Front Strut Tower Bar Question

[old greg]

Originally Posted by Bristecom

The bars connecting to the center are the most effective. That's how all the WRC cars I've seen have it.

Center to center is good, but how the bar attaches to the strut tower is much more important than where.

Originally Posted by bneale

This is the "Front Rollbar"

The "anti" is an important part of the term. A roll bar and an anti roll bar are completely different things.

[Draco-REX]

Originally Posted by Bristecom

The bars connecting to the center are the most effective. That's how all the WRC cars I've seen have it.

God I love that engine bay. Anti-lag+no BPV+Boost tube =

[S2kphile]

Originally Posted by tripjammer

But that carbon fiber TRD strut tower bar, looks way cool.

I'll just throw those TRD stuff into a Subaru BRz Engine bay and watch stupid people's

[tlp]

Originally Posted by bneale

Which is why an upper strut mount is the last thing on my mod list when it comes to buying parts for Autocrossing.

Seriously, its like part number 101 on my list of 100 parts. Number 1 being tires, 2 being wheels, and 3 being rollbars.

bneale

I'm street driving most of the time with maybe an occasional track event thrown in. So it will be further down the track before I look at anti-roll bars (we call them sway bars). But wheels, coilovers and exhaust are probably in the top 5 on my list

[Bristecom]

Originally Posted by bneale

Don't take this the wrong way, but just because you can see it, doesn't mean its better.

Trust me, the Rollbars / Swaybars are way more important then an upper strut mount. The sturt mount is only going to stop very small movements between the 2 mounting points. Can you imagine how much force has to be applied before the 2 mounting points actually start to move closer together? Or moving at all?

Again, you can see an upper strut mount (Which is probably why you guys are so interested in them) but the rollbars will make a bigger difference in handling.

Photo for reference. The black bar which runs underneath the transmission and connects to the lower part of the spring is what I'm talking about. This is the "Front Rollbar"

I'm a little confused. Are you comparing the strut mounted bars to the anti-roll bar? Obviously the anti-roll bar is more effective than any top strut bar. But I wasn't comparing the strut bars to an anti-roll bar. I was only comparing a strut bar to the strut to chassis bars. Sorry, I don't know the proper names for all of them...

[Bruninho8]

what do strut bars do??
excuse my ignorance,im new to this stuff

[Bristecom]

Originally Posted by Bruninho8

what do strut bars do??
excuse my ignorance,im new to this stuff

Stiffen the chassis for quicker response/less flex.

[Bruninho8]

oo ok thanks man!

[RiskyTrousers]

Originally Posted by old greg

The "anti" is an important part of the term. A roll bar and an anti roll bar are completely different things.

So whats a roll bar?

[old greg]

Originally Posted by RiskyTrousers

So whats a roll bar?

A safety device intended to prevent squished heads.

[Racecomp Engineering]

It'll be difficult to feel the difference from adding a strut bar on the stock car. It would be more noticeable after you add sticky tires, coilovers, swaybars, etc. and cornering forces increase. But it will not do much at all on a stock car.

I agree that a swaybar (aka anti-roll bar) is a better bang for the buck for improving handling. Strut bars do look cool though.

- Andrew

[Nardi330]

the only reason i want the Cusco strut bar is for the brake stopper. otherwise no point for a strut bar for a street car other than bling.

[TuxedoCartman]

Wow, I did not anticipate this, but I'm going to have to disagree with pretty much everyone's opinions so far (though I will qualify this by saying a lot of the benefits depend greatly on the car in question as well as your driving style).

I've owned or had close ties with seven cars that I've installed a front strut-tower bar in. The only one that it did not have a perceivable effect on was an EP3 Civic Si. There was a noticeable, but minimal effect in a 350Z I owned; and if I had to guess why I'd say it was due to the front midship layout. However, with regards to my 06 JCW Mini, 03 WRX, 93 RX-7, and friends' Pontiac Firebird and AE86 cars... the change in handling just by adding the strut-tower bar was certainly notable, and in my opinion a definite improvement. The cars became much more responsive to steering input, and if any understeer existed before it was greatly diminished or eliminated altogether. (Actually, the Firebird got downright tail-happy, and the MINI became so neutral you could easily have mistaken it for an AWD car).

To further qualify my endorsement: the roads I drove hard on were full of sharp turns, hairpins, and hills that would drop and curve suddenly. It was the sort where I was putting a lot of pressure on the chassis; more like an autocross track than a proper road-course racetrack. I'm sure if I had been living in Vegas or Oklahoma or west Texas at the time, I never would have noticed any improvement at all.

So what do I think with regards to the FR-S/ BRZ? Not sure, but leaning towards it having a minimal influence. Much like the 350Z, this car is supposed to be front-mid layout. Also, it comes from the factory already with two braces running from the struts to the mid of the car. On the other hand, however, Toyota offering the strut-tower bar right away as a TRD part makes me think it's got some benefit.

I don't guess we'll know until more of us get our hands on them, and can see for ourselves. For what it's worth, though, mine arrives either later this month, or early next month, and I am not making any suspension adjustments at all for the first few months (I want to get a feel for the car before tinkering with it). I will however be adding the TRD strut-tower bar within a couple of weeks of getting the car, as these bars have never once made a car of mine perform worse, it's an easy (and quickly reversible) modification, it's lightweight, and (relatively speaking) kinda cheap. So assuming I can find a twisty enough road around Vegas to get a good feel for it before and after, I'll post my impressions soon after.

Just my experience, just my opinions.

[NikostC]

Front strut bars have a small increase in handling. IMO sway bars make much bigger of a difference. They should usually be bought in pairs too (front/rear). But on my car i bought the rear sway bar only and that made it very tail happy/ oversteer but handle amazing. Later i got the front strut and it made it less oversteery but more stable.
TL;DR Buy front & rear sway bar set for handling that rocks