Clio 172 Strut Braces

[Roamer]

I know before you guys say "This has come up before and has been talked to death" but Im taking a different tack

Anyway, I have a hunt around for strut braces, and found that I wasnt going to be able to use nearly any of them due to either space issues under the hood, or components that have moved on the RHD versions when the strut was designed for a LHD version, or I would have to drill holes (Not gonna be doin that on a 7 week old car) .... so.....

I talked to John down at Demon Tweeks, and he advised me to talk to a local engineering company and see if I could get one made specifically for my car, so Im going down to see a guy at 14:30 this afternoon, he says itll cost a bit, but itll be in Stainless Steel, and hopefully should look the dogs.... so as soon as I have an idea on price and design Ill tell you guys more, and I should have it done before the 6th September

So, Anyone else out there gone down this route at all? what have you found/had done?

-Roamer

 

[geoff_clio182]

I might be interested in one!

 

[Man-Chun]

If you can get one that requires no holes and stainless steel I would be interested Post pics if you can.

Chun.

 

[BenR]

k-tec do a atinles polished one for 79 quid or so. designed for the RHD clio.

 

[Roamer]

Well, just been down to the engineering place, and the guy seems confident on being able to make one.

BenR, thats the first time KTec racing has been mentioned to do with the strut brace.... is it any good? I like the idea of having this one custom made for the car, but maybe itll be easier to buy one from them..... have you or anyone else got one? what does it look like?

JFYI the one were intending to design is 20mm thick circular running as straight as pos, with donut ends.....

On a slightly different note, has anyone taken off the bolts at the top of the struts before? cos when I looked it seems like the entire bit and the tope of the strut ie metal/rubber/bolt is all one item, is this correct? if so is it okay to just undo it? or is it strutural? ie will me car fall apart?

-Roamer

 

[Stokesey]

Roamer,

you say soon to be eibachd, where are you getting it done and how much?

Thanks.

 

[Roamer]

Stokesey, good question, ordering them on monday, so hopefully getting them fitted near to where I work at the end of the week, dont know how much, but really want to have them done before the brace work gets started. The Eibachs are coming from motor sport world (or summat like that) and are about £120 for the set.

-Roamer.

 

[Roamer]

Hi guyz, just talked to the guyz at KTec racing, and they are saying that their front strut brace is still going to have to be drilled and bolted cos they cant find a way to attach it at the front

So, Ive started having a dig around and have found the piccy of the OMP strut brace which looks to be mounted using the strut cap rather than drilled and bolted - Just the way I wana do mine..... see what you think (Or if you can see any bolts/screws at the strut top)

http://www.ompracing.it/images/clio10.jpg" ALT="OMP 172 Strut brace">

-Roamer

 

[Anders]

I would of thought that for any strut brace to perform the way it is designed to it must be attached in a sound structural way to the car. Otherwise there is not much point in having it other than for looks, and it will do more harm than good.

 

[Roamer]

The purpose of a strut brace is to strengthen the car by taking out the flex that occurs in the struts when taking corners. Attaching a strut brace between the struts causes the force to be more evenly distributed creating better tyre contact and more even handling - Whether the strut brace is attached to the strut towers or to the top of the struts isnt important (As far as I know - correct me if Im wrong) this important thing is to keep the geometry from deviating when given alot of force when cornering.

-Roamer

 

[Man-Chun]

That OMP looks good, but a stainless steel or polished alloy one would look a lot better in the engine bay

Chun.

 

[chris172]

I could be wrong but......isn t that a picture of a MK 1 with a throttle cable??? and the top mounts look different too.

I would be interested in acustom build one though, maybe the more your engineering fella can do the cheaper??

 

[VX-Tony]

Chris - your right - it is a Mk1 and in titaniam silver (not available on mk2) - dont know if this matters when i comes to a strut though?
My concern with struts is that they must put presure somewhere else in the car

 

[Roamer]

Yeah, ok its a Mk1, but the strut tops look the same as the ones on my mk2, so now Ive just gotta take a good look at how the OMP fits (Trying to find some better pictures, maybe even the fitting instructions or something) and design the fitting for the custom one

Chris172 - Yeah, could probably get a good price if I know that I could shift a good enough number prob 10 or so, Ill enquire once I know that the end result is going to be good enough for me

And if we get this one done well, Ill be looking to get a matching rear brace done as well - keep it all matching dont ya know

-Roamer.

 

[geoff_clio182]

A polished alloy one in Blue would look the dogs in my engine bay!

 

[Roamer]

Hmmm ok Geoff, Ill keep it in mind, Ill enquire about anodising or powercosting and see what facilities they have, may have to get colouring done through another firm though.

-Roamer.

 

[JJ172]

Where abouts are you? There are plenty of decent powder coaters in the South East who have anything from black to candy flip colours! There is also a place who will black chrome powder coat it!

