GTSPEC front strut brace for R56.

more pics here (http://gtspec.com/index.php?nav=prod...id=297&cat=155)

 

wow! a strut tower bar that looks like it will clear aftermarket intakes. Now that's something new

That really looks phenomenal. I also had not seen the DDM race intake before. Very cool setup.

 

For anyone that doesn't know GTSPEC makes great high quality parts. Are you guys planning on making any other braces for the mini?

 

The R56 has slots so you can remove the pin and loosen the three bolts and slide them closer to the center of the car and increase negative camber from -.5 to -1.0. I have the cravenspeed STD so when they are on you cannot use the camber adjustment.

With your strut bar can the stock front camber adjustment be utilized. It looks as if it cannot be. The plates surround the strut tower so you cannot slide it over. Why is no one designing strut bars and Strut Tower Defenders so you can still use the stock adjustment.

I hope I am wrong with this product but it looks like I am not.

 

Not all R56's have that feature yet, my 2007 and 2008 does not. A friend's 2009 does not have it either. I think it will take a little more time before it is seen on all R56's. Elongating the holes is rather easy to do and any machine shop can do it for existing stuff if the material is there.

 

No, all of GTSPEC strut brace are designed base on stock position. Like the previous post said, you can enlarge the mounting point on the strut brace so that you can still use the strut brace. Not hard to do.

 

the JCW strut tower bar is adjustable and can accommodate the psuedo-camber adjustment. Camber plates are a much better way to go. Then you can use one of these rigid strut tower bars.

 

does the JCW clear the aftermarket intake ?

 

Clears my Alta intake.

 

Yet another STB that does not allow for those that take advantage of the extra factory camber? It looks like a nice piece otherwise, but unfortunately takes itself off the list.


I have yet to see an R56 that does not have the strut tower slots. Have you actually checked your strut towers by removing the three nuts that hold on the top hat? There's no reason any driving enthusiast wouldn't add the full -1.0 degrees of camber the factory slots allow unless you run solely on the highway and almost never take a corner.

 

I new when I saw Ryephile posting I would agree 100% before I even read his post.

The bottom line is a strut tower brace is designed to improve the cars handling dynamics. It would be nice if a manufacturer of these types of products made the bar adjustable or even just made the bar to work with the car set to -1.0 rather than -.5. The negative 1.0 degree setting is not going to wear the tires prematurely but will increase the cars all around handling on the street and track. The rear is set at the factory at about 1.2 to 1.4 and that does not wear the tires. Every R56 I have seen including my car has the slots.

Great looking bar but is it really designed with performance in mind. If their R&D department took two minutes they would have realized the car was adjustable and they could have designed the product with performance in mind not just for those who like a pretty chrome bar that looks cool.

The strut bar needs to be adjustable in length, the large center whole must be larger and the 3 holes must be slotted or they could have just designed it with only the performance setting instead of this way but there were options. This would allow R56 owners to adjust their camber and truly improve performance of their vehicle. I guarantee adding the extra negative camber and leaving the bar off will be a much greater performance gain then leaving the camber and adding the bar. I don't want this to be a bash just on this manufacturer because all of them besides the JCW have not taken this into account.
The JCW bar clears some aftermarket intakes but ironically not their own.

 

Not hard to do come on did you really R&D the bar at all. If you slot the 3 holes you still can't slide the plate over because the circular opening in the center is a tight fit all the way around the circular rise in the shock tower. There is not enough tolerance to slide the plates over even if you did slot the holes. If you made the center hole larger then we could slot the 3 small holes and move it over. Lastly if you enlarge the center hole and slot the 3 mounting holes and move both sides in is the bar length adjustable too because it would have to be shortened to work

Milling out the center and slotting the 3 holes is tough without the proper equiptment

Here is a better idea - Re-design the strut bar with performance gain in mind or instead spend your time designing 21 inch chrome wheels with blue center caps to match your cosmetic strut tower brace.

 

To take advantage of the slots in the top of the tower to increase camber does one need to remove the locating pins?

 

Yes I have on all of them .....

 

Yes, You will need to remove the pins

 

So, is anyone running this? I might order it. Will it prevent mushrooming because the bases look thin.

 

Yes, I keep mine in my cup holder.

I suppose you could use this strut bar and change the front camber settings. Instead of -.5 on both sides you could have 0 on one side and -1.0 on the other. It's the way the NASCAR guys set their cars up. Paint a big 3 on the doors and roof and you'll be Dale Sr!

 

Anybody try this bar yet?

 

my car is the car in the photos... it's a GREAT piece... i used to have the M7 front bar but it rubbed various pieces of my car way to much so i ended up sellin that... this bar has now been on my car for quite some time and i have absolutely no problems at all with it! it's a great piece! looks great too!

 

as for the camber adjustment... i haven't seen anything about that in US market ones... i could be really wrong tho... but if you ask me, i'd personally suggest just getting Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates... they give you more camber than the adjustable "stock" can, and they don't wear out the tires unevenly! 1.5 degrees of negative camber is pretty freakin sweet 1 degree can help but not overly noticably in my opinion at least not on my past cars (wrx and volvo s60), and if you need heavy adjustment, get IE's adjustable camber plates or Helix13's.... that's if they make one for the R56... they have one for hte R53 already.

 

that is entirely dependent on how much camber you have your car set to, not the brand or type of camber plate you have.


After reading this thread, i went to check my OCT 07 build MCS for the stock camber adjustments and sure enough, after removing the locater pin, loosening the bolts, and applying a swift kick to the tops of the wheels i got the camber. I went out for a drive and it was jaw dropping to say at the least.

The speed you can carry down a highway offramp makes you cringe at the sheer amount of force the front suspension must be under. You can really feel the tire bite into the asphalt.

 

Jeez... I might need to invest in some camber plates/bar soon... it sounds like the plates make a tremendous difference!

 

Where's the best place to buy GTSpec?

 

It's backordered at the moment, but I got mine here: https://www.upscaleautomotive.com/p-...ooper-r56.aspx

 

Thank you! I'm going to order this as my next upgrade. Do you have any regrets or issues with your strut brace?