Strut bars & enforcement bars....

[Sparcoray]

Important to have all the "safety" bars installed in your cars? Any opinions?

[Kaer]

not really that important else the cars won't be able to roll into production and sell to the consumers. the cars are safe enough... but you may like to add-on for more stablility.

[Osiris]

strut bar is not for safety.

Edited March 15, 2006 by Osiris

[Raining]

For strengthing of chasis and reduce flex ... but in return reduce roll ( for tie bars / anti sway/roll anywae )... it improves safety on a certain level by improving the drivebility aspect...

[Stivo]

struct bar is for the rice factor... :) you wouldn't even realise its exsistence unless you are at the 140-160km mark

 

best bang for buck will still be the front and rear sway.... please take note of their dimensions!!

 

hope that helps!!

[Wbucket]

Actually depends on how lousy the suspension system is before you install them. Cause mine can be felt even at 50kph.

[BMW320i]

Important to have all the "safety" bars installed in your cars? Any opinions?

 

Full coilovers !

 

I would do up some rear adjustable swaybars for some oversteer action.

[Ctchome]

gotta disagree with this.

 

check around. a properly made struct bar can make you feel the difference in steering feel straight away. probably depends on the vehicle model also. maybe continentals are very well made such that you can't feel the usefulness of a good struct bar.

so far, it proves to be very useful for jap cars. definitely not for rice factor.

 

above based on my own personal opinion only.

 

Thanks.

[Crummytyre]

But it does not enhance safety. It makes you drive faster than what the car manufacturer intended.

[Panda]

A front strut bar, if your car doesn't already have one, IMHO is the most basic and one of the first useful mod you can give your car at a low price.

 

Doesn't matter brand or material. As long as it fits and its rigid, it works.

 

Ask them all MCFers. It's really useful!

[Lightspeed]

Helps keep the chassis together in the event of an uneventful situation

[Sparcoray]

hee hee... I totally agreed with one of the bros here that strut bar, lower tie bar reduces body flexes in the car chassis.

Coilovers are good but abit "overkill" if you do not go track that often. Front and rear anti-sway bars are very very impt. Totally agreed on that. hee hee.....

[Raining]

Whats the difference bwt anti-sway bars and tie bars ...can anyone enlighten ?

[Elfenstar]

don't look at me. I've only heard of sway and strut bars.

 

the only "ties" in a car are the tie rod and tie rod end and the only reason these are changed is to get a different steering angle (usually more) from OEM.

[Elfenstar]

struct bar is for the rice factor... :) you wouldn't even realise its exsistence unless you are at the 140-160km mark

 

best bang for buck will still be the front and rear sway.... please take note of their dimensions!!

 

hope that helps!!

 

I think you underestimate the strut bar/brace. Its not entirely speed that makes a difference coz at 160kmh on a sweeping bend, it may be redundant but at 80kmh ard a 90deg bend you will feel how much less flex there is in the car.

[Sparcoray]

Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/ Lower Tie Bar - A lower tie bar is an alloy/steel bar that ties the lower suspension pick-up points of a vehicle (with an independent suspension) together. It increases chassis rigidity by bracing the left and right lower-control-arm sheet metal mounting points. The lower tie bar is designed to reduce the non-pivoting movement of the control arms and to stiffen the subframe to lessen the distortion of the lower suspension, especially during hard cornering; thus generally improving the handling and steering response of the vehicle much like a strut bar. The bar lowers ground clearance by some 30 mm on most aftermarket installations. The lower tie bar is mostly an aftermarket car component. Since the lower tie bar is one of the cheapest upgrade that tuners can install on their car, it is probably one of the first performance accessory that is acquired. The lower tie bar is a bolt-on device and no stock parts will have to be replaced or removed when it is being installed on the vehicle (unless the vehicle already has one on it). These characteristics make the lower tie bar a popular performance upgrade among car tuning enthusiasts. [/size] Sway Bar - A sway bar (also stabilizer bar, anti-sway bar, roll bar, or anti-roll bar, ARB) is an automobile suspension device. It connects opposite (left/right) wheels together through short lever arms linked by a torsion spring. A sway bar increases the suspension's roll stiffness -- its resistance to roll in turns, independent of its spring rate in the vertical direction. Popular Brands are: Cusco Summit UltraRacing Alutec Pardon me for my limited knowledge. hee hee

[Chisiang]

When a car negotiate a corner, stress are transfered from the wheels to the suspension. And the suspension is connected to the car body. When a car turns at high speed in a corner, different force/stress are applied unevenly on the car body, forcing it to twist, especially in the engine bay and cabin when there is cavity.

 

A tower strut bar helps strengthened this cavity and also transfers and distributes force/stress evenly between the two towers that connects the suspensions thus improving stability and rigidness.

 

A roll cage within the cabin also helps in similar way as well as enhance safety but is consider illegal on our roads.

 

However, in most cars with standard suspension, the shocks and springs are soft and the stress are usually absorb by the suspension and do not have the chance to be transfered to the car body so a tower strut is not necessary at all.

 

When you replaced standard sprigns with harder ones, or when you use coilovers, the springs and shocks are harder and the stress will be transferred to the towers and the car body will twist. Therefore, tower struts and aftermarket suspension (springs or coilovers) should always go hand in hand.

 

Installing tower struts alone will not have too much effect on the dynamic handling of the vehicle. Most are for aesthetic purposes.

 

Prices of struts varies but entry level struts are heavier and may developed weak joins. Higher level struts may be constructed of Carbon fiber or titanium material to reduce weight and improve rigidity. Some incorporate MBS (master cyclinder brake stopper).

 

Sway bars on the other hand will improve heaps more than tower struts, but that itself will take 2 A4 size paper to explain.

 

 

 

[Sparcoray]

hey dude... thanks for the detailed explanations. You're right that tower strut bar is for asetheic purposes where most of the time, we drivers bought it and tot it'll performed whichever actions it supposed to perform. In my personal opinions, the lower-frame tower strut bar, anti-sway bars are more suitable in this case. hee hee...