't know what other people think of this, or what everyone else has done. Comments?

neutral position mate i beleive, mine is anyway:cool:
 
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