TelBoy

Having left Powerstation the other day without a strut brace, then having seen the threads on here singing their praises, i thought i ought to rectify that situation.

So i got one of Powerstation's Whiteline strut braces.

Easy to fit, took about 20 minutes or so to get it just right and tightened up.

Took it out for a 10 mile "round the block" test drive, and i'm a convert. Some people had told me not to bother, or that it would be a subtle difference. Not so, IMO. MUCH tighter round the corners, really feels as if the car is more solid and controlled.

Only problem now is that my fairly worn Pirelli P6000's on the front aren't good enough for what the chassis can do.

Like i needed an excuse for a pair of Toyo Proxes to match the rear...

Dyney

Now get the rear and lower braces

Mines stiffer than a very stiff thing!!!

Claudius

Bolted strut braces can damage the upper suspension bolts / alter the geometry etc

mutant_matt

Telboy,

I hate to say this but after fitting strut braces, you should get you Geometry done (but didn't you just have this done at PS?)



Matt.

TelBoy

Matt,

Yes i did. I talked to Derek at Powerstation about this before fitting it.

The idea of a strut brace is to keep he distance between the suspension struts the same under cornering, so that any geometry settings you might have work as intended, instead of being thrown out by bulkhead flexing.

Consequently, when fitting a strut brace, there is absolutely no change to the geometry set up, as long as you don't adjust the strut brace so that the distance between the struts is altered while the car is sitting stationary.

So now i've got the geometry sorted, the strut brace just keeps it where it should be. Anyone who fits a strut brace and can't rattle it around a bit before tightening is missing the point - it's the nuts and bolts which should keep suspension mods in place, not the bodyshell!

Terry

ps Claudius, is your cup always half empty, never half full..??

mutant_matt

Tel,

My point was that when you undo the nuts on the strut tops, I thought it was likely that the suspension would "move", thereby needing to be setup again, after the brace is in place......

What did PS say about this?

Matt

[Edited by mutant_matt - 7/31/2002 10:59:37 AM]

Dyney

The suspension shouldn't move if you take 3 nuts off each side.
After all, its got the weight of the car pushing down on it

If you were to drive to car with the nuts off, that's a differant matter.

Have to agree with PS,
As long as you don't load up the brace (adjust it so it's pushing the suspension towers out) it shouldn't need the geom doing.
Though if you haven't had the geom checked for a while it would be prudent to check it after!!

Iain.

[Edited by Dyney - 7/31/2002 12:44:06 PM]

TelBoy

Dyney, correct. Undoing the top three strut nuts doesn't release pressure at all, so there's nothing to move, as long as you don't move the car.

In an ideal world, you'd fit the strut brace before having the geometry set up, but it's apparently not a big deal if you don't, so long as you don't go for a drive whilst it's all undone!

Terry

Claudius

Once you have the strut brace screwed to the suspension top bolts, it will press these to thr right or to the left depending on the corner, to achieve greater stability, which is why you fitted it in the first place. Agreed?

Therefore, stress will be placed on the top suspension bolts under cornering. Agreed?

If you agree, the what is that cup half empty never half full remark supposed to mean?

TelBoy

Claudius,

Whatever. Have you had personal experience of Subarus damaging strut bolts from strut braces? Have IM been naive in fitting them as OE to all STi's? Have there been loads of threads on Scoobynet of people having this experience? No, no and no then.

You seem to post a lot of negative messages. Just wondered if pessimism was your preferred state, i.e your glass being half empty...

Claudius

Terry,

I got the half full half empty message the first time just couldnt understand why you said it.

I never said nor meant to say that strut braces are not the way to go, I said (if you re-read my initial message carefully) that BOLTED strut braces are maybe not that good an idea. And I never meant to say that the bolts would break off or something, just that they may alter the geometry due to repeated forcing on those bolts.

It's really easy to say "Oh wow, cool, mate, nice, I like it". Anybody can do that. I'm sorry if you saw that as being negative. It was just a word of caution, really. I wouldnt like to **** up my geometry regularly, that's it.

Please excuse my unjustified negative attitude. I'm a PITA, a perfectionist. Most people get fed up with me after a few replies each and leave it be. I wonder if you're like that, too.

TelBoy

No probs m8, everyone's entitled to their opinion.

I don't claim to know a lot about the physics of suspension, i just go by what i'm told and what i experience on the road.

Powerstation have, to my knowledge, not had a problem on any car fitted with their strut brace, so that's a track record i can sleep easy at night with. As with all these things, there will be a cautionary side to it. I reckon in this instance, the cautionary side is why the **** didn't Subaru fit strut braces on all Imprezas, given what the majority are capable of...

Terry

Fuzz

I nearly got a strut brace but as the bill was already over a "monkey" I thought i had better let the wallet recover first.
However !!!! (purely out of interest of course )
which of the 2 types of brace did you go for.
and what was the price of them (i forget)
One was all shiny aluminium (sp?)
the other was yellow painted steel (I think).
Personally I preffered the ally one but the price must have been something silly for me not to have bought it

Andy

Claudius

That spelling is correct. I believe aluminum is an accepted American English alternative.

Fuzz

< blows on fingernails and rubs them on chest >

TelBoy

Fuzz,

I went for the ally and yellow pained ends jobby. £85 + vat. Like you, i would have loved the industrial strength, bomb proof shiny one, but at £260, i also flinched.

Unless you've got a race car or dedicated track car, i personally don't think you need something that mental. I'm certainly happy with the "cheaper" version - does what it says on the tin...

Terry

TaviaRS

It comes in a tin?

TelBoy

Yes, cunningly disguised as a long thin yellow cardboard box.

Ingenious!

hawkeye

The Sti V7 i've got came with Sti strut braces front & rear can't comment on whether they made a difference but it. Handles fanatastic and they look good when you open the bonnet. Stainless steel and pink what a combination these japanese like.


Hawkeye

skiddusmarkus

Financial constraints are why they don't come with strut braces,alloy calipers and bells,bulletproof engines and gearboxes and squeekfree interiors.

Trout...

Helps you corner tho

Fuzz

ahh the squeaky interior.
has anyone got a fix for where the dash meets the centre console as it's really starting to get on my **** now !!!
some sort of PTFE dry lube maybe ?
has anyone got any better sugestions

jim litten

Just fitted my brace this week, and its cured some of the dash creaks.

jim