Has anyone installed a struct brace on his/her MINI? Does it make any performance difference? Which one would you recommend? Thanks! :smile:

 

>>Has anyone installed a strut brace on his/her MINI?
Yes, some owners have a tower strut brace installed.
Partly for the appearance and partly to stiffen up the front end which is already quite stiff.Some people say it is largely ornamental with very little testing done by makers as to it's true performance effectiveness. Buyer beware.

Does it make any performance difference?
There are some people that will tell you that it makes a difference while others say it does not. Randy Webb has tried it on the track and his track times were not significantly lowered by the installation of any tower strut brace. A few owners say that the front end feels tighter on hard cornering and some say that on long tracks with sweeping high speed turns it does make a handling difference.

For daily use and street driving it would not make much difference unless you took corners really fast.

Another thought is that with the strut brace added to the front end would be stronger and less prone to overall chassis fatigue over time because we know that all chassis will get worn out as you put more miles on the car.

Which one would you recommend?
Look at the lighter ones like the BMP aluminum since it is only 3.5 pounds. A heavy steel brace adds weight and isn't that much less expensive. A costly Titanium strut bar is about $300. Also strut bars will block most cold air intake boxes and interfere with oil changes and pulley upgrade installs.

Bottomline- a tower strut brace is not a high priority upgrade -save it after you have done other suspension upgrades.



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i like mine. have the bmp. i think that the front is stiffer and the front end should last longer.

 

Thanks for the info! :smile:

I'll postpone my decision on the struct brace upgrade. BMP seems to be a good consideration due to its light weight and appealing design. When installing the struct brace, is it necessary to trim the heating pad on the under side of the bonnet in order to have enough clearance to close the bonnet?

 

I did not trim the bonnet pad for any engine bay mod on my 2003 MCS but I do see a bit of wear along where the BMP strut bar rubs the pad. The wear is not excessive.


I feel that I don't drive my MINI hard enough to really notice the difference the strut bar may provide.
I do think that it adds a bit more strength to lessen the fatigue on my front end over time. All metal will fatigue with use. I've had my strut bar for about 7000 miles.

 

Great looking engine bay!

 

When I was flipping through the Feb/March issue of GO MINI magazine, I saw some pictures of John Cooper Challenge MCS that are equipped with struct brace. It must have some performance benefits when the car is pushed to the limit. :smile:

 

Dave, contact theInca, I think he has one for sale (since he put in the alta air intake he had to take it out)

L

 

I wonder if there is any correlation between the use/non-use of a strut brace and windshield issues?

 

>>Dave, contact theInca, I think he has one for sale (since he put in the alta air intake he had to take it out)
>>
>>L

Too late! I already ordered one last Friday. Thanks for the info though! :smile:

 

>>I wonder if there is any correlation between the use/non-use of a strut brace and windshield issues?

I've been wondering about that as well. You may well call this a coincidence, but.....

I got my first crack before I installed my Helix strut brace. I had the brace on when they put in the replacement windshield and then everything was fine for over a year (that is, aside from small chips and pitting....no cracks). I took the strut brace off just before I went in to have them look at my coolant reservior, parked the car in the garage when I got home and left the brace off planning to reinstall it the next morning. Next morning I had a nice new stress fracture running up from under the driver side wiper.

Coincidental timing? Probably.....but I'm planning to keep the brace on from now on.

 

>>I got my first crack before I installed my Helix strut brace. I had the brace on when they put in the replacement windshield and then everything was fine for over a year (that is, aside from small chips and pitting....no cracks). I took the strut brace off just before I went in to have them look at my coolant reservior, parked the car in the garage when I got home and left the brace off planning to reinstall it the next morning. Next morning I had a nice new stress fracture running up from under the driver side wiper.

Very interesting! It's quite possible that the reinforcement of the struct brace minimized body flexing and consequently, stress fracture of the windshield. :smile:

 

>>Very interesting! It's quite possible that the reinforcement of the struct brace minimized body flexing and consequently, stress fracture of the windshield. :smile:
>>

Yup, it's possible, but a strut brace won't help at all with the chipping (I got another of those today) and pitting. This windshield is just too brittle.

