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Strut braces

appletonn

appletonn

New member
Has anyone fitted one & any issues?

I bought one from KLA Industries direct from the States ( praise George W for the lovely exchange rate!), but on preparing to fit it, I see that the studs from the strut tops are not long enough to accomodate the brace plates and still offer enough thread to the fixing nuts - DOH![8|]

Are the studs replaceable and thus can simply be tapped out in turn and replaced with longer ones, or have I got to change the strut top mounts...??[:(]

Many thanks
Nick
 
I have the KLA brace. Unfortunately I decided to fit it in a bit of a hurry, not paying attention to exactly the problem you mention. Result being that my nice new KW suspension is now going to have to come off in order to retap/replace the studs [:mad:]. I currently have the mounting brackets fitted without washers, which leaves sufficient thread to do up the nuts. My struts are held on by 2 nuts, the others being knackered. To make matters even more annoying, one of the threads is so knackered that I cant actually remove the nut - it will have to be cut off, hence the reason for leaving the brackets in place.
Also, be extremely careful when you have fitted it to check the clearance between brace and bonnet.
Personally I wish I had never bought the thing.
 
I'm not sure i would be happy to drive around with only 2 nuts holding my strut in place!

I'm hoping that I will be able to knock out each stud in turn (they're only pushed up through the strut mount I hope??!!) and replace them with a longer one.

Am I wishing on a star here, or should I just forget about the strut brace and get it on Ebay...??!!

Please tell me, I'm not wasting my time here?
Thanks
Nick
 
My very cheap KLA strut brace turned out to be a very expensive upgrade when I ruined the threads on my top mounts - seemingling they don't torque up as well after 20 years [:(]

Because new replacement top mounts were silly money (£600ish a corner), and I couldn't get the mounts second hand by themselves, I ended up with complete 2nd hand struts with top mounts in place.......and another realignment. [:mad:]
 
John, does that mean that the threaded studs are integral to the top mounts and if so, how do i get some with longer studs so as to accomodate the brace plates?

I'm beginning to wish that I'd waited until I'd bought the car before buying the strut brace....!!![8|]

Nick
 
ORIGINAL: appletonn

I'm not sure i would be happy to drive around with only 2 nuts holding my strut in place!
Click to expand...

Agreed, but the strut cannot physically fall out so it is ok for the time being. It will be fixed in the next few weeks as the car is due back at RPM for service. Annoyingly as John points out, I will need another alignment session, so an expensive mistake on my part.
 
Steve, good point! RPM was where mine had all of its enhancements fitted by the previous owner just before i bought it - apparently they know their way round 944s?

So do i have to replace the whole of the top mount (as the studs are integral to it) or can i just replace the studs themselves?!

If I have to replace the top mounts, then I might as well upgrade them to Lindsay racing ones...??!!![;)]

Any excuse...
Cheers
Nick
 
ORIGINAL: appletonn

Steve, good point! RPM was where mine had all of its enhancements fitted by the previous owner just before i bought it - apparently they know there way round 944s?

So do i have to replace the whole of the top mount (as the studs are integral to it) or can i just replace the studs themselves?!

If I have to replace the top mounts, then I might as well upgrade them to Lindsay racing ones...??!!![;)]

Any excuse...
Cheers
Nick

Nick

If you fancy going to aftermarket top mounts Nick with the 968 Turbo has a set of Racers Edge ones which are supposed to be superb. I think they are on the spares listing.

Cheers
Tom
Click to expand...

Nick

If you fancy going to aftermarket top mounts Nick with the 968 Turbo has a set of Racers Edge ones which are supposed to be superb. I think they are on the spares listing.

Cheers
 
RPM certainly know their stuff. I would definitely recommend them if you are in that area.
As for the top mounts, I am not sure whether the studs are removable. My guess would be that they are but I may be proved wrong. I am hoping that once my struts are off, a new thread can be cut on the existing studs. I will then have to decide whether to fit the brace or not. In my case, I have sufficient thread so long as I do not use the thick washers that came with the brace.
 
Just a thought but why are you fitting a brace?
The consensus seems to be that the amount of flex at the strut towers is not great until you start fitting slicks lowered suspension and harder bushing. At this point it is probably a good time to seam weld the towers too

For the rest it seems to be purely aesthetic.
 
The consensus seems to be that the amount of flex at the strut towers is not great until you start fitting slicks lowered suspension and harder bushing.
Click to expand...

I agree entirely. With my Weltmeister ARB`s and KWV3 the car now really groans in different places for as the suspension stiffens you really start to notice the body flex. I had a small stone chip in the windscreen which turned into a wide crack as soon as the the system was tried....and my car has no sunroof!!

In fact I`d go so far as to say you need one on the back more than the front judging by the sounds from the rear which never seemed to flex/sound much with the original Mo30.
 
From what I can see they are not long enough.

Seems to me (and I bow to previous expertise) that unless the studs are threaded and I would suggest they are not then the studs could be removed/cut off and drilled out and longer ones installed and welded in which is not a big job for anyone with a Mig welder? I wouldnt have thought they were a special steel type as they simply bind the structures together so no shear forces apply?

Or am I talking complete **......[&:]
 
I have noticed a significant improvement in steering response after fitting a strut brace.
It may not make much of a difference on a car that is not already tight enough suspension-wise, though.
 
Why would you need to weld the replacement studs? Couldn't you simply use a bolt?

Personally I agree that in 90% of cases a strut brace is probably not required and in any case i'm suspicious of the vast majority of the aftermarket strut braces to be of much effect at all. This is because most of them attach the cross-tube to the tower top brackets via a bolt or a bearing. This will still allow relative movement of the tower tops as you will simply get a parallelagram effect that will allow flex - remember we are talking about torsional flex here. If you are at a stage where the tower deflection is an issue then you really need to have a strut welded so you have a fixed and non-bearing tie to the tower tops to completely brace them.
 
I have the KLA strut brace. TBH I didn't notice much difference at first but then I adjusted the bar to tighten it up. Wow what a difference. Setting preload is key to me without it, it doesn't seem to do much. The steering is way sharper and very accurate.

BTW I also have the KLA solid top mounts and personally I can't see much point in fitting a strut brace to a car with big rubber top mounts.

Rear suspension flops around all over the place because of the torsion bar tube mounts and torsion bar end cap bushes. I only have the Weltmeister end cap bushes but AFAIK Fen had or has a complete set. These make a huge difference, basically with the stiffer bushes you can get straight on the throttle after turn in, without you have to wait for the car to settle. With the stiff bushes the car just tracks through corners where you point it and you don't need to make corrections unless you get a slide on (or plain cock it up).

I noticed a big change with these parts on a car with 220 Lb springing and Koni's. You guys with KW and 300+ Lb springs will see a night and day improvement. Where is Fen when you need him?
 
OK, so maybe i bought the strut brace because I liked the idea of it (I'll get my coat...!) but also because of all that I had read about tightening up the front end to improve steering response.

My car has Bilsteins all round with (blue) helper springs at the rear and has been lowered by approx 30mm. To say the suspension is firm is akin to saying Kylie Minogue has something about her....[:D] Hence, I thought that the strut brace would assist with tying the front together in light of the less absorbent springing and more aggressive camber settings.

But what do I know... ...also thought it looked great on their website, so I am clearly still a boy and his toys?!!

To fit new strut top mounts, I guess I have top take the whole strut off the car?

Cheers
Nick
 
I fitted the KLA top mounts when I lashed up my original studs. But only after I had fitted the standard second hand replacements - so another alignment. [:mad:]

Without now removing the brace (so not going to happen) I couldn't say if it made a dramatic difference or not. My perception was that it improved turn in a bit, but that is what I was meant to think. With all modifications, be they suspension or engine, each individual bit works with the others. If you replaced any one component back to standard you might not notice a difference, but if you replaced them all you most certainly would.

So in summary - a strut brace is a good thing. I am a bit concerned about sugestions of preloading the brace though. I agree that it should have enough tension that it isn't slack on the mountings but I would be cautious in tightening it above that.
 
Son,
before you do anything,call in at Porsch-a-part & ask if you could look at a 944 strut.I am sure they will be welded in studs,not splined force fit.
Your concerned Father.[:)]
 
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