strut braces good or not?

Right then,are they just for show?? strut braces,are they worth fitting??
I have 3 brand new ones,one for between the lower bottom arm bolts,one for the top strut mounts,and one for the rear end somewhere?? think it goes in the boot? could be wrong  :?
Do i stick em on ebaygum or stick them on the GTD i built?
Bert

At the front, yes, the lower one definitely. Not so sure about the back as I can't see the shock towers moving much as there's so little weight. I have one, but only because I made made it out of what I had lying around. It's good for stopping large boxes sliding around the boot.

Bert,

if you sell them i might be interested…

Deffo the front lower, tightens things up somewhat

front lower defo helps but you might need longer bolts for the wishbones, tops ones will make it more rigid but probably not notice much difference , more for show. but they will help lessen structural damage if you were to have a bump

Bert,

No there deff not for show.

There highly functional, dont take this the wrong way but if your asking if there for show or not, then you probably dont need them.

If you do fit them, i would recommend upgrading to poly bushes and getting better anti-rollbars.

They will totally stiffen your handling up, reduce chassis roll and improve traction/ability to get the power down.

yeha , most of the rear strut braces i've encountered are lower braces, i.e the go between the wishbones etc not the turrets.
If you want to support the rear suspension turrets, you use a roll-cage  :wink:


Pricie  

i got the K bar from vw…..

well sorted bit of kit

As said above, the only one you actually need on a mk1 is the front lower due to the design of the body shell.

I doubt you'll transmit the kind of loads through the suspension that would require uppers on either the front or rear during road use.

Pricie's right about the bushes-you ought to have everything thats already there in top order anyway before you start modifying stuff, but the arbs are really down to personal preferance.

On nearly all fwd cars I can think of (and many rwd too) the rear brace will be an upper one, a cage can do the same job, but it will depend on the design of the cage and its more expensive too.

yeha , most of the rear strut braces i've encountered are lower braces, i.e the go between the wishbones etc not the turrets.
If you want to support the rear suspension turrets, you use a roll-cage  :wink:


Pricie  

No offence pricie but have u seen under the rear end of a mk1?

Everything that is done really is personal preference, Altho ill stick my neck out and say defo yes to the front lower. upper will sharpen up the steering even more.

Everyone says add this and that to your mk1 but remember the stiffer you make her yes she will grip and rail every corner and make everybody who has a evo on finace cry but as soon as you slip up the tiniest amount its backwards into the hedge.

Richie_T said

Everything that is done really is personal preference, Altho ill stick my neck out and say defo yes to the front lower. upper will sharpen up the steering even more.

Everyone says add this and that to your mk1 but remember the stiffer you make her yes she will grip and rail every corner and make everybody who has a evo on finace cry but as soon as you slip up the tiniest amount its backwards into the hedge.

The lower front won't have any noticable effect on grip, it will stop the front wishbone mountings trying to move apart so the toe amd camber setting remain constant. The most noticable effect it'll have will be on tyre wear. If you were to set the front up say with 1.5-2 degrees of neg camber after fitting one then that would be different…..

They probably do make an improvement to the handling, but there's so many other things that do too, and are much more cost-effective. So your list of improvements would be in this order

1. Lower/stiffer springing and damping, probably using coilovers
2. More grippy, lower profile tyres
3. Lighter
4. Strut braces.

If you've done 1-3, then the grip is already pretty good around corners, and you'd never benefit from the strut brace (basically, you'd never need to use the extra handling).

stew72 said

If you were to set the front up say with 1.5-2 degrees of neg camber after fitting one then that would be different…..

That is actually one of the best things i have ever read on here, i have around thta much camber and i have 2 degrees of toe in and im considering shimming up my rears to have a lil but of toe and camber but but not sure as it goes fast enough round corners all ready.

Another thing ill stick my neack out for is if there is one thing that defonaity doesnt need doing to a mk1 it is lightening it it is about the perfect weight not to fat no to thin.

Richie_T said

 i have around thta much camber and i have 2 degrees of toe in and im considering shimming up my rears to have a lil but of toe and camber but but not sure as it goes fast enough round corners all ready.

 

Do you have a large sign on your dashboard that reads "don't lift"  :wink:

Bert a defo fella,
                        i read previous post as regards to struts and they make a whole of difference in my opinon after i fitted mine.
Yeha  made a lower one for mine, and i noticed the difference straight away.
No longer bolts are needed, originals are perfect.
I have finished off with fitting the omp rear and front upper just to add a little more strength to it.
Best wishes fella :wink:

I wont stick them on ebay then,i will stick them on the GTD  :wink:
Cheers Boys
Bert

Peddersgolf said

No longer bolts are needed, originals are perfect.

That is incorrect - It depends on the design.
Some have big fat adjustable ends on them and deffinately need longer bolts, unless you are happy with one single turn of thread holding your wishbones to the car?

He's referring to the one I made him which doesn't require replacement bolts.

Richie_T said

yeha , most of the rear strut braces i've encountered are lower braces, i.e the go between the wishbones etc not the turrets.
If you want to support the rear suspension turrets, you use a roll-cage  :wink:


Pricie  

No offence pricie but have u seen under the rear end of a mk1?

No offence taken fella, mines running 4WD, hence thw wish bones thing….

Pricie said

Richie_T said

yeha , most of the rear strut braces i've encountered are lower braces, i.e the go between the wishbones etc not the turrets.
If you want to support the rear suspension turrets, you use a roll-cage  :wink:


Pricie  

No offence pricie but have u seen under the rear end of a mk1?

No offence taken fella, mines running 4WD, hence thw wish bones thing….

The design of the rear beam itself inherently adds stiffness to the rear end, so if you converted to independent wishbones or similar, you'd need to add stiffness eg. strut braces in between your 'new' wishbone mounts.

AL_Mk1 said

Peddersgolf said

No longer bolts are needed, originals are perfect.

That is incorrect - It depends on the design.
Some have big fat adjustable ends on them and deffinately need longer bolts, unless you are happy with one single turn of thread holding your wishbones to the car?

Yes the one Yeah did was bang on and also the OMP lower is spot on with plenty of thread left over.
I haven't seen any other types, i only know of these at present, this is why was searching topics as regards to longer bolts before i purchased a brace for me and an OMP brace for my friends 82 mk1 as i was concerned and wouldn't want a wishbone coming loose also
best wishes fella