 

[Roamer]

In the midlands.... and oops I should have typed powdercoating not powercoating ooooops.


Im still pondering over whether my method of attachment is going to be good enough or not, if not I have another couple of ideas.......

-John.

 

[Roamer]

Joe,

Okay my question is really..... is it good enough to attach a brace between the tops of the struts (rather than the strut towers) to reduce the movement that can be exerted on the suspension/steering gear, or must it be to the strut towers themselves..... I think I have a couple of ways of fitting directly to the top of the suspension struts, but only *maybe* one possible way of fitting directly to the strut towers without having to drillnbolt....

So, as you are one of the gods of stuff round here, any thoughts or ideas you have would be greatfully accepted

-Roamer.

 

[Roamer]

Just seen that Im having an identity crisis on here..... Roamer - John - Roamer..... Arrghhhhh

-Roamer

 

[BRUN]

how can you possibly want to fit one without drilling holes.......it must be securely attached to the top mounts, otherwise its gonna do nothin at all, in fact it might do more bad than good

 

[Roamer]

Brun, I only wish that i had my photos on this laptop, cos like i say i have a few ways of doing it, but as you can see Ive put a question to joe to get his opinion, I am not an expert at these matters, but I like problems which i can get my teeth into, and one solution to this is a cup shaped strut end which sits solidly into the hole in the top of the strut tower and then has a rubber stopper between that and the strut top.

Anyway.... just waiting for a reply from the Captn.

-Roamer.

 

[Man-Chun]

I think the omp strut brace is held on tight by the top rubber mounts. I dont think theres anything wrong with that. Its like your rubber bushers holding your suspension together. Alright it might not be as good as a strut brace with metal to metal contact.

Chun.

 

[Captain Slarty]

ok Roamer ma man..

firstly, for the strut brace to work as designed.. it needs to be bracing the towers.. NOT THE STRUT TOPS !!!!!!!

think about it guys !

the strut top is rubber mounted.. movement of one is transmitted to the other.. oooooooooops !!.. not what we intended.!

to minimise movement in the rubber busshings at the strut top.. it would be advisable to fit roller tops or metal, but the noise would increase...

best s to fit it to the towers only..

if you still need extra bracing, then get roller tops made for the struts themselves..

there ya go.

Joe

 

[Man-Chun]

So other than Sparco who else makes a strut brace for the 172 that is drilled into the struts?.

Chun.

 

[Roamer]

Thank you Joe, ok, Ill be looking to my plan for this one now then.

Ok, so when you take the top strut bolt (thingy) off you are left with the stru thread sticking out through a hole, there is about 8-12mm depth from the top of the strut tower (at the hole) to the rubber top mount of the strut (inside the strut tower)......

The idea is to make the strut brace ends which are a normal circular shape to sit ontop of the strut tower around the hole, and on the inner edge of this ring there would be a lip which would protrude down into the strut tower hole tightly to give a very snug fit (enough to need a good tap in order to get it out), ontop of this a donut of rubber to allow the movement in the strut (As is needed - Thanks Joe ) then ontop of all this goes the normal strut top cap.....

So, the strut towers would be braced by the lipped circle ends and kept in place by the very snug fit of the lip to the strut tower hole, and the presence of the rubber donut between the strut brace end and the strut top mount.


Any thoughts, comments etc?????????

-Roamer.

 

[telford_mike]

Ill take a couple

 

[Roamer]

Ill post some quick sketches on my idea once I get a few minutes....

Telford_mike - very keen arent you?

-Roamer

 

[telford_mike]

Always keen to keep up with the Robinsons as they say!

 

[geoff_clio182]

Roamer - Any chance of getting some for the rear at the same time?

 

[konahead]

hi there...for info, the sparco strut brace for the rs / part number 036rg55rs can also be fitted to the 1.4L 16v current clio...friend of mine has fitted it...

 

[Roamer]

Mike - Hehe the old ones are still the old ones eh matey

Geoff - Once Ive seen if he can do the front Ill check out the rear, but Ive got to check that he can make the lipped ends to the correct tollerances or itll just not go anywhere..... and I havent had a look at the rear to see if I can do the same there or not.....

-Roamer.

 

[Man-Chun]

Roamer if they look good I would be up for buying a front and rear for the 172 Hope to see and hear from this soon.

Chun.

 

[P_aul]

bttt, what ever happened with these Roamer??

 

[Roamer]

I abandoned the project and got stuck into realistic stuff

 

[McBunny]

lol god diging up very old stuff here lol

 

[Fred@BTM]

this is way old!!!!

 

[Tom]

http://www.cliosport.nu/pict/clio_spec/factory/5.jpg

 

[tomboy]

Roamer
I thought it was weird when I read about your car being only 7 weeks old??!!

This thread is soo old its got cobwebs

H

 

[P_aul]

gotta do a bit of digging when you get a new car tho!!

sorry to drag up the past like!!