Strut-Tower bar does work !!!

Awwwww man!!! Say it ain't so!!

I got mine in. Installed it without any problems. I may not be racing it, but am ready to weave and dart violently in traffic and see how it works!!

I never did get it over 40mph so far. (Returned the torque bar to a neighbor). Having driven mine for 4 years now, I can say that there is a different "feel". Having never been in a newer Porsche, I don't know if that is the "feel" I am feeling or not.

qmtran, do you have this on your prius?

 

IMO, he is wrong at least with respect to a strut tower brace on the Gen II Prius. I put one on my Gen II, and it truly made a night and day difference. I think it single-handily turns what is arguably the worst handling and least fun to drive car of its size anywhere, into a car that's fun to drive. And you don't have to go at high speeds to notice its effects. The reduction in turn-in lean and body roll is noticeable even when making slow turns from a stop.

EDIT: Here's GadgetDad's how-to photos and instructions which I put into a Word file which you can print-out and/or download onto your laptop's hard drive so that you can do the installation anywhere. Besides a socket wrench, a torque wrench would be good for this and other uses. It's an easy installation even for a true idiot like me.

Attached Files: BT Tech Strut Tower Brace Install - By GadgetDad (Lee) v2.doc

EDIT #2: macmaster05 will notice a less dramatic difference from the strut tower brace because he has a Touring Edition Prius which already has wider front and rear stabilizer bars and different rear shocks and springs (and also, different front shocks and springs from 2004-2005 Priuses) than the Standard Prius.

 

My boy racer coworker was talking to me about this last week and he said that lowering springs (or coilovers) make the biggest difference of all the suspension upgrades. Any suspension mod after that is not as noticeable. If you're using stock springs you may think the strut bar is a big improvement. But if you're already on lowering springs, you may not notice. So, if I had to choose between the strut tower bar and springs I'd definitely choose springs.

 

Some / a lot of people don't want to lower their cars. My front spoiler has lots of scrapes and scratches, and the passenger side corner piece of my rear spoiler went missing a long time ago.

 

Hey man, speak for yourself - I live my life 1/4 mile at a time.

 

Yes...if lower springs really do lower the car, then I REALLY don't want to do that. I dodge paper towels in the road now as it is.

 

The difference is all in your head. It's the I bought something and it works syndrome. Go ask a shop specializing in suspension work. I came from a fully tuned 92 MR2 Turbo that I use for the track. Now, if I can't feel the difference when that car is stock to that car being all braced out in the street, I'm pretty sure you can't tell the difference either.

40mph is not going to tell you anything at all. There is not enough stress on the chassis to highlight the difference. Don't believe me, let your friend drive the car one day. The next day or week, remove the bar and let them drive it again. Ask if there is a difference.

 

Sorry but you are wrong. Body roll are not effected by a strut tower bar. Body roll is effected by roll bars aka sway bars and major body bracing like a roll cage. You can minimize some roll with stiffer springs and strut combo or thicker sway bars.

The strut tower bars are designed to keep the two strut tops from flexing inwards and up too much during hard cornering. But in all honesty, if a strut tower brace has the screw type(screw connection between the bar and the top bolt bracket) it is mostly for show. As the strut tower raises or lowers(flexing) during a corner, the pivoting joint moves, thus not creating a brace.

A truly effective bar has to be welded at the joints to maximize the bars effect.

Think I'm wrong, go talk to racing teams. I once thought the same thing as well till someone corrected me.

You are having a placebo effect.

 

Then why the heck are you driving a Prius??? LOL. Go get a Civic.

 

One last thing, I drive my Prius hard. I slide her around corners sometimes and I race other cars in my Prius around corners. She handles fine as is. Sometimes I beat other cars, ie Mercedes, BMW's, Integras because I know how to handle a car and I have more balls to go all out then them. I Installed the G7 Brace and felt no difference at all. And with all modifications, the Strut Tower Braces are normally the last on the list if it is not triangulated to the cars frame/chassis.

If I were to do some suspension improvements, I'd say I would install stiffer shocks and matching springs. Along with some chassis bracing ie Tom's.

 

Congrads. on your new strut bar which worked good for your car.
For the G7 chassis stiffeining plate, I've installed it for half year. Very good improvement. You will know after you install it. It takes only 30 minutes to do. Enjoy.

 

You are having a placebo effect from being over-impressed by listening to "racing teams". If they are telling you a bar has welded to be effective they don't have a clue what they are talking about.

 

I really know what you mean. I feel the same way too. I used to do the same thing in my Prius but lately I don't feel like killing my shocks. Just be safe out there.

 

And your proof sir? You have some effect with the bolt joint bars but nothing significant that it would become noticeable at normal street driven speeds. That was my point. What you guys are preceiving to be major improvements are just your brain assuming something is happening because you paid for it and put it on your car.

My proof is that if you look on cars equipped with stock strut tower bars, they are welded at the joints, not bolted.

Secondly, look at the bars w/ bolts. The bar is connected to the bracket where the movement created is up and down. That is same direction and movement that the car's strut tower moves under stress. That movement is up and down. How does this allowing something to move up and down cancel out and create structural rigidity? It doesn't. Anything else sir?

I don't always listen and leave it be. I like to think to myself and figure out why it works and how it works before I invest my money into something.

Why don't you go get some hyper blinking turn signal fluid. I heard it adds 50 hp to the wheels.

 

Production strut bars are welded because that is faster and cheaper on a production line. Rigidity gains over bolting for long slender members working under tension and compression are very small.

The purpose of strut bars is to reduce side to side movement of the strut towers, not up and down. A blind man could see that with a stick

 

You cannot be serious. I think a cheap $0.05 bolt is cheaper then welding.

The inside wheels strut tower moves up under load. There is slight movement to the center of the car due to the fact that it is attached to the chassis at a small angle. So you get an up and slightly inward movement.

Even if you don't believe so, I will play out the side to side movement for you. As the 2 towers compress inward to the center of the car, the bolted section would allow the bracket to rotate and not creating a complete brace.

That's why the best bars are welded and triangulated.

 

Bullshit.

 

I love that combined message and sig line.:rockon:

 

Ignorance. Like I said, go do a controlled test. Use a third party, aka a friend. Let them drive it w and without the bar. But dont tell them when you removed the bar. Then after that, go eat your bull pie.

 

^There was a post about this a long time ago - but it was with a chassis brace, not a strut tower bar (which for obvious reasons is even less effective). A man put it on for his wife's car. She came back and said it worked great. But he had lied and had not done anything to the car. Then he told his wife he took off the bar for some odd reason. She came back and reported she felt a lot of sway, when in fact that's when he'd just installed the brace.