MATSU Front Strut Bar (Review)
 

I spent a couple days looking at all the strut bar options on the market for the twins (GOOD LORD THERE ARE A LOT!) and I swore I would buy STI bits for my car, but I just could not justify almost $500 for the STI strut bar...

I've had strut bars before on my Impreza and always found they made a difference and I could tell my BRZ needed something to tighten up the front end after getting the sticky tires installed.

I decided on an under $200 budget, and wanted something subdued for the engine bay that looked stock, plus didn't interfere with the A/C lines or use the same bolt holes as the stock triangular bar reinforcements.

I found this MATSU strut bar on Ebay, looked into a little after finding who actually sells them: http://www.jdmgoodie.com/category_s/46.htm

Apparently they've made bars for Mazdas and other cars for a couple years and the reviews have been pretty good from what I found. The quality and construction is top notch. So I gave it a whirl, especially for the price...

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../matsu2jpg.jpg

Recieved it in the mail just like this. Some extra packaging but not much. No installation instructions and no origin of manufacture. I can't tell for sure if its made in Japan, or China, or who knows where on the website: http://matsumotorsports.com/default_start.asp

Anyway, the build quality of this bar is great. I'm a little weary of the bolts that hold it down, but two bolts is better than the single bolts most adjustable bars use.
VERY nice finish to the bar, not sure if its powdercoated or anodized but it doesn't scratch easily and looks fantastic in the engine bay or by itself. The bolts too are pretty good quality. VERY solid bar, I could put weight on it and it doesn't bend. Its some sort of box-tube design according to the website.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...BRZ/matsu1.jpg

^ You can see what the finish is like in that photo with the sun reflecting on it. Quite nice. I also like the Japanese writing on the bar :wub:

Looks so good on the car. Clears the A/C lines 100% as I expected after seeing the location and how this bar is laid out. No need for relocation! Plus, the way its designed I could add a Grimspeed bar or a FT86 bar or even something like the GT-Spec bar at a later date.

Weighs about 7 or 8 pounds or so. Its not aluminum and not super light, but its not super heavy either.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...BRZ/matsu3.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...BRZ/matsu4.jpg

In terms of handling?

YES it makes a difference! I have a "test corner" near my house I test every single mod I ever do, its a perfect S-curve that lets me push the car hard and not be insane while doing so.

Instantly noticed increased steering response and a more "solid" feel to the front end of the car. Perhaps a tad more under steer as some people state, but I can easily adjust it by just turning HARDER into the corner and giving it more gas, this car just loves to be abused :burnrubber:

At any rate, quite happy with this mod and do recommend this bar, despite being a complete unknown!


Ease of Installation: Installation was a breeze, only required loosening the 4 bolts and re-tightening them after getting the strut sides installed and tightened. I will recheck in a few days to see if they loosened but my guess is they wont with the locking washers.

Cost: I paid $160, there are cheaper bars out there that might do the same thing, but I liked the design and build design of this over some of the other offerings.

I'd love to believe this, but I know of two twins racing in professional series and neither are running strut tower bars. I know they run other bracing in other places and maybe that's why, and one for sure is running the brake MS brace.. But both ditched the STB because of added weight and no difference in feel.. We have a cusco up at the shop, I may ask the guy if I can try it out before he comes to pick it up just to test..


That bar looks great btw.. One of the best looking ones out there

On a race track with gradual turns and smooth surfaces, it might actually be really hard to notice a difference. You don't make sharp turns on a race track, and surfaces aren't uneven. And most race cars install actual welded-in reinforcements not el-cheapo bars like this.

Plus it might be hard to notice a difference on a stock car with low grip levels. Depends on the quality of your butt dyno and how hard you push your car :P

Not sure what to say.

If you were here I would gladly let you retest it in the exact same fashion.

I doubt the car is technically "faster" in any way, but its more enjoyable and predictable now.

This isn't my first rodeo as I've said, but i'm no professional race car driver nor do I have a degree in engineering. I just test and retest until I get what I want out of my car. I've got plenty of other threads on other forums over the last 15 years or so.

lol @ CSG

Looks like a cool part. Thanks for the review.

