http://gtspec.com/product/gtspec-min...t-ladder-brace

Does anyone have it and what do you think? I have their STB.

 

Maybe useful for a full race car. Of no use on the street. Just like STB's. But then again, a real race car will have all these braces welded in with the roll cage.

 

What I can't improve the handling of my street ride. Does it always have to be about the street vs the track?

 

The reality and what tvrgeek was alluding to is that bracing, especially strut tower bracing, makes very little benefit to modern cars that do not have very stiff springs/coilovers and sticky tires. That's why he said it's not worth it for a street car.

That said, I do have an underbrace similar to the above ready to go on my R53. I expect it to reduce vibrations and dash squeaks more than improving handling. It may sharpen up the front slightly. Reviews are pretty positive in general, but the R56 might be a bit more solid up front than an older R53 already.

Underbracing is more effective than strut tower bracing in my experience, so you may notice a small difference on your car. But I would probably put my money elsewhere first.

- Andrew

 

No, not always. I have vastly improved the handling of my street car by changing those things appropriate to street car handling. Shocks, camber, tires, sway bar. I have not spent money on race car parts that are only of advantage on a real race car. Yes, there is absolutely a limit of diminishing returns on what you can do to a street car and it still be a street car. You may have reached that. If so, buy a Porsche.

Andrew is correct, as I have mentioned here before. Modern cars are VERY stiff, as in thousands of pounds per degree of torsional stiffness. Before adding a slight improvement there, you need to remember you are mounted in rubber bushings to make the car tolerable for street use. A hundredth of a mm these bars may add is meaningless when you move tens of mm in the bushings. Race cars have solid bushings. More force is applied to the chassis, so small differences may be useful. This was not always true. Even through the 70' some cars were so flimsy as braces made a difference. I can see where an individual car design may have a design defect allowing excessive movement. Not likely as it would adversely affect crash testing, but possible. An example is the mushroom problem on first generation strut towers.

I can tell you the secret to make your street car WAY faster. Seriously. There is always one sure fire way. Guaranteed to work. Take driving lessons. Don't try and drive a race car on the street. It is a miserable experience.

 

We've tried a couple different under braces, and found the TSW X brace to make the biggest improvement. It's the only one worth installing, otherwise don't bother.

 

Andyroo,

I have the M7 USS on my R56. It actually adds quite a bit of NVH as it makes the chasis much less flexible. The problem is that there are very few people with this mod for the R56 so there is a lot of just opinions out there. Try yours and we can swap some experiences.

 

^ Will do. Hopefully I'll put it on Saturday. Still an R53 but I'll have some feedback and I like to think I have a sensitive buttdyno.

- Andrew

 

less body flex? I assume this was done by strain gauges? You may want to get your frame checked out if you can feel a difference in car flex with a brace on a street car with rubber bushings. Did you buy it used? Hopefully not a salvage with a bent frame.

to OP: do you have upgraded (note: not "aftermarket", but actually upgraded) struts/springs/control arms (upper, lower, endlinks), front and rear sway bars, solid bushings, etc etc etc? If not, those will make a difference (in a noticable manner compared to an under strut brace). Like others have said, our cars are pretty stiff as it is stock (there are numbers of strength per square inch somewhere on this forum, but they are right under what an M3 is I believe)

 

Like I said before, andyroo and I will have this on and will have some real experiences to share.

Strain guages are great to measure static loads but these are not under real world dynamic conditions. No the car is not a salvage, does not have a bent frame and it has not been in an accident, just in case you ask that question next. In the last 2 years, the car (and I) has seen 30 days of track in the advance group, 8 of it with the USS. I have driven other Minis, JCWs with coilover and the typical suspension modifications etc., on the track and on the street as a comparison.

 

What is an aethetic mod?

 

Alright so I have asked to see if anyone had one installed. I wanted to see how hard the installation was an if they could tell any difference. I am not new to the modding world on small cars. I added a similar one to my last car and it made a big difference. It definitely pushed back putting a new springs and shocks or coilovers. Which I did not end up putting on because I trade the car in for the MINI. All this thread turned into was a huge waste of time.

Thank you that is all.