tegwin
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| posted on 12/4/08 at 10:51 PM |
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Upper and lower strut braces on tintops?
There seems to be a craze at the moment on one of the forums I frequent for fitting upper strut braces across the top of the front struts and another
brace across the bottom of the car between the front wishbone mounting bolts (Effectivley bracing the front subframe)...
I can see the reasoning behind them, to stop flex in the car...
But do they actually do anything?
If I made a dummy strut brace and fitted it with a strain guage in the middle, would the guage actually register any compression or tension when
throwing the car into bends etc?
I would imagine the suspension bushes would take a lot of the twisting forces...but I just wonder if these strut braces have any benefit atall?
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charlierevell
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| posted on 12/4/08 at 10:53 PM |
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Upper and lower made a difference on my 205Gti.
lower was dirt cheap too, shame the engine knocked on it under a foot full of gas!
Just kept it all nice and tight.
Tango orange is an 'IN' colour!!
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matt_claydon
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| posted on 12/4/08 at 10:55 PM |
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I've alwys wondered that. I think there is probably some merit, but most of them have bends in to accomodate rocker covers etc which completely
removes all the rigidity!
It would be very interesting to strain gauge one up and see what#s going on (or perhaps more usefully, implement a way to measure displacement between
the strut tops with and without the brace).
I think the results would show some braces on some vehicles have a good positive effect, whilst others are little more than a fashion accessory!
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Simon
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| posted on 12/4/08 at 11:44 PM |
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I doubt most people would notice the difference. It might have been noticeable on cars 20+ years ago, but most modern stuff is quite stiff.
ATB
Simon
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britishtrident
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| posted on 13/4/08 at 08:23 AM |
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Joining the front strut towers alone won't do much, but if both are then braced to the bulkhead it makes a big difference to the stiffnesss of
the structure.
As to how much making the structure stiffer will alter the handling depends a lot of things, if the body was stiff enough for the loads put through
it it won't make any difference.
The old example that used to be used is to compare the BL Mini Cooper and the MD Midget. Both have the same engine and are roughly the same weight, on
the track both handle pretty well and will turn in pretty similar lap times.
The Mini body is about ten times stiffer than the Midget, but the Midget body was stiff enough for the job it had to do.
[Edited on 13/4/08 by britishtrident]
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