Strut Brace

[blease]

I'm no motoring engineer but I thought the idea was to stop relative movement between the suspension mounts by reducing body flex. Nowt to do with the springs.

 

[scam75]

Correct

 

[Neil Haughey]

They only really do anything if the strut towers are held in tension, or at least that is how it felt on my S2 when I had one fitted (currently sat in garage).

 

[steves944]

Could someone explain how a strut brace stiffens front suspension.
Surely its just bolted to the very top of the suspension legs so how can it stiffen up the movement of the springs?

 

[Lowtimer]

Shells flex under suspension loads, and the higher the spring rates you are running the more the shell will flex. If you imagine having completely solid front suspension the only 'give' would be in the shell. With normal road car soft spring rates a healthy shell won;t flex much at all at the front. The main reason for having a strut brace is that by preventing the top mounts moving in relation to each other you are reinforcing the shell so that if you are running very high spring rates you protect the shell from stresses that will ultimately lead to cracking and failure. Very important on cars that are going to be badly abused - rallied down forest tracks, thumped over kerbs on race tracks etc. But we are talking really about race and rally suspension, and off-road applications. On a car with a decent shell design, which the 944 has, and everything in good nick, there isn't really any benefit to be had for normal road use. It is a popular fashion acessory of course, as are a lot of things that look track-orientated.

 

[steves944]

Shells flex under suspension loads, and the higher the spring rates you are running the more the shell will flex. If you imagine having completely solid front suspension the only 'give' would be in the shell. With normal road car soft spring rates a healthy shell won;t flex much at all at the front. The main reason for having a strut brace is that by preventing the top mounts moving in relation to each other you are reinforcing the shell so that if you are running very high spring rates you protect the shell from stresses that will ultimately lead to cracking and failure. Very important on cars that are going to be badly abused - rallied down forest tracks, thumped over kerbs on race tracks etc. But we are talking really about race and rally suspension, and off-road applications. On a car with a decent shell design, which the 944 has, and everything in good nick, there isn't really any benefit to be had  for normal road use. It is a popular fashion acessory of course, as are a lot of things that look track-orientated.

Thanks very much, understood all that! I do track day and other than the odd trip onto the raised corner strips its perfectly smooth ( well, except Woodbridge!)