Does it really help with the suspension or is it mostly for bling?

I ask because I am debating between the m7 strut tower brace and the m7 strut tower re-enforcement plate, but I'm only really interested in either items as a mushrooming tower preventive measure.

Of course I drive real .. spiritedly .. so I mean, yeah, if it'll help my little Cherise handle better on the street then I'd be all for the brace.

Comments? Suggestions?

 

I think it depends on how you drive your car and perhaps what mods you have or are contemplating. Aggressive canyon or track work , autoX, sticky tires , lowered or performance enhanced suspension are all things that would benefit from a good upper strut tower brace. There are many opinions on this and this one is mine

 

Do you sense body flex when you drift through turns? If yes, get the full brace. Chances are you don't 4 wheel drift enough to get the benefit of a brace. Also, unless you're running shaved racing compound, you aren't getting enough traction to see any benefit.

 

Its not really needed for every day driving ,as the post above says it will be better on a track or autoX car .However if you drive at 9/10's on twisty little roads (like here in Scotland) it will make a difference and the car will feel tighter.Standard driving on wide open roads ....save your $ .Beware what you buy if you do , a friend of mine bought CF one on ebay for his JCWS, fitted it, closed the bonnet(hood) ..... a nice big bulge appeared in the middle !!!! all the sound deafening had to be cut away to allow the bonnet to close . They also mark/tarnish easily as the heat from the engine and the foam rubber insulation stuff dont like each other,but who cares if its not for bling !!!

 

no

 

^^^^ what he said

 

Well here is another opinion from Roland of GTT . This is suposidly a tuner of sorts in the UK. I think he is exagerating JUSt a bit LOL


Morning Guys,OK I have driven the car over 30 miles of B roads I know inside out , My heart is still pounding with excitement,I couldnt sleep and Ive come in an hour early just to drive it again and confirm it wasnt all placebo effect.?..... ....It was'nt!
OK 'This GTT product IMO gives the most significant upgrade in handling that I have ever experienced on any car ' Even more so than other cars that we have produced a 'similar product' for. The improvement is so great I can feel it every second of the journey on any type of road/surface. I could even feel it driving out of the industrial site. My grip on the steering wheel ,which is normally very tight on bumpy B roads, now doesnt need to be. All the tugging ,and twitching as you put one wheel through ruts and grooves has gone! It feels to me like the chassis is longer flexing.....and thats exactly what it is. Under braking I'm correcting much less and Ive just realised all the dash rattles have just stopped.
We can sell you a Bilstein kit for £1400 ,or this new GTT Strutbrace , for a fraction of the cost ,which IMO improves things more . (irrespective of the huge price difference!)I
I have run my car with both OMP and JCW strutbraces and I found them to make little or (JCW) no difference at all. We knew the GTT Strutbrace would be many times more rigid than these, but if the chassis isn't actually flexing in the first place ,then it still wouldnt improve things. My before & after test drive confirms not only was it flexing, but alot more so than we expected. In summary this Strutbrace does for handling what a GTT220 does for performance. We will test it furher on the track at the Castle Combe Track Day next Saturday- Be there!!!

 

Guess I'll be saving some money and just get the enforcement plates.

Don't get me wrong, I drive my car aggressively, but Cherise is still my DD and I don't drive her into the ground everyday.

Thanks for the info everybody.

 

The English version of M7??
Similar copy.

Discuss

 

despite suggestions in the past about easy ways to measure both front and rear suspension pick up point deflections, no one has bothered to measure.......hmmmm......i wonder if the fact that people will buy the braces without any data has anything to do with it...... [edit: i'm referring to strut braces, not a tower reinforcement.]

 

No its not needed, its more for $bling$. However the strut tower renforcment plates is a good idea.

 

I put one on my wife's MINI and she commented about how 'direct' the steering felt...it responds quicker to small corrections. She has a cabrio...FWIW.

 

my wife wouldn't even notice if i put new wheels on her car.

 

Would she notice if you took the wheels off?

 

Called me from the side of the road and said something was dragging.

So I get there and the chin spoiler is hanging down dragging + the drivers side front tire is flat and shredded. I said when did you notice the noise? When I left work, that was 10 miles back

 

mine noticed how much smoother the throttle was after I (quietly) put an engine damper on. Uprompted, she asked 'what did you do to make my car drive better'?

 

The answer to the original question is NO. Not for normal street driving

As to that guy ... take anything said with a grain of salt.

 

both my wife and I noticed with normal street driving. YMMV.

 

i think that's 'normal' for ordinary people, men (non car enthusiasts) included.

 

I honestly think if the steel body of the car is flexing more then it should, i dont think the tiny aluminum brace is going to stop it. (rather the brace will just flex with the car)

I had a friend at road atlanta ask one of the pit crew why he didnt have a strut tower brace on the car. His response was "we dont need it, we have a full roll cage, those strut tower braces are just for the kids to put something shinny under their hood"

 

yah, if non-functional, she will just give me a call to fix it. so tricks
will only backfire back to me.

 

the sheet metal is thin and ultimately in a 'U' shape (with the firewall being close). there's nothing 'tiny' about an M7 bar....it's a honkin piece of aluminum and has some heft. besides....it's not lateral motion (forward and rearward) the bar controls but rather tension side to side. As long as it doesn't stretch and has secure mounting, any strut bar will do the job.

I paid alot for the M7 bar. I've also paid alot for the STi bar for my Subaru. I've also bought a $40 cheap bar for the rear of my Subaru. I'm confident all do the job they are intended for, although I don't ever show off the $40 one.

 

I have an M7 bar on my car. I bought it to mostly keep the strut towers from growing mushrooms. It's a nice piece & I'm sure it may help, but I really can't feel any difference in the car. Our MINI's are built pretty darned stiff so IMO there is little to be gained, but on the other hand it couldn't hurt to have a strut bar.

 

I'm also in the "doesn't do much, can't hurt" camp. I don't have one myself.

If you want something to help combat strut tower mushrooming that will also have a very noticable effect on the car's handling, get some beefy front camber plates. I'd definintely recommend camber plates over a strut tower brace.

 

I purchased and installed the JCW strut brace and I did notice a difference in the handling. Especially on rough roads and cornering. The car seems to ride through the bumps smoother and it just feels tighter and more stable. I do recommend it. If nothing else but to help reinforce the struct towers themselves. See pictures at https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...0&ppuser=19462.