What good does a rear strut bar actually do? Is it something i should do? I heard someone tell me that if you have a front and rear bar then your suspesion will be to tight or something....Is this true? also does any on have a rear strut bar for sale?

 

In theory, it stiffens the chassis by connecting the 2 shock towers to prevent twisting.

Do you need one? Probably not but for $20 they can be had on Ebay so whether or not it's worth it is up to you. I could tell absolutely no difference on my car.

Cheers,
Sean

 

well to me i could tell a difference in my cornering and the stiffness in my suspension but then again i have a 91 honda civic so it might be that its older adn isnt as stiff as a new car but i would get them. but u really have to get rear upper and lower to help stop with the chassis twist

 

Comptech's testing shows that there is no advantage to bracing the rear shock towers. Apparently that area of the chassis does not flex much even under heavy load.

 

That testing must have been done on a coupe not a hatchback.

Of course you didn't feel a difference with a $20 ebay bar! Any bar you can flex with your hands is going to flex with cornering load too.

If you don't feel the need for a part, you shouldn't get it. But I guess if you're new to this you wont know how to tell anyway. So if you got a hatchback, get like a skunk2, neuspeed, EM racing, or some decent named brand (not DC, APC, OBX). Don't buy all kinds of crazy bars though. At the most you should have upper and lower front and rear, and then a roll bar like Autopower.

No it wont make your car "too stiff". If ride quality is affected at all, it will be improved.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
That testing must have been done on a coupe not a hatchback.
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I believe they did the testing on several different chassis. I find it hard to believe comptech would opt not to sell a rear strut bar (something they WOULD make money on) unless they had a good reason not to (like it doesn't have any effect).

 

i'm just gettin one because theres nothin in my trunk or back seat area and i think my rear struts are lonely....It's been awhile since they were played with..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shaundrake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Of course you didn't feel a difference with a $20 ebay bar! Any bar you can flex with your hands is going to flex with cornering load too.
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You know not what you speak of. The bars sees a force that compresses it lenghthwise which is much different that pushing on the middle of it once it is installed.

Cheers,
Sean

 

I installed a rear strut bar after installing a larger rear sway bar and it helped couter the understeer a bit more than just the sway bar alone.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kendall &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I installed a rear strut bar after installing a larger rear sway bar and it helped couter the understeer a bit more than just the sway bar alone.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Strut bars are not an active part of the suspension. It is not the same as stiffening up the rear in terms of sway bars and spring/shock combo.

If anything, the strut bar would prevent flexing in the rear. That flexing would cause the dynamic alignment to change for the worse and decrease traction. So assuming a rear strut bar does anything, it would increase understeer.. not decrease it.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
You know not what you speak of. The bars sees a force that compresses it lenghthwise which is much different that pushing on the middle of it once it is installed.
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Exactly. However, most e-bay bars use cheeply made alluminum mounting brackets. Which I have seen are very easy to flex, especially inward/outward. Which is why I say stick to quality brands, or make your own

 

What's wrong with the DC strut bars?? They look real sturdy.....I got a front upper strut bar that is a MUGEN "replica" (I can afford a $300 strut bar) and it works good and is very sturdy!!

 

I have seen first hand that the dc sports bars bend under flexing, and the mugen replicas brackets are so flimsy I could bend them with my hands.

 

I could fabricate my own braces for it though couldnt I?

 

of cource, you could make your own strut bar if you know what you are doing.

 

so comptech says rear strut bars are useless. But why do other companies like honda (jdm), mugen, spoon, carbing, benen....etc make them?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Calavera &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so comptech says rear strut bars are useless. But why do other companies like honda (jdm), mugen, spoon, carbing, benen....etc make them? </TD></TR></TABLE>

One answer is Marketing.

The other answer is they do work. On real race cars with 1200lb springs and sticky *** tