Is it necessary to have a front lower tie bar?

what benefits are there when having this bar in place?

 

The only benefit of running my Benen bar is it hits the ground before anything else. My Benen was so beak up on my EK I had to ditch it (and it wasn't going to work with a 3" downpipe) and on my EG I just recently had to bend it back into shape. I'm happy it's there as it save other more valuable parts!