 

I have had 4 different strut tower braces for test and found that three made a noticable differance and one did not. The type of driving where I can feel it is under hard cyn driving with tight relatively ( 40 to 50 mph ) turns and as well as at the track on the big sweepers. The tight cyn feel is more responsive to the wheel inputs and a feeling thatthe tire is really digging into the curve. On the track the high speed sweepers feel more stable. Definatly work for me , Randy

 

>>I have had 4 different strut tower braces for test and found that three made a noticable differance and one did not. The type of driving where I can feel it is under hard cyn driving with tight relatively ( 40 to 50 mph ) turns and as well as at the track on the big sweepers. The tight cyn feel is more responsive to the wheel inputs and a feeling thatthe tire is really digging into the curve. On the track the high speed sweepers feel more stable. Definatly work for me , Randy

Randy, from the posted picture, is it safe to assume that you endorse BMP struct tower brace as one of the three that made a noticeable difference? :smile:

BTW, nice intake!

 

I have had my BMP strut bar in for a long time. I do mostly daily driving and have put about 11,700 miles on my MCS. I have the original windshield and some very small chips but no cracks. In my area not many MINIs have had trouble with windshields that I know about. Very few owners of MINIs in my area have strut bars, just a handful.

All told, in my area the data seems inconclusive. I'd ask all the people that have had many windshield replacements done whether they had a strut bar or not.

 

Yes dave you are rite the BMP certainly does the job.

 

>>Yes dave you are rite the BMP certainly does the job.


I have the hots for the Helix one. It looks very cool, which would be my reason for putting it on, though that there BMP don't look shabby at all either.....how 'bout camber plates? or should I start another thread?

 

I tried to get this info once. No one responded with evidence that any strut brace makes a measurable difference. Some reported measuring no difference in strut tower movement between using a strut brace and not. To put it kindly, my guess is that they're not performance products but rather items to be discussed in Interior and Exterior mods along with Zemax body kits, chrome windshield wipers, and other useless foolishness.

 

Any time you take off weight, it's a good thing. As long as the money that came out of your pocket weighs more than the strut brace you put on, you come out ahead.

 

You have to love it, Andy. The second you post, the thread dies.

Show me the numbers indeed.

 

Yeah, I agree that a FRONT brace makes no noticeable difference.

But has anyone tried a REAR brace yet?

HUGE difference - get ready for trailing throttle oversteer!!!

What fun!

 

Terrific. How much strut tower top movement did you measure before and after adding the strut brace? In which directions were the tops of the strut towers moving? Under what conditions?

 

russko,

Are you sure you aren't confusing strut brace and sway bar? The rear does not use struts. The hubs are located by a system of control arms and trailing arms. The shock and spring do not serve to locate the tire position at all. I can't see how lateral movement of the tops of the shocks could have any impact on the suspension at all, as long as that movement is less than several inches.

On the other hand, if the front strut towers were actually flexing (which nobody has shown a shred of evidence to suggest they are) then bracing them could help to locate the wheels since struts use the spring/shock combo as a locating link, along with the lower A-arm.

 

>>The rear does not use struts. The hubs are located by a system of control arms and trailing arms. The shock and spring do not serve to locate the tire position at all. I can't see how lateral movement of the tops of the shocks could have any impact on the suspension at all, as long as that movement is less than several inches.
>>
>>On the other hand, if the front strut towers were actually flexing (which nobody has shown a shred of evidence to suggest they are) then bracing them could help to locate the wheels since struts use the spring/shock combo as a locating link, along with the lower A-arm.

to paraphrase the guinness ale paper cutout pitch guys "brilliant analysis, brilliant!"

hey, we need new smileys for "brilliant, just brilliant!", for butting your head against the wall, for hype and b.s., and for covering your ***.

flyboy2160