Quick and dirty review of whiteline strut bar

[ddeflyer]

So I got and installed the Whiteline front strut tower brace on my car this weekend and thought I would do a quick and dirty review of it. I don't have any pictures on me so I will update the post tonight when I get home, but in the mean time here is my thoughts:

When I got my roll bar installed I found that the added stiffness on the rear of the car made the tail a little less predictable than it had been previously (it kind of wasn't breaking traction as smoothly). Essentially the window of acceptable tire pressures to keep traction on the rear shrank quite a bit (the only alignment I have on the rear is zero toe, no camber). After a few track days feeling it out I decided to do something of a hail Marry and see what a strut tower brace would do. I'd read that the 86 platform doesn't benefit much from them, but logically this seemed like at least a plausible counter measure. I choose the Whiteline bar because it was Friday and I was about to head to Thunerhill and Mann Engineering had it in stock (I would have preferred one without the joints and not quite so shiny).

I did Saturday without the bar and then installed it Sunday morning. The result was immediately noticeable. The rear wheels of the car are now breaking traction predictably and smoothly basically like it was before I had the roll bar installed. I've also noticed that the car feels stiffer when I get one front wheel lifted (for example turning into a driveway).

All this said though, note that I am looking at this from the perspective of having the rear over stiffened by the roll bar. Without such an effect I suspect you would see little difference or possibly even an increased tendency towards understeer.

In my specific circumstances I would buy the strut tower brace again for sure.

[tahdizzle]

So you have a rear sway, stock front sway, and a strut tower?

[wparsons]

Which strut brace did you install, front or rear?

*edit, nevermind... found it.

I find it hard to believe that a front strut bar is doing much for rear traction at the limit. Especially on a chassis that is already pretty stiff stock.

[ddeflyer]

Originally Posted by tahdizzle

So you have a rear sway, stock front sway, and a strut tower?

Sway bars are all stock, haven't touched them at all.

[tahdizzle]

Okay. So you added a roll-bar which stiffened the car all together which made the rear too stiff for you resulting in unpredictable oversteer.

Then you added the strut tower, thus stiffening up the front and now its more predictable.

With the car out of the factory being pretty stiff, my thoughts are the those braces are not very functional. I have not been in a twin with a roll bar either though.

Well at least you're satisfied with it.

[ddeflyer]

Originally Posted by wparsons

Which strut brace did you install, front or rear?

*edit, nevermind... found it.

I find it hard to believe that a front strut bar is doing much for rear traction at the limit. Especially on a chassis that is already pretty stiff stock.

I think my case is a rather unusual situation; I have a welded in roll bar which had a very large effect upon the rear of the car. These cars are very stiff, but 1.5" DOM tubing is very rigid stuff and welds don't tend to give much either. I know another person that had a roll bar installed and saw similar issues, though her solution was to get a bunch of suspension work done.

Really I think the strut tower brace just brought it back to a more balanced state regarding the stiffness of the chassis front to rear. From what I've seen I think I think I might even recommend against such a brace unless you have something substantially stiffening the chassis in the rear.

[wparsons]

If anything, I would think more chassis stiffness at the rear would make it more predictable unless chassis flex was hiding a flaw in the suspension setup.

[ddeflyer]

Originally Posted by wparsons

If anything, I would think more chassis stiffness at the rear would make it more predictable unless chassis flex was hiding a flaw in the suspension setup.

I honestly don't know what the dynamics are to cause this; I can only say what I am feeling (as biased as that might be). I perceived a distinctly more predictable and gradual oversteer after installing the front strut brace.

To be honest, I am struggling to explain the change that the roll bar had. It was sort of like the transition from generally linear direction to substantial slide happened very very fast (and was much more impacted by the track's little bumps) where as before it would be a bit more progressive. It was sort of like when you have your tires way over pressure except a little different. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that some camber on the rear wheels might also have brought back the progressive transition, but the parts for that are only being delivered today.

In the end I am very happy with the change as it feels more like stock did except I have my racing seats and harnesses.