I have read some reviews and most people say it makes a big difference im having a hard time understanding that simple chassis bracing can possibly affect the cars handling as much as some people state.

If your running big sticky tires with tiny sidewalls and very stiff suspension i can understand how some chassis flex would become apparent and that a good brace, such as the tsw x-brace, could make a huge difference.

Now, i autocross once a month i plan on getting some ra1's for the factory wheels to race on. Will bracing my chassis(front strut, rear strut, under chassis) make a big enough difference for me to improve my times?? Not only that but will i notice it during small canyon runs and other spire ted driving on the street?

Thanks guys!

EDIT: i wanted to add that the point of me asking this is i want the best bang for the buck performance upgrades and if it doesn't make that big of a difference there are other options out there to add better handling to my car.

 

I don't think you understand how much a car flexes when cornering forces are put on the body.

I have seen cars launching at the dragstrip blow out back windows because of how much the chassis flexed.

This was a pretty good read. http://www.engin.brown.edu/courses/e...odyProject.htm

 

Lots of feedback given in this thread.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d-updates.html

 

If you're looking for ways to get around a course quicker there are better upgrades (camber plates for example, if you don't already have some.)

However if think of the car as say, an Altoids container (sorry first thing to come to mind and it's late and I happen to have one on my desk, bear with me...) and you cut out a large hole in the bottom of it, there is going to be a lot of flexing around that point if stress is added. That's basically what your engine bay is, a whole in the frame of the car. The difference isn't night or day but if you have other suspension mods or sticky comp tires you're putting more stress on the frame and the brace will tie the front end together better. That being said you'd probably feel a slight difference more than you'll see autocross times change. The brace doesn't change the suspension you already have but it minimizing flex would add predictability and allow you to be more precise and consistent in the corners.

 

The lower braces and the cabrio diagonal braces both make a noticeable difference on the the street. Upper strut -top braces don't make much difference in a MINI, and I've tried a couple.

Will it reduce your auto-x times? Probably not enough to cover the higher class you would be forced to run in.

 

makes a huge difference in the cabrio. ride is smoother/more solid feel...and quieter...less squeeking/creaking noises. this is what i've noticed with an omp, which one would think, probably does less than the xbrace. but before i say for sure i'm waiting for rick's "back and forth from omp to tsw" thread

 

I can't explain more than the posts above but having the OMP lower bar I sure can feel the difference. I can only expect the TSW is even better.

 

That was a good read and it would be awesome if the model was of a MINI. This indicated that a STB was of great value, however many here believe they have very minimal value. So, maybe things are just different on a MINI as compared with that study. I am sure they can't hurt though.

One thing was very clear, and that was that unibody construction is generally less stiff than the the older frame/body technique. Of course, unibody is also much lighter.

I can't comment directly on the STB, as forum reading has steered me away from them. However, I can report that the X-brace did make a real and significant improvement in stiffness. This data is repeatable via my highly tuned and calibrated butt dyno, and G-force meter.

 

Wow thanks for all the replies guys. Sounds like something i might possibly be interested in investing in.

 

And all this bracing is far less effective than real racing prep., where you would strip the body down to the sheet-metal, scrape out all that crappy glue that damps the space frame, and seam-weld or braze all those joins where the factory spot-welded and filled them with goop.

That's a little extreme for most of us, of course...

6^)

 

It will improve your times. But if you Autocross with the SCCA, the under chassis brace will put you all the way into FP. I don't think any MINI can be competitive in FP at a regional level or above.

 

A unibody car will be much stiffer than an old chassis car. The whole body is the frame.

You will definitely need to check out what class you will be running in to see if it is worth it for AutoXing. For a daily driver with the weekend fun runs it probably makes more sense to put in the lower brace.

As for the STB, the MINI has such short front engine mount tubes that they are not subject to much if any rotational forces thus the brace is not going to add any performance gain.

 

Oops, I guess I skimmed that part too quickly.