Strut brace, what to get?

[BMracing]

Hi,

I'm looking at getting an upper front strut brace for our 4 door, I know there's quite a few to choose from.
The sparco/weichers twin tube ones look b***ocks, but do they really give any noticeable benefit to the handling over say a £30 ebay job. I want it to be well made obviously, and look tidy, but i don't want it to break the bank if i can help it! Performance is priority to me.
Just wondering what experience people have of the different braces available? The sparco one is at the top of my list at the mo.
I will get a rear eventually too, just the front for the mo though.

Cheers,

Max

[handpaper]

Sparco single tube in steel. Usually red. Catalogue/website says M3 only, but there's no difference so it will fit any 2WD e30. £70 delivered from Demon Tweeks.

Unless you're running rear coilovers there's no reason to fit a rear brace.

[Dave_M3]

What's better...
Steel to ad strength or alloy to save weight at the cost of losing stiffness?

[zaust]

I'm just about to start a group buy on some very nice Front and rear one's. £45 each. Light weight steel.
Will get some pic's up soon.

[zaust]

In fact ↓↓↓

[Dave_M3]

Would they fit the M42?

[Morat]

Probably not. The 318is has extensively reworked engine bay aerodynamics to help with the extra heat produced by the M42. You probably don't want to mess with the BMW designed airflow. Also you might chip the galvanising on your shock towers, which would be a shame.

[Dave_M3]

Yeah, yeah whatever... lol
Might not fit on a good few cars easily since you would need a weel aligned car for a one piece brace and we all know that's rare these days

Seriously though, will they clear the intake plenum on the M42?
And do they have the bit that comes down the inside of the strut tower?

I was going to make up a few sets myself but at 40 quid, what's the point if there woul be interest in a good few of them.

[handpaper]

Here's the Sparco brace :



If you have trouble fitting it (I did), jack the car up under the front subframe and marvel at all that movement you're getting rid of

[Onz]

but is there any noticeable benefit to using steel over alloy braces?

[Cabrio]

The one Zaust has shown will fit all standard E30 models

[e30_Turbo]

Don't get one with any hinges in, it drives me mad to think people fit a strut brace to stiffen the suspension that has flexible joints in it.

It's plain crazy, OMP ones are quite fat and chunky, always looked like they would do the job and well.

Only got the twin tube one as I swapped with Buster as he needed a different style to fit over his 3.2 evo lump.

HTH, Fozz.

[Morat]

but is there any noticeable benefit to using steel over alloy braces?

Correctly designed alloy braces will be at least as rigid as a steel brace, but will be about 20-30% greater diameter (going by mountain bike frames). Alloy will be a bit more expensive and would have a shorter fatigue life - but I guess that depends on how much stress these things actually get exposed to.

[Dave_M3]

Steel would be fine I think.

Bargain at 40 quid

I'd probably take two and one for the back

[handpaper]

Don't get one with any hinges in, it drives me mad to think people fit a strut brace to stiffen the suspension that has flexible joints in it.

Reading THIS ARTICLE gives a good understanding of what strut braces do. Since the brace is never under significant bending stress (the top mount bolts would probably fail if it were) hinged end plates don't make a difference.

[Cabrio]

Reading [url=http://www.e30m3performance.com/myths/S ... theory.htm] hinged end plates don't make a difference.[/quote]

They would if you have an accident...the hinge will just fold...therefore its likely to move due to sideways contact whether on a track with another car or lots of stress...however guess roadcars are not driven that hard so the bar is for show anyway

[suchy]

Anything that connects the two top mounts is going to improve rigidity over standard

[JimmyC]

I saw a pair of Niels (Automac) ones the other day, not sure of the make but looked great quality and very up to the job

[Dave_M3]

Reading [url=http://www.e30m3performance.com/myths/S ... theory.htm] hinged end plates don't make a difference.

however guess roadcars are not driven that hard so the bar is for show anyway [/quote]

You'd imagine that wouldn't you... but I've seen road cars with struts are caving in nearly two inches when a brace is lined up to fit

One iS in particular that was driven relatively hard for only 6 months or so moved over an inch while a 325 touring that had a twin tube sparco brace driven in a similar fashion for over a year didn't budge...

