To strut bar or not?
 

Hey all, new to the forum. Just purchased a 2006 Convertible S with 43k on it. Mechanics and body well cared after and maintained. As such, I’d like to keep it that way. And having rummaged around here, the 1st thing I want to do is protect the strut towers from mushrooming. Eventually I will do some light modding to make a spirited commuter: TSW X-brace, FSD shocks, 15% pulley, possibly brakes. Question I have is should I go with WMW strut bar which protects strut as well, or just use ESC strut tower defenders? I’m not doing auto cross or track day. I’m mainly concerned with if strut bar will help strengthen convertible from NVH rattles/squeaks in the long term, or will x brace be enough? Being a convertible I want to keep it from flexing, but if there’s not much value in a products performance then I’m not interested. Thanks.

I believe that the best value to protect from mushrooming along with performance improvement, is IE camber plates, or similar. The mushrooming protection appears to me to be much greater by strengthening under the tower, rather than on top of it. You lso get the very necessary camber improvement that you will feel driving.

My car has a roof, so your experience may be different, but having installed first the x brace, and then the, WMW strut tower brace, I found the x brace to provide the most chassis stiffening. I believe that the strut tower brace has value as well, but if I were prioritizing spend, I would go:

1. Camber plates
2. X brace
3. Strut tower brace.

Mostly what Husky says.

I have the Ireland plates in the front of my car.
https://www.iemotorsport.com/product...7-r58-r59-r60/

Not only is it the "best way (proper Engineering wise) to strengthen the strut tower tops (from underneath..!), but it allows you to dial in some negative camber. I also have the Ireland Engineering adjustable bars for the back. From the factory...to me...it has too much negative camber in the back.
Mine now has -1.5° in the front, and -0.75° in the back. During a quick run up the local mountain, the tire scrub looks very good using these figures
You'll need to get the toe-in readjusted after changing the front.

X-Brace - not required in my estimation. It's a little car, and it really is pretty stiff as is.

Strut tower brace - Toss-up (again, overall stiffness). Is it a real...requirement..? I don't know. When I bought my car, it had an M7 brace. My Engineering background said, it's not a good design. I bought another manufacturers kit, then did some drilling and tapping to combine the M7 tower plates with the other kits bar.
Interesting that the Mini Engineering team choose to build a "straight" cross bar. They did this for a reason (NO MATTER WHAT OTHERS claim) If you buy a kit with a "bent" (curved, angled, bent, call it what you like) bar, it's mostly useless.
Find a kit with a straight bar.

Turn the "traction control"...OFF. It's a LOT more fun to drive that way.

Most of all, have fun.

Mike

As a R52 convertible, you already have additional braces (cabrio braces) from the strut towers to the frame (don't come on the R53). I don't believe a strut tower brace would provide much additional stiffness. Tower defenders won't do anything for chassis flex and aren't really needed unless the towers are currently bowed.

I think I’m going to skip the strut brace. I feel it’s not worth it for what I’m doing. However the induction of added power to a convertible frame (when I move to a smaller SC pulley) makes me feel like the x brace would be best to cope with flex. That’s further down the road though, when stock struts give out and need to be replaced. My towers are completely fine; I want to put protection on them to keep them that way. It’s my understanding that they need to be flat for tower defenders to fit. Correct me if I’m wrong, but they are to prevent mushrooming I believe.

Yes, you are correct. The tower defenders are to prevent mushrooming and will have no affect on chassis flex.

Sounds like you figured out the best path. Get the tower plates, not he bar. And since you have a convertible, I would go straight for the x-brace.