Hello there

I just bought a OMP strut brace off ebay brand new from a dealer for £9.99, bargin or what.
Do you think cars handle better with a rear strut brace on them... Im looking out for a front one now seen a few on e bay so ill grab one from there ..

rob
:nerner:

yeah, u can tell with a rear strut on, deffo stiffens the rear up. i got mine from a dealer for £5.99 off ebay nah nah lol

extreamly easy to fit, 5 min job

Dunc

What a bargin, I had to weld the top turrets up on mine but i welded a whole complete arch in so you cant even notice its been done ( im a welder by trade ) so i thought a rear strut would help and look pretty sweet..
Did you reshell you car? i was reading your resto file but it was faaaaaaaaarto long. looks phat thou mate.. :slayer:

yeah unfortunatly i had to reshell, but i transfered all the ID over onto the new shell, so its still a uno turbo on the log book

cheers for the comments, sorry its got so long the thread lol! oops!



Dunc

That's how i was gonna start out, i bought a rusty old turbo and was gonna buy a good shell but instead i bought a turbo, far cheaper option and takes up less space in my garage lol..
Mines not the greatest uno turbo but i'm giving it the love it needs so ill get there in the end, im gonna post some pics when the paint work is all polished and the brace is in place etc etc. At the mo just a rather dull bulk standard uno turb... ill get there..
Let me know on that boost guage help asap bud..

Dunc Uno Turbo said:

yeah unfortunatly i had to reshell, but i transfered all the ID over onto the new shell, so its still a uno turbo on the log book

Click to expand...

Dunc, shhhhhhhhh!!! No-one needs to know this, even though I suggested it to you along with Alex in a few cryptic postings

hellow seniors !!

I have some doubts. What is the use of front & rear strut brace? is it stabilizes the car more ? is there any difference in handling? or is it for safety purpose in case of a collition ?

We have no strut braces available cheap(not so popular )so have to build one if it's any good for the car. Pls guide and advise.

premrajeev said:

hellow seniors !!

I have some doubts. What is the use of front & rear strut brace? is it stabilizes the car more ? is there any difference in handling? or is it for safety purpose in case of a collition ?

We have no strut braces available cheap(not so popular )so have to build one if it's any good for the car. Pls guide and advise.

Click to expand...

hey there, it helps with the handling of the car. i would definatly get front and rear strut braces u will notice the difference!

Dunc

All right, well I have an OMP rear strut brace, as it happens. I'd love to say that it was hugely worthwhile, BUT...

How can this thing be any help? It ties the two rear shock absorber spindles together, not the turrets themselves. The shock absorbers don't locate the wheels anyway (the trailing arms do that, the shocks are up/down only), so I don't see how it can make any difference to the suspension geometry or the stiffness of the bodyshell.

I can see how a front strut brace could be useful, because the struts locate the wheels at the front. But I think the rear strut brace is just for show, and it stops you getting as much in the back as well...

-Alex

Thank you Alex, someone has actually spotted they will actually make the car handle WORSE.

A strut brace should be there to add strength to the turrets that hold the shocks in place, the OMP rear one does not do this.

As i rally my Uno i needed one for the added strength so i bough a Sparco Universal one (the larger of the two) and bolted it across the rear turrets. Not sure as to adding to the handling as the car already had a cage and sorted suspension.

However the front one OMP does work, and probably saved my shell from complete collapse. Now when i fit it i have to hammer it into place the 'strech' the front turrets back into the correct place.

Note i have had to plate the top mounts at the front with 6mm steel to stop them falling apart and have ceracked the NS one again and have to add welding and plating to this area after a hedge 'incident' on the Yorkshire enduro, which also bent the a-pilalar back and popped the top NS part of the screen out !!!!!
Impact also bent the NS TCA and pushed the rear beam back !

I'll chuck my rear one out then and buy a decent one. Cheers for the tips guys, makes perfect sense when you think about it.

I'm curious to know why you think it makes the handling worse?

I can see the benefits of the rear one are a little false but unless you can justify why it makes it worse i fail to see why is doesnt add some stiffness to the rear.

As i see it it cant make the rear any less stiff, so where do they go wrong?

Tom

As it mounts on top of the shocker shaft the loads it abosrbs (upwards) on one side will then be transferred to the other side reducing the amount the opposing side can move upwards. Not something you want happening, remember your after a strut-brace, ie bracing the shell stopping the weaknesses in the shell showing up, this can't happen with the OMP one.

I'm not saying it will make handling hugely worse on a standard car, where the change is masked by all sorts of other weaknesses ie shell flexing, weak shockers etc....

Fit them if you want, its just they won't do the job they are sold as doing. If all your after is looks and being able to say you've got one fitted then carry on.

Anyone wanting details of the Sparco one let me know, think i have a pic somewhere.

P.S. Just been working on the rally car and assessing the damage from the last rally and i now have to repair the front strut brace where it absorbed a lot of forces

Also guess my rear strut brace works as we had a landing from about 5-6 foot in the air on one stage where we landed on the rear passenger wheel, bent the rim but the shell at the back was fine.

I'm trying to picture what happens when the shock absorber is loaded! I have modded mounts and a welded in brace as part of my cage so cant picture one but i can now picture where you're coming from if the brace moves up when you hit a bump..??

Tom

Yes that is what happens with a OMP one.

Doesn't do exactly what it says on the tin then! lol

Tom

Thankfully, common sense prevails and the myth about those cheap OMP rear strut braces has been dispelled by knowledgeable members of the forum.

As by their name, they are supposed to be STRUT BRACES, not shock absorber braces. They are supposed to add extra strength by linking the strut tops together, not the shock absorbers. Solidly linking the struts stops the shell from flexing under load and upsetting steering geometry. The shocks are rubber mounted anyway, so there's even less strength involved if you link just them.

Either weld a bar between the strut tops, adapt a front mounted strut brace to solidly mount on the struts or fit a decent rollcage. Those OMP rear braces are a complete waste of money

I'm gonna weld one for the front !!Is there any specification to be maintained ??

I will try posting pics of the same being made..

Good plan. Welding your own will definitely prove most cost-effective. I would say just weld it to whatever the spacing is at the moment.

Re: tying the two rear strut turrets together by welding to the strut turrets. I can't see that this will make much difference to handling, since it's the rear axle beam that locates the wheels (not the strut turrets). But I can see that it would make the shell a little stronger in the event of a rallying crash; something a rollcage would do anyway.

I think our conclusion then is that a front strut brace is probably beneficial (and certainly adds to durability), but a rear strut brace probably makes no difference to handling? The people that have them fitted probably also have other changes to rear springs, rear shocks... etc. Dunc certainly does

-Alex