The benefit or the lack there of was debated a lot in the GrimmSpeed thread.
I quite liked this test:

I never doubt the usefulness of a strut tower bar for a McPherson strut setup. The way this review was worded is very misleading. The race track is not an end all discussion type of statement, however, the very nature of true testing comes from race track testing. Whether the track is a slow or fast circuit, most race tracks are not entirely smooth. If they were completely smooth, who the hell needs suspension to begin with? This is the very nature of the statement I was trying to come up with.

With that said, all bars will do something. If it is subdued, it is because you changed the very nature of the chassis's modal frequency, hence, the normal resonance you may feel from the chassis will be changed at a different loading spec.

If anything, reducing the number joints and tolerances is more ideal for a bar. In this case, the bar is not completely rigid and may have a maximum material condition that causes "excessive" movement in the bar making it less useful than intended. These are just more instances on bar selection for purpose over looks.

Just for reference, this strut bar was a compromise for me. Its not the best one out there, nor is it my ideal solution. I couldn't justify spending huge amount of money on one, nor could I find one I like I really wanted.

I also would normally state buy a quality suspension first, but even the stock struts/springs are extremely well sorted on this car, I don't plan on making the move to coilovers. Plus the STI tS model comes stock with the STI bar, which tells me something, and one of the first engine bay photos we ever saw under the hood looked like this:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...jen/ft86-4.jpg

That triangulated super-beefy welded in bar is my IDEAL solution, but not practical and I have no interest in permanently changing the chassis of this car, I plan on keeping it forever in as good of shape as I can.

If I were to design one myself, it would probably look like this:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...tbardesign.jpg

The lateral bar as far back as possible, triangulated, using ALL the strut tower bolts including the extra ones on each side that the factory supports use, and preferably of a lighter weight. The hotchkis bar is close, but not quite there, and was up there on my list but price and not-using-enough-strut-bolts were downsides for me.

Ah ok, I apologize. I didn't intend that. I over generalized everything.

I mostly do autox or just have some fun on backroads twisties when I safely can, so most of my spirited driving comes with a lot of sudden weight shifts and less predictable situations.

The tracks I've been on are mostly large sweepers, and everything happens slower with more purpose and predictability. My point was that testing it on a track might not show the benefits of chassis mods as much as other situations is all.

Perrin or Grimmspeed make a good bar that won't break the bank. While simple, it shows that it was manufactured well enough with proper clearance holes so it fits properly. It is a single rigid bar that mounts directly to the strut towers. You don't need anything beefy. The picture above shows that the car has a rollcage where the entire car has to be reinforced for that particular racing sanction and to keep the driver safe.

I would advise against the STI bar. A flexible strut bar does not make sense. Someone has to provide me that engineering data to explain the reason behind that interesting concept.

Check out AEM's bar. I was just researching them last night and idk why it doesn't get more love. Beastly looking welded triangle w an integrated MC brace. THmotorsports has it for $170. Trying to keep my credit card out of sight...

I like the Grimmspeed bar and might run it in conjunction with this bar, but on its own i'm concerned about the minimal amount of connection points and interference with the A/C line. Perrin bar is the same situation.

The Carbing bar was the other bar I considered:

http://www.dsgperformance.com/assets...erformance.jpg

But the only one I found I could afford came in white, and I didn't feel like repainting it... They have different material ones too, the steel ones are cheap but the fancy titanium ones are GOD DAMN PRICEY! Its awesome they used ALL the strut top bolts in the design, and kept it one piece with a nice hollow bar.

I just found this one from FRSmod:

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/019...g?v=1372183916

Probably more of what I was looking for, but that strut mounting style seems odd, perhaps could easily sheer off the strut bolts. Don't know, would have to see it up close.
The STI flexible bar has been around for 10 or so years on previous JDM Imprezas... Usually combined with the undercar chassis braces that have iddy biddy shock absorbers in them.

The idea from what I researched, is that the flexible bar keeps the lateral motion solid when it needs to be, but when one strut goes up from a bump the other side doesn't go up as well, maintaining ride quality and the independent suspension I guess?

I wouldn't mind a real STI one (or even a TRD one) that doesn't have the flex but still the same build quality and half the price.
AEM was on the short list, especially cause of the MC brace. But its the HEAVIEST of all by far, probably 3x heavier than this MATSU bar, and interferes with the A/C line too.

Even so, almost pulled the trigger on one I found for $150... But I figured I'd try this MATSU bar since nobody else had even heard of it.