Strut braces - worth it?

[BEERBOY123]

Thinking of getting a strut brace, specifically a ST1 Billet.

Any good, worth the money? Make any difference to anything really?

I guess they're a piece of cake to fit, remove three nuts on each strut tower and slot it in?

Thanks!

[Jhonno]

Never heard of one.. Pic?
Decent front strut braces are worth it yes

[BEERBOY123]

It's on bmwtown.com for £160, and having watched an old Wheeler Dealers, I reckon I want one...

[DHFiS]

I have never read anything about how much movement there is between the strut tops and how much it changes the steering geometry/tyre contact patch. I guess the body of an E30 flexes a lot more than a modern car but the strut brace might not solve that.

To improve the handling I would spend the money renewing suspension components and buying good tyres before buying a strut brace.

[Jhonno]

For £55 buy one of RPM's ones..

BMtown appear rather inflated with their pricing

[Jhonno]

I have never read anything about how much movement there is between the strut tops and how much it changes the steering geometry/tyre contact patch. I guess the body of an E30 flexes a lot more than a modern car but the strut brace might not solve that.

To improve the handling I would spend the money renewing suspension components and buying good tyres before buying a strut brace.

Having fitted one, I can say it makes a difference.. The steering response is much sharper for starters, especially at speed

[Cotty]

Some people say they do nothing unles you are really pushing the car. Most of the mods on my car are suspension related, uprated shocks, stiffer shorter springs and bigger stiffer anti roll bars so a strut brace was the next thing. I had it all fitted at the same time so I can not say that one thing is better or worse.

But I do know I feel happier having it than not having it.

[Jhonno]

When I fitted mine, it was standalone, having been driving the car for quite some time with the spring/damper/roll bar setup

[DanThe]

For £55 buy one of RPM's ones..

BMtown appear rather inflated with their pricing

You can have a Sparco brace for £60 odd

[Jhonno]

But they are red.. Black looks better

[steve_k]

£160?? just for the front?? i paid £170 for both front & rear & they are the spraco twin tube front & single tube rear. £160 just for the front though? feck me thats steep.

in a way yes they do make a (bit of) difference to how the steering feels & like jhonno said you have to be pushing it to notice it really.

[Barx325i]

you can have a hartge brace for under £160. Not sure that billet ie. virtually no lateral damping is right for the chassis, but saying that I've never used one. Sparco is well worth it at £60 and £5 for a can of halfords black

they eiminate tower shake on the limit of turn in and do make a difference, but as said, the rest of your system need to be tip top before considering a brace to improve stuff

[Funnybear]

Anything that stiffens the chassis can only be a good thing, whether you will feel the benefit is debatable. If you got a hard top I would have thought the difference would be even less perceptable. If you have a soft I think you will really feel it on corner entry when the whole body wants to twist around the longitudinal axis, even more so on which way your turning and whether your putting in throttle.


You have to think, that in turns of chassis design, an engine bay at the front is the last thing you want. A big void, with a big lump of metal giving unwanted inertia where you want transverse strutting to prevent bounce and flex between the two suspension mountings. The strut bracing will commincate the movement of load from one suspension mount to the opposing one. Illiminating chassis bounce as the loading information transmits from one pillar to the opposing one. Imagine an open top box. If you push the sides in at the top you can move one side indepentantly of the opposite side. Imagine strapping two sticks to each side and a pair of wheels at the bottom of the sticks. Can you imagine what happens when you push up on one wheel and not the other. You can see what happens to the top of the box? The opposite wheel will not 'receive' the loading information from the 'information' wheel immeadiatly. Instead it gets transmitted by deformation around the top of the box untill it effects the opposite side. This is very basic of course. Now, stick a lid on the box an imagine the effect. You remove that flex, the transmission of information is instantaneous and removes the flexing process around the edges of the box.

That's what, kinda, your brace is doing.

This is not perfect science by any stretch and I am no engineer. It's just how I got it explained to me. I may not have given it justice.

[tomti]

just ordered RPM's front and rear brace cos i want my car as stiff as poss for drifting. Ill let you know what its like

[djk]

Just my inexpert twopennorth: I noticed on the couple of occasions I watched the PBMWC this year that many of the front running cars run less bracing at the front than one might expect - ie no front strut brace and cage not triangulated to the strut towers. I wonder if the relatively compromised suspension set up on e30s (compared to dedicated racing designs) means that a certain amount of chassis flex is desirable for circuit racing.