[handpaper]

Reading THIS ARTICLE.... hinged end plates don't make a difference.

They would if you have an accident...the hinge will just fold...therefore its likely to move due to sideways contact whether on a track with another car or lots of stress...however guess roadcars are not driven that hard so the bar is for show anyway

Read the article again, then look at the design of various strut braces, including the solid Sparco I posted a pic of above.
A strut brace acts to prevent the strut towers moving toward and away from each other.
Hinges would matter if you were trying to prevent the towers from moving up and down relative to each other.
It would be possible to build a brace to do this, but it wouldn't look like any currently on the market. It would be much deeper in vertical cross-section, attach both at the top and sides of the towers and be deeply gusseted between the attachments and the central bar.
Since nobody makes a brace to this design, I think we can safely conclude that this kind of distortion is rare and not worth trying to prevent.

As a final proof, try this.
Buy a rigid strut brace. Bolt it on to one side of the car. Feel how much resistance there is to moving the other end up and down a few inches. Not much, is it? About the same as, say, a stiff hinge....

[E30BeemerLad]

I think the sparco steel single tube one is hard to beat for price and functionality.

I trial fitted mine the other day and noted that i will need to move the clutch fluid reservoir but other than that it should bolt straight up.

[big_jof]

Sparco twin tube alloy one is great (apart from when you want to do the rear rocker on the M20). To be fair any solid one without hinges will help.

[Simon13]

Here's the Sparco brace :



If you have trouble fitting it (I did), jack the car up under the front subframe and marvel at all that movement you're getting rid of

mate thats rust and a saggy shell. They drop straigh on solid E30's

[Cabrio]

Handpaper...for road cars and show cars there is no problem with hinged ones due to the stress they are under...the Sparco one is solid as are Hartge (twin tube) they can be a git to fit and often do need to jack one side as someone else said...race cars have them solid to maintain torsion...BUT some E30s with Carbon Air Boxes etc sometimes dont have a brace BUT have a full cage with triangulation (without hinges )

As posted before these ones are great quality and great value for money as fitted to some PBMW and Kumho cars as Jimmy has mentioned before.




Zaust did start a thread but he said it disappeared He posted them at £45 each

[BMracing]

Cheers for all the help and info guys.
I think i'll go with that single tube sparco brace, looks simple and solid, and surely you can't go wrong with sparco.
E30beemerlad had recommended it to me but i couldn't find it anywhere, not realising it was sold as an M3 only fit!
Thanks for the tip handpaper, I probably won't bother with the rear brace then.

I think the sparco steel single tube one is hard to beat for price and functionality.

I trial fitted mine the other day and noted that i will need to move the clutch fluid reservoir but other than that it should bolt straight up.

What are you planning to do with the resevoir then mate?

[BMracing]

Blimey, the single tube sparco brace is only 47 quid from here!

http://www.scarbro-racing.co.uk/sparcostruts.html

[Cabrio]

Thats fair...its a good bar and a good price...with the one I mentioned wont need to change or modify anything...if you are tracking the car and dont have a multipoint cage the rear bar however is a good idea...good luck

[E30BeemerLad]

What are you planning to do with the resevoir then mate?

Don't know yet, but it doesn't need moving far, so will probably just bodge some sort of bracket to move the reservoir a couple of inches back

[e30bmlover]

what difference does a strut brace make in real terms?? im highest bidder( and i will win the auction ) for the schnitzer one from schnitzel on the bay.

[E30BeemerLad]

I've yet to drive a car with one fitted and it'll be some months before the touring sees the road, but folk report a more positive steering feel with sharper handling, allegedly

[e30bmlover]

I've yet to drive a car with one fitted and it'll be some months before the touring sees the road, but folk report a more positive steering feel with sharper handling, allegedly

sweet.. it should be worth the £300+ that it will go for then lol!

[Simon13]

they make more difference on a saloon i've found. not alot on tourings.

[Morat]

Si, shush - they'll all want tourings if you keep this up!

[e30bmlover]

Si, shush - they'll all want tourings if you keep this up!

lol.... i doubt it mate...

[Morat]

Don't offend the touring massive - we've got room for all of you in the boot ;)