front strut brace - good idea for a cab?

Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:39 am

would a front strut brace be a good idea for a cab? - there's one on ebay right now.

I'm thinking it might provide some additional rigidity to help with the scuttle shake - she does seem to flex a bit over the bumps - but it might make the independant suspension less independant

Also the m-tec 15mm lower suspension seems quite harsh over the bumps - is that normal? thanks.....

Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:43 am

The cabs are already re inforced at the front (metal plates from the turret to the wing iirc), so a strut brace wont make the difference it would on another car.
That said, it will make some difference.

As for the suspension, if you lower any car, it will be worse over bumps.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:19 pm

Cabbies don't like bumps. What wheels are you running?

Strut brace wil add weight, that's for sure. What effect it will have is open to debate. IIRC, the cabby is already braced, the brace being behind the dash.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:26 pm

M-tech springs are quite harsh. I'm going to try some AVO springs (25mm drop).

Strut brace wont make any difference to suspension independence. A bigger anti-roll bar might.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:26 pm

thanks for that - think I'll pass on the strut brace. wheels are 15" BBS by the way.......

Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:28 pm

I have a strut brace on my 325i Convertible.

It still had scuttle shake but once I lowered it a bit (-30mm H&R springs and shocks all round) and added H&R ARBs front and back it feels a bit more connected to the road.

I am now much more confident in driving it quicker regardless of the flex and scuttle shake.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:28 pm

Hi - I was thinking to get strut brace for my 318iS baur but now not so sure given the comments above. I had not realised there is a brace behind the dash.
Sorry for ignorance, but is an anti roll bar like I have with the Baur roof section - or something else?

What advice then to reduce scuttle shake for my car? thanks

Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:31 pm

I didnt see a brace behind the dash on mine

The roll bar is on the suspension.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:35 pm

aretha wrote:Hi - I was thinking to get strut brace for my 318iS baur but now not so sure given the comments above. I had not realised there is a brace behind the dash.
Sorry for ignorance, but is an anti roll bar like I have with the Baur roof section - or something else?

What advice then to reduce scuttle shake for my car? thanks

Baurs are a completely different kettle of fish.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:36 pm

ed325i wrote:I didnt see a brace behind the dash on mine
The roll bar is on the suspension.

I don't think there's an actual brace, more that it's the location of the relevant strengthening. That's what I was lead to believe. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:40 pm

When i had my cabbie - the strut brace made a world of difference

Its important to get one with no joins in it as they defeat the object of the brace cause it tends to flex there instead if you know what i mean.

If it's a solid one, i'd say go for it!

Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:46 pm

Its important to get one with no joins

Like this one

Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:00 pm

Aretha,

I have driven cabs with and without and I personally think they do make some difference and would always have one.

Iain

Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:10 pm

I have just fitted one on mines and it does make a difference in a good way.Don't know how to explain the difference but does feel better when your driving and it was a cheap one from ebay.Plus the bling factor,so i say get one.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:29 pm

or this one, wouldnt swear to any diffrence but it looks better imho.
Click on bottom.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:36 pm

or this one, wouldnt swear to any diffrence but it looks better imho.

Thats because you have flexible turrent-tops. you still get flex at the joints which does not have any effect as a strut brace

Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:40 pm

Quaser wrote:Thats because you have flexible turrent-tops. you still get flex at the joints which does not have any effect as a strut brace

There are bolts on the hinge though to tighten it up. I suppose they could still flex a bit though, depending in which angle the car flexes.

Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:45 pm

The brace will only be as strong as it's weakest point, a hinge will be the first bit to flex.

Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:27 am

Well done Rosco - nice to see you admit that scuttle shake exists!

I've got 2 cabs, one suffers scuttle shake much worse than the other, although it has a higher milage I guess it has had an easier life (I haven't done any road rallies in it for starters).

I don't think doors and other openings will not contibute much to stiffness of the shell (unless you welded them shut!) so hinges can be discounted. I think the flexing in a cabby would be concentrated around the joints between the sills and the inner wings / bulkhead. Both my cars have rust here, I assume becuase the flexing has allowed the paint to crack.

I wonder if stopping flex between suspension turrets would just lead to more flexing elsewhere?

ps The very latest GP motorcycles deliberately have flex built into the frames...

Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:20 pm

you can see the brace accross the bottom of my windscreen (covered in the grey bit) its deffo there cause as i found out a coupe dash does not fit a cab unless you cut slots on each side of the dash for the cross screen brace.... thus i cannot see how much difference a strut brace would really work on a cab, but then again i also dont belive the E30 suffers from scuttle shake anyway, not to the same level as an E36, but my cab only done 90k km.