RICH WILD

Heard reports that front strutbrace on scoob is waste of time as it has to be bent to go round intercooler.

What about rear?

Anyone recommend them?

Rich

Richard Askew

I have a TSL front brace on my 97 Wagon - and IMHO it improves the turn in on tight bends and leaves the front end more precise and less wobbly on open flowing quick stuff....havent tried a rear brace yet - aint found one at the right price

Jza

Got a front for my MY01 WRX.

Looks cool and seems more solid in the corners

Jza

RICH WILD

Cheers fellas,

Gonna get one I think.

Anyone any negative reports?

Rich

NAF

Got one in my MY99
Hard to say if it made much difference as I changed the springs for Eibachs pro at the same time
You'll find that opinion varies on them
Some swear by em .....others think they so nothing for ya
IMHO I reckon you cant go far wrong with something like an omp brace
Theyre not very expensive and do the job as good as the more expensive ones

Niall

Subie Gal

if you have a seriously upgraded suspension then a front strut brace becomes a necessity...

i drove w/out mine for a week (while upgrading to a better one) and the car creaked and moaned like mad from the front suspension...

definately more than eye candy if you've upgraded your suspension...

if not... i am not certain that you'll notice THAT much of a difference... but it is performing it's intended job...

j.

MorayMackenzie

It's advisable to get your suspension geometry setup again after you change/fit a strutbrace... fitting one can throw the geometry out of line and swallow your tyre's tread.

Jza

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by MorayMackenzie:
<B>It's advisable to get your suspension geometry setup again after you change/fit a strutbrace... fitting one can throw the geometry out of line and swallow your tyre's tread.[/quote]

I got my brace fitted at the dealers from new - do you recon they would have had the sense to check?

Jza

WREXY

I read somewhere that the WRC scooby cars dont use them, apparently they handle better without them

Hoppy

I think Subie Gal's got it right - unless you've got some serious competition suspension fitted you won't notice the difference.

I would only add that most of the cheap after-market front strut braces ain't worth a light. Mainly because of the double-dog-leg shape up and behind the intercooler, they are fundamentally mechanically flawed. They don't stand a chance of resisting the huge forces coming through the suspension towers.

Maybe that's why the STi carbon fibre jobbies are £400-plus.

Richard.

daw

Popular strut brace myths exploded :

1). WRC cars don't have one so they musn't be any good: FALSE. Of course they don't have one, they have a FULL ROLLCAGE that provides structual strength that is totally unachievable on a road car. There's no need!

2). It is advisable to get your suspension geometry checked after installing one: FALSE. There's three ways that a strut brace will change your geometry
1. It's the wrong size.
2. It has been impromperly installed.
3. Your car is in a bad way.
It shouldn't make any difference to your car when it is standing still on FLAT GROUND. If it does, there's a problem. Of course if you bought the car from a dealer with it fitted then I would definitely get the car checked as dealers never do a wheel alignment as part of pre-delivery even though they are supposed to. This is why I think people are so happy when they get the "Prodrive" settings.. but that's another story.

3). Unless you have serious competition suspension you will not notice a difference. FALSE. Best example of this is Whiteline's recent track testing of individual suspension components for a WRX as reported in one of the Australian mags. By itself it made a marked difference even in the wet. Also, ask anyone that has done back to back testing around a track I have seen a few examples first hand!

4). A strut brace that is bent won't work. FALSE. See above, the Whiteline strut brace tested is cheap AUD$180 (around 63 UK pounds) and works very well.

Take home rule from all this.
You can never have your car too stiff when it comes to handling.

David

Hoppy

daw, I'd like to believe that you're right about even cheap, dog-leg shaped strut braces being worthwhile. Especially as I've got one. But I don't believe it.

Why don't Prodrive include a strut brace in their Driving Enhancement package?

Why have Prodrive told me personally that even the STi brace will "only give a marginal improvement at best?"

I agree that stiffer is better (ooer) but that's just not possible on an Impreza due to the intercooler.

Richard

daw

Hi Richard,

I don't know why Prodrive don't fit a strut brace as part of their package... then again, they are the ones that came up with those "Prodrive" settings which I don't like at all either.

Actually, thinking about it, the Prodrive settings are very much for cruising type driving, a bit of toe in to provide straight line stability etc. I guess they probably don't really do any track testing, preferring to focus on a fast road car? This is after all what they are in the market of providing! This may make some sense as to why they don't recommend a strut brace.

Not that there's any problem with any of this, but I like to take my car around the track and this is where the real benefit of a strut brace comes in. It's under the severe compression and extension loads that cause camber changes that you get the benefit of the strut brace and believe me the WRX really cops the effects of these on the track!

Regards,

David

mutant_matt

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Hoppy:
<B>Why have Prodrive told me personally that even the STi brace will "only give a marginal improvement at best?"[/quote]

Hoppy,

perhaps it's 'cos the STi brace is about as rigid as an elastic band????

Matt

RICH WILD

Thanks for everyone's input.

There's certainly a good cross section of opinion going on here.

Unfortunately I'm now more confused than ever!!

Rich

Hoppy

Rich, confusion is all part of the fun of this BBS!

My front strutbrace (E-Tech brushed alloy from Demon Tweaks, £80) certainly does no harm and looks nice.

It was also very easy to fit as the bolts protruding from the suspension towers had over 1cm of spare thread on them (UK00 car). So I simply bolted them on top, secured with nylock nuts. Absolutely no risk of upsetting the geometry.

Richard.

Jza

Rich,

The answers here range from "looks cool" to MUST have.

So if youve got the dosh what have you got to lose?

Jza

RICH WILD

Good point Jza,

I'm going to order them now!

I've read somewhere that the 97MY cars received a stiffer rear anti roll bar or something. Mine's a 96 so I've even more reason to do it.

Cheers everyone
Rich

[This message has been edited by RICH WILD (edited 10 May 2001).]

Paul_H

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by RICH WILD:
<B>Heard reports that front strutbrace on scoob is waste of time as it has to be bent to go round intercooler.

What about rear?

Anyone recommend them?

Rich[/quote]

On a 4 door impreza, if you look in the boot under the "parcel shelf" what do you see....a metal crossmember which connects very near to the rear strut top mounts....surely this must make a rear strutbace a bit pointless?

andyp

Rich,

STOP!!!!

if your car is a MY96 I would forget about a strut brace as it is a waste of money AT THE MOMENT. In my opinion, the best upgrades you can do are as follows:
1) Stiffer rear AR bar (£70)
2) If you have std 15" wheels, get some cheap 2nd hand 16" wheels off the For Sale Section (~£180)
3) Go to Powerstation and get them to fit the items and get the Bumpsteer removal mod. (£??)
4) Drive your car and you will REALLY notice the difference.
5) (should actually be 2b) buy some 2nd hand springs and dampers off a MY00 from the For Sale Section. (~£150?)
If you can't do the whole lot then do it in stages.

If you haven't done any of these mods on your MY96 or MY95 then you are just making minor improvements in a flawed setup. Sort the big things out first and the rest may follow. Sorry for being a little harsh but after reading your last post I don't want you to spend money on a strut-brace if it's good handling on a MY96 is what you're really after.

Cheers,


Andy

PS. If you want more info I'll be glad to help!

Scooby South

With LEDA Option B and a 24mm rear sway bar..the Strut bars tighten everything up...N squeaks or rattles...the Rear was more noticeable than the front....Helps the rear track better

RICH WILD

Cheers guys,

As luck would have it I was just about to order 2 strut braces when someone offered me a HKS Hiper exhaust system to buy .

Mmmmmmm, Let me think?

Strut braces lost out!

Rich