# Strut Tower Brace



## silvergoat05 (Jun 15, 2005)

I didn't want to hijack the other thread, so I started this one. 



JMVorbeck said:


> Yes, I'm curious too. What the difference between one or another besides an improvement in the structural rigidity?


Is the strut brace there to add rigidity to the frame, or keep the towers from spreading as it's name would imply.

If it is indeed a structual part of the chassis, I would like to see it extend to either the firewall or radiator support, or both.

Unless I see some evidence that the factory piece is stressed, I wouldn't replace it. 

With that said, at what point does the car need sub frame connectors? Drag racing I think would be a given, but what about spirited street driving? By that I mean, you don't slow down for the turns or you take the turns as hard as you can, when possible and within the means. I don't mean driving over your head or doing stupid sh*t.


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## ftlfirefighter (Jun 6, 2005)

Hey bro, the strut tower brace does just that. It eliminates the flexing of the sheet metal where the top of the struts mount during hard cornering. If the metal flexes it changes the gemoetry of the suspension.


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## JMVorbeck (Jun 1, 2005)

ftlfirefighter said:


> Hey bro, the strut tower brace does just that. It eliminates the flexing of the sheet metal where the top of the struts mount during hard cornering. If the metal flexes it changes the gemoetry of the suspension.


Thats what I thought. Why would it need to be replaced with an aftermarket one?


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## silvergoat05 (Jun 15, 2005)

ftlfirefighter said:


> Hey bro, the strut tower brace does just that. It *eliminates the flexing of the sheet metal where the top of the struts mount during hard cornering. * If the metal flexes it changes the gemoetry of the suspension.


You can accomplish that with just a thicker plate. The brace is there to keep the strut towers from spreading or bowing. Any movement here and stress would develope in the bar.

And if that were the case, would not some triangulation be better? Shelby did this back in the mid 60's with the " Monte Carlo Bar " on the mustangs. So this isn't new stuff. My question is, what is the *measured* improvement, not butt dyno, of going to the thicker brace.

The trend towards these a/m type deals started with the import crowd. But those cars didn't come with them originally anyway.


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