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sparco strut brace for sale

1K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  DevonDan 
#1 ·
#2 ·
Nigel - what do you want for it :confused: PM me please
 
#8 · (Edited)
Good on yer fella!
I personally think selling it at any price is a crime, Looking at the picture of one fitted to a GTV http://www.strutbracer.co.uk/gallery/big/georgejones.jpg I cannot see how this can add any significant stiffness given that it sits parallel to the mass of metal that is the bulkhead. Also, i can just about see the point of stiffening the top of the strut on a mcphearson strut arrangement, but aren't most alfas fitted with a double wishbone arrangement, in which case isn't it bracing the wrong mounting point?
Doh! Here's a quote from car bibles re strut braces and their function - Far more articulate than I could possibly describe it:

Strut Braces...
If you're serious about your car's handling performance, you will first be looking at lowering the suspension. In most cases, unless you're a complete petrolhead, this will be more than adequate. However, if you are a keen driver, you will be able to get far better handling out of your car by fitting a couple of other accessories to it. The first thing you should look at is a strut brace. When you corner, the whole car's chassis is twisting slightly. In the front (and perhaps at the back, but not so often) the suspension pillars will be moving relative to each other because there's no direct physical link between them. They are connected via the car body, which can flex depending on its stiffness. A strut brace bolts across the top of the engine to the tops of the two suspension posts and makes that direct physical contact. The result is that the whole front suspension setup becomes a lot more rigid and there will be virtually no movement relative to each side. In effect, you're adding the fourth side to the open box created by the subframe and the two suspension pillars.

Hope this makes some sense of it for you Martyn. Consider that your 'you learn something new every day' for today.;)
 
#7 ·
I personally think selling it at any price is a crime, Looking at the picture of one fitted to a GTV http://www.strutbracer.co.uk/gallery/big/georgejones.jpg I cannot see how this can add any significant stiffness given that it sits parallel to the mass of metal that is the bulkhead. Also, i can just about see the point of stiffening the top of the strut on a mcphearson strut arrangement, but aren't most alfas fitted with a double wishbone arrangement, in which case isn't it bracing the wrong mounting point?
 
#9 ·
I can't take seriously lowered cars, ipso facto articles insiting that it be the first thing you do. Tosh. The physics of lowering the centre of gravity might make sense, but the suspension system geometry was designed in conjnction with the cars ride height. Changing the height bu@@ers this up for a start. Then there's the question of wheel travel. If you drive on roads in Britain (and the twistier ones are probably the poorer surfaced), running out of travel just makes a misery for car & driver and a fortune for his dentist. The gtv doesn't even start out with a lot of wheel travel. Then there's what it tells future purchasers.
Go for quality dampers by all means. Strut brace? I 'm with Martyn here.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the tech briefing on the supposed benefits of a strut brace, I don't feel patronised at all!! My point was that (on a double wishbone set up) movement of the strut will not change the geometry in the same way it will on a mcphearson arrangement. And with particular reference to the one in question I doubted wheter it would even add a huge amount of stiffness. Look under the bonnet of a mk2 escort and the fact that the top of the strut is halfway along the engine bay and you can see where the need for additional stiffening comes from, I feel that their use today is more for aesthetics than being serious about handling (which I am, just not on the alfa), and as long as people understand this I'm sure the wow factor is priceless.
 
#12 ·
I'm not a suspension expert but I thought the GTV had independent MacPherson strut suspension (see http://www.motioncars.com/carchart/html/a/1994_alfa_romeo_gtv.htm)

The benefits of strut braces on MacPherson strut suspension (wikipedia):

"With a MacPherson strut suspension system where the spring and shock absorber are combined in the one suspension unit, the entire vertical suspension load is transmitted to the top of the vehicle's strut tower, unlike a double wishbone suspension where the spring and shock absorber may share the load separately. In general terms, a strut tower in a monocoque chassis is a reinforced portion of the inner wheel well and is not necessarily directly connected to the main chassis rails. For this reason there is inherent flex within the strut towers relative to the chassis rails.

A strut bar is designed to reduce this strut tower flex by tying two parallel strut towers together. This transmits the load of each strut tower during cornering via tension and compression of the strut bar which shares the load between both towers and reduces chassis flex.

A direct result of this is improved chassis rigidity (similar to that gained from a lower tie bar); hence, the understeer is reduced, tire wear improved and metal fatigue is greatly reduced in the strut tower area."

To what degree does a strut brace improve the chassis rigidity on the GTV is up for debate of course. In reality the only way to assess this would be to fit one and see. From reading peoples experiences on various it seems to vary (no affect to much better handling) so how hard you drive the car will also be a factor.

I've got one on order so I'll let you know when it is fitted.

With regard to understeer some interesting info here.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understeer

So 147 not so bad... 159 not so good. Whilst there may be no direct correlation the 350z has a strut brace fitted as standard and also has the lowest understeer rating. But then the Mustang has a low understeer rating and TG slate Mustangs for not being able to go round corners so who knows :)
 
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