I have to say, I think a strut brace is just a bit of engine bay bling in most road applications, but not unnattractive if you're that way inclined. Are you ever really on ten-tenths on the road, enough to find that strut tower flex is your limiting factor?

[Barx325i]

there is a discernable tendancy to understeer with a solid brace - I run a twin tube hartge which by nature and construction has a damping effect. thus reducing the shudder & shake, damping any flex and low frequency tower vibration.

the benefits this hartge brace has over a solid design is personal but, I'm pretty sure they are the way fwd especially on the SHITHOUSE! roads we have (excuse my outburst)

[Felix79]

I would only have one for show as I'm not going to be doing any franctic track action. I do think so strut braces really finish the car off nicely!

[E30Gheko]

They should be a piece of cake to fit as stated by the OP but mine was an absolute swine to get back on after I'd taken it off.

[corkie]

makes a big difference in my cab oh and bm town took 5 weeks to send parts i had orderd,kept telling me they were waiting for the items to come from germany so i wont be dealing with them again

[Rav335uk]

I've got one on the cab, and agree with Corkie, you can notice the difference, more so than a the tintop.

[Dave_M3]

Strut braces saves your struts from collapsing so worth it alone for that reason.

It makes a big difference to how the front end feels in my oppinion especially if you have a quicker rack fitted.

[Jhonno]

I have to say, I think a strut brace is just a bit of engine bay bling in most road applications, but not unnattractive if you're that way inclined. Are you ever really on ten-tenths on the road, enough to find that strut tower flex is your limiting factor?

Nope.. I can feel the difference at 50, no where near 10/10ths.. It's not a limiting factor not having one, I just prefer the feel of the car with and the sharper response

[Simon13]

i've never noticed an improvement much on a touring but they work very well with saloons and cabs. On salmmed cars they seem to make the ride better less crashing over bumps

[Brian28]

Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to tell the difference in a blind trial, never noticed any difference on track or off. Would love to set up a proper experiment to see how much difference people can feel if they don't know whether or not the brace is fitted, how much is genuine and how much is headology. Bit like once in qualifying I heard an odd rattle/clunk from the back end somewhere, convinced myself that the car didn't feel right and wasn't handling properly seemed to be weaving around, pictured bushings or something shot, slowed down by a couple of seconds a lap. When I got back to the pits to investigate the problem, I'd left a breaker bar in the boot .

[Dave_M3]

Well, I even feel a difference in mine in just crossing to the other side of the road for overtaking!

Even if you don't feel the difference think about this one...

I knew of two E30s, one being a 318iS and one being a 325i touring.

iS had no brace and driven hard for about 6 months
Touring had a twin-tube Sparco brace fitted about 6 months before the iS was bought so a years hard driving until both cars were compared when fitting a strut brace to the iS.

The struts on the iS were after collapsing inwards over an inch while the touring was perfect.
Both cars were perfect initally and driven in the same area and neither had any offs that would bend something.


Some people would say it was because of the all-mighty M42 straining the chassis of the 318iS however

[Rav335uk]

Some people would say it was because of the all-mighty M42 straining the chassis of the 318iS however

NOT!!

[e30topless]

engine bay bling !
they look great, i do believe they improve things a little especially on a cab

[Dave_M3]

Some people would say it was because of the all-mighty M42 straining the chassis of the 318iS however

NOT!!

It was a joke!!!

[Rav335uk]

I know

[Barx325i]

no joke, we all agree that the M42 is clearly the best e30 engine

[steve_k]

come on guys lets not let this turn into the old & gray "318is v 325i" debate as i think we've seen that enough times don't you??

[Dave_M3]

no joke, we all agree that the M42 is clearly the best e30 engine

I know that's a joke but some people either from the delusional 4 pot side of the fence or the 318iS bashing 6 pot owners will take the bait and next thing the thread is 15 pages long





Right!!! strut braces...


Which ones do people think is best?

Strong sparco single tube
Or something like the RD hinged brace straight across the engine

[e30topless]

Right!!! strut braces...


Which ones do people think is best?

Strong sparco single tube
Or something like the RD hinged brace straight across the engine

one of these

[Barx325i]

neither..! twin tubage is the way to go about things imo, but variations like tire pressures, eccentric bushings spring rates, damper rates, moreso driving style! Either could be better.

I prefer the feel of the twin tube, the spacco scaffold type is too harsh especialy on the road & definately increases tendancy to understeer

[oomz1975]

Right!!! strut braces...


Which ones do people think is best?

Strong sparco single tube
Or something like the RD hinged brace straight across the engine

one of these

mmmmm.......very nice.