Where to buy a strut brace (upper front) for a 147 GTA?

Hi, does anyone know where (in the UK) i can buy a front upper strut brace for my 147 GTA. Ideally this would have a chrome finish to match the inlets, or otherwise, be red? Ive had a serach on google and on this forum without much luck. Any ideas??? Cheers and thanks in advance.

What would be the effects on handling of fitting an upper strut-brace and not fitting a front lower brace.. ?

Also, if you stiffen the front but not the rear does that increase or decrease its tendency to understeer?

Morning. Yeah but i know where to get the lower ones from. My problem here i dont know where to get the upper ones from. Any ideas?

No idea..

Have you tried here: Strutbracer UK - Strut Braces strutbraces for all cars, OMP Racing

?

Originally Posted by Pud237

What would be the effects on handling of fitting an upper strut-brace and not fitting a front lower brace.. ?

Wouldn't be as stiff as fitting both probably.

Originally Posted by Pud237

Also, if you stiffen the front but not the rear does that increase or decrease its tendency to understeer?

Haven't got one so couldn't tell you... but from what I gather they are primarily for mcpherson strut suspension to stop wheel camber altering when the chassis flexes, thereby help to give better contact with the road, improving grip, reducing understeer (fitted to the front). As the 147/156/GT have double wishbone (front again) camber doesn't change, so generally stiffening the front reduces grip in relation to the back, more understeer... structural rigidity is always a good thing though right?

Yeah tried him, no GTA listed. Ive found some on alfisti but they're in some other country. Hmmmm, i'll keep looking.

I haven't used Alfisti.net myself but I know others have. They seem to be trustworthy.

I have used the Alfisti.net Weichers lightweight aluminium upper brace.
They are excellently made and to my surprise had a noticable improvement in handling, including less tyre scrub on the sidewalls, and less tramlining for normal road use.
I really wasn't expecting much, but thought it was such an inexpensive mod to make it would be foolish not to try.
I guess it doesn't allow surrender of the modest negative camber the GTA has to begin with..

I wouldn't bother with the lower one, they sit way too low and could cause serious damage to your car if you bottomed out which if you ar on OEM dampers youa re sure to do..
The GTA also has a stiffened subframe so I'm not really sure you need it anyway.

Also it takes up maybe 30mm (?) of potential safe lowering that would have way way more impact on the cars handling, increasing negative camber slightly as well as reducing COG, and front/rear roll centre balance.

I concur with Caldo! In theory, stiffening the front alone should, if anything, increase understeer. Tho, as you'd only be stiffening the top, i doubt the effects would be noticable.

They would look nice in chrome tho!

In general, stiffening the front adds understeer.

In this case though I think helping keep the geometry working to its best effect seems to outweigh that, or at least thats my personal experience.

There are more paramaters going on here than just front/rear relative stiffness.

Originally Posted by Pud237

Also, if you stiffen the front but not the rear does that increase or decrease its tendency to understeer?

Its worth comparing a picture of a 2.0 car with yours to see if it would fit. The suspension is exactly the same as a 156 and all the other 147s so it might well fit or require only a slight mod to make fit. I tried to see if one for a 156 1.8/2.0/2.5 would fit my 147 and all I would need to do is lower the power steering resorvoir. The cam cover on the 3.2 might be too near to the bulkhead, but I dont think its any further back than a 2.5 so it should fit with no probs. Its worth a try if you cant find a GTA specific one.

Cheers everybody, much food for thought. even thought there i could get any old strut bar to fit my car and get it chrome plated. mint. cheers. inabit

Its also possible to get universal ones...

I'd want the proper part for the job.

Originally Posted by Roswell

I'd want the proper part for the job.

Me too, but chromed. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Alfisti.net have a chromed Novitec one don't they?

Originally Posted by Roswell

Alfisti.net have a chromed Novitec one don't they?

They do indeed. I like it a lot. Thing is tho, I'm completely skint for the next few months now like.

Originally Posted by bacon

They do indeed. I like it a lot. Thing is tho, I'm completely skint for the next few months now like.

Get Mrs Bacon to buy it for you.

Originally Posted by Roswell

Get Mrs Bacon to buy it for you.

She would laugh in my face. She thinks i'm utterly ridiculous with cars. she probs got a point like.

Originally Posted by Roswell

I'd want the proper part for the job.

Its just a bit of metal that inceases stiffness, as long as it fits it is "proper"

Originally Posted by typos1

Its just a bit of metal that increases stiffness, as long as it fits it is "proper"

I'd still want one that was specifically designed for my car.

Fair enough, but it wouldnt actually make any difference, other than you d probably pay a lot more for it...

Originally Posted by Trailbraker

In general, stiffening the front adds understeer.

In this case though I think helping keep the geometry working to its best effect seems to outweigh that, or at least thats my personal experience.

There are more paramaters going on here than just front/rear relative stiffness.

True, since the upper wishbone's attached to the top of the strut tower it is probably safe to assume any movement there does alter geometry, if it was mounted separately that wouldn't necessarily be the case as the damper itself can move laterally without altering wheel camber where the wishbones cannot.

The description on quite a few sites selling these braces kind of shoot themselves in the foot by saying they are for a particular type of suspension only, example wiki.

Tempted to measure the distance next time it's jacked up with most of the weight one side to see if there is actually any flex between them now.