Interesting Phenomenon - Strut Brace

[kbcons]

I've been reading up a little on strut braces for our cars, especially as they get older. Was it tracked often in a previous life? What sort of suspension components does it have? How many miles on the car?

My '03 sedan has about 230K miles on the clock. Mechanically it's in good shape; runs great, doesn't leak, and the drivetrain is solid. It does have Bilstein B8 shocks and H&R Sport springs, which is going to be notably stiffer than stock but still relatively comfy. I don't know that it was ever tracked, but I also don't know that it wasn't.

Most of the articles I've read point to metal fatigue around the strut towers being a potential issue with high mileage cars and/or those with "sport" suspensions. Basically, a lot of stresses applied to the bodywork. There is no deformation in the towers that I could detect and the car has always handled well, but after I had LCAs and end links and bushings installed I noticed it felt a little bit loose. So I put on an ECS strut brace - the current version of their carbon fiber brace. Light, incredibly inflexible, and easy to bolt on.

The car has that tight feel back. No hunting or wandering, and dead stable on choppy turns and freeway ramps. I'm not an aggressive driver, but it really is notably better than before. I understand that the ECS bar doesn't get a lot of love (the old version, I think), but it sure seems to have helped my car.

Ken...

[RUS_ZHP]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Ken.
I am actualy have a front strut bar along with reinforcement plates in my list to install, mostly to prevent that mentioned damage to the strut towers.
I hope car will feel more rigid as well with the bar installed

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[Oli77]

I concur with Ken that a strut bar helps with front end feel. Tighter, better turns. A positive mod for sure.

[charter21p5]

Yes a strut bar does help with the issue you pointed out. It took me 1 day to get used to mine after I installed it. I was used to feeling the car body slightly flex when hard cornering. The strut bar really tightened up the front end and got rid of the flex.


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[stephenkirsh]

I took my mason engineering strut bar off for a session at my last track day.

I didn’t notice a difference.

I’m also not Senna.

[kbcons]

I took my mason engineering strut bar off for a session at my last track day.

I didn’t notice a difference.

I’m also not Senna.

I'm definitely not Senna.

How many miles on yours?

Ken...

[BADCLOWN]

Out of the 15-18 cars I have owned, I’ve put strut bars on half of them. Definitely a needed chassis mod

[ZHPizza]

The difference was more noticeable on my coupe than sedan, which isn't surprising since the sedan is a stiffer chassis.

[johnrando]

Good for a vert too but not sure if I can tell the difference or not I've had it on so long.

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[Reasoned1]

Granted the difference is minor, but I put one on all my E46's after testing it on a local on-ramp with increasingly tight radius where I had trouble maintaining my line--obviously less difficult with the strut brace (Turner carbon fiber). I also wanted one on there to help strengthen the crown of the strut pillar.