172 Cup - front strut brace

[rs32]

what is the likely effect of fitting a front strut brace to a 172 cup ?

this is on a fairly heavily tweaked suspension setup that already has pretty much zero roll on the road and doesn't show understeer until right on the limit.

could adding the brace be detrimental to what seems to already be a strong setup ? I haven't done that many miles yet with the car in this new state.

any advice appreciated - driver training due on Sat and don't want to overdo the setup and ruin the existing benefits. Otherwise I'll fit the bar tomorrow

thanks.

 

[rs32]

thanks for the advice - but I fitted it anyway and it drives like a dream now.

not that anyone was interested :dapprove: but here's a pic for you.

 

[Middo]

needs me to register ?

what was the 'fairly tweaked suspension'

 

[rs32]

well you can always register mate - it's free.

suspension setup as follows :

Standard Cup shocks
Eibach Pro-kit springs
Whiteline adjustable rear ARB
Rear toe adjustment kit
Poly bushes (full front kit)
Dogbone poly bushes
Uprated steering control arms/bushes
Sparco front strut brace

Geometry settings to suit the above

It feels fantastic so far - the old behaviour of slight understeer before the brace was fitted has now turned into a slight 4-wheel slide when pushed round tight corners. Will find out what faster stuff is like tomorrow

 

[rs32]

here you go, have sorted the pic

 

[Middo]

sounds like an interesting setup you've got there, especially if keeping the standard ride height was a priority.

and registering takes too much time

 

[Cookie]

Looks smart

 

[Daz Clio Cup]

I've just bought the same strut as you, and was wondering when it's fitted and tightening it, do you 'pull' the tops of the struts together or 'push' them apart, when adjusting it?

Daz

 

[rs32]

Daz - you "pull" the tops together so that the twisting forces are absorbed by the bar. The adjuster has a winder hole cut through in 4 places to give you really easy major/minor adjustment.

I'll warn you now - this is not just a straight bolt-on job. It took 2 of us a long, long time to fit the brace, and it doesn't just fit straight out of the box. You need to be prepared to trim some of the surplus metal around the right strut housing and generally swear a lot whilst doing the job.

The coolant header tank bottle also needs adjusting to give enough clearance for the bar - I'm actually minded to say that it is not quite the right part for post-2001 cars but it does fit nicely if you have good patience and the right tools. I really wouldn't attempt the job unless you have at least 2 people and the right tools for the job as it was a complete pig at times. Lots of staring at the problems and drinking tea helped though !

We also used slightly different fixings than those supplied for the front 2 bolts on each side to make it easier to remove or re-seat if needed. This took a bit longer than we expected but the bar is absolutely solid.

The nice thing is that once fitted it stays out of the way and boy does it improve the front-end stability.

On another note, my car has been driving incredibly hard round a circuit by an ex-BTCC driver today and he commented that it is perfectly set up bar a few minor left>right balance issues with the front end. I'm delighted as we really had no idea how good it was before today

I could not believe how capable the car is in the right hands (bordering on terrifying in fact) and you just can't buy the sort of setup advice that he's given me. Top quality experience. :star:

 

[philmots]

Good stuff! Was he saying the car handles slightly different in right handers to left handers? What are you doing about this, if anything?

 

[rs32]

Good stuff! Was he saying the car handles slightly different in right handers to left handers? What are you doing about this, if anything?

his comments were that it now needs corner-weighting and the front ride heights balancing - but essentially the handling characteristics are spot-on with everything working well together. He even got down to the level of suggesting that it might need a few more minutes of front toe - but he also said the car feeels stable, strong, quick and solidly bolted together.

Make no mistake, he absolutely pummeled it round the course and had it right on the limit from the off, it was a joy to watch and experience the talent of a proper touring car driver

 

[Daz Clio Cup]

What toe are you running at the mo?

 

[rs32]

0deg rear

0deg 4min positive front

 

[alexbleubolt]

nice clean engine their, better take a rag to mine

 

[Daz Clio Cup]

zero rear

0 deg 4 min front

mine runs 0 front

 

[philmots]

Nice insight, thanks.