Anyone who uses strut braces

[tom_dot_COM]

Ok, Ive got my H&Rs on and am enjoying the improvement of the handling on my ph1 172 now.
I drive my car very hard, everyday and hopefully it will be seeing the track later in the year too.
On every other car forum (nissan gtir / clio williams / crx uk / sxoc / etc...) strut braces seem to be the next mod along with poly bushes, which people suggest, except on here :S .

I have come to the conclusion that it must either be one or both of these reasons:
1) Alot of clio sports are driven everyday, most still have interiors & they handle very well in standard form so people dont often see the need to mess to much.
2) The clio has such a pert little chassis that strut braces barly offer any more stiffness.

Really after the opinions here of people who either track there cars or drive very hard on the road.
How much difference did your brace(s) make?

EDIT: "THIS GOES FOR ARB's AS WELL"

Sorry for the length
Tom

 

[mattjk]

Wouldnt bother with a strut. Although apperently if they are welded in they can offer benefits but its negligable I from what I have read on here.

 

[Fred@BTM]

how a bar held on with self tappers if going to stiffen up the chassis i'll never know

the rear strut bars available from the likes of OMP etc are pointless, they do nothing

it seems people think cars are made from cheese and they somehow bend and deform during cornering

 

[tom_dot_COM]

I thought french cars were made of cheese .

What about if there bolted onto/under the rear/front strut tops? every car ive ever had a strut brace fitted onto had it fitted there. Never seen one with self tappers before, that would be fuking useless :rasp:

What about uprated ARB's?

 

[graham_172]

front strut brace any good if bolted/welded to top mount/towers?

 

[SBV116]

Mine has one, its bolted in properly, my handling at 60MPH is immense.........

 

[tom_dot_COM]

Mine has one, its bolted in properly, my handling at 60MPH is immense.........

I assume you have suspension mods as well? did you do them at the same time as the brace or add the brace later?

If you added the brace later did it make quite a difference then?
when you say properly you mean under the strut top?

 

[SBV116]

Its bolted in mate, not self tapped!! It has H&R's, but had them together! I cant see it makes much difference tbh!

 

[ditz]

i've never really got my head round it either i really cant see the turrets flexing to the point they need bracing or i would have thought they would suffer with cracked weld and alsorts if that were the case

can imagine tieing the front and rear of the car together is worthwhile though, ie a welded in cage fixed to turrets etc

 

[will.clio]

the guy who fitted mine gave me an in-depth explanation, he lost me after 10 seconds but the general view is that they will improve handling, particularlty when combined with a front lower strut and he said a square was a structurally strong shape

 

[tom_dot_COM]

Thinking I might leave these till the summer when I get some r888s or similar, there seems to be alot of doubt about the benifits on road tyres, but I think its safe to assume that the extra flex the car will have with the extra grip for semis will be well dialled out with these. My mate has a ibiza cupra on r888s (lots & lots of other mods) and he swears by them.