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View Full Version : strut sway tie braces etc



dw735
02-17-2003, 11:59 AM
hey i know that there are lower tie struts sways braces and all, but was wondering if anyone noticed any difference in getting like the whole set up. what i mean is does anyone notice a diffrerence from just having a rear strut and tie, from having the c pillar, rear sway, lower tie, and strut. there are so many upgrades, but dont want to spend any money on all those upgrades. thanks

JSIR
02-18-2003, 07:52 PM
Well they all do their part, but I can agree with your question as most people dont want to install every bar that is available, it gets confusing and expensive. If you are into auto-x , then you can never have too many support bars.

I was pleasantly surprised by the rear lower tie bar on my car, I wasn't expecting it to do much other than look good (DC), but it seemed to help out nicely on turn-in.

I think the front upper strut bar is the best performing bar out of all of them, a good place to start. If I had to choose one bar only it would be the front upper bar, if I chose two bars it would be front upper and rear lower. For some reason I find the rear upper bars not as effective as some of the other bars available. If I had to omit one it would probably be that one. I've never used a front lower tie bar, the new x style bars seem interesting though.

hth.

Vierge99
06-28-2004, 03:38 PM
Actually...

My EP is my first tuner car. Meaning it's the first car I've ever added parts to or changed. And the first and only bar I have in my car is a ghetto $20 EBay rear-upper strut tower bar. It took all of like 40 minutes to install. It looks good and I have no complaints.

I have to say though, since adding the bar, I've noticed TONS of difference. This one little bar has stiffened the chasis considerably. Around the turns, the body no longer just flops over. It gently rolls to the side now and not nearly as much as without the bar when it just rolled to the side like a dog. The chasis feels much stiffer when cruising around and as a true testament, I recently painted my rims black and when I used the factory jack to raise a rim, the whole side of the car went up. Both wheels on one side left the ground from the car being lifted at only one point. It was amazing. And I just learned that you can tighten the bar even more to make the chasis even stronger.

If you want to know more, www.k-series.com has a detailed installation guide for the exact bar that I have. Just click on Technical, then the EP3, and then scroll all the way down.

andy
06-28-2004, 03:58 PM
A thicker rear sway bar is where I started (and recommend others start).
After that, go with upper front (or better yet, double X brace).
A rear strut brace is probably next for me, then that's it. I don't really see the need
for a front upper strut brace (since I have the X brace and since none seem to bolt
to the firewall).

I'm interested in D3's interior brace as well, though, now that I think about it.

agrabau
06-29-2004, 05:49 AM
Many of these upgrades will put you in a higher class if you plan on competing making the EP3 hopelessly uncompetitive. I really am of the opinion that the chassis is fine and that a thin aluminum bar isn't going to stop anything from flexing.

If you were to make a paper box with two open ends on the long sides and tape it together lengthwise you can lay it flat on a table and move the top of the box (ie: roof of the car) side to side while the floor stays flat. You can support the bottom of that box all you want and the top will still flex. Adding support at the floor will only help so much.

Furthermore, while I'm on my mini-rant here I can't understand why people spend so much money on suspension and never compete. What's the point? No one can drive 10/10ths on the road anyway so why put up with socalled "race" suspension for a street car. If I add coil overs to my car I'm instantly bumped into a SP class and have to race 300hp turbo cars with AWD. Hardly worth the effort when the Ep is such a stiff chassis to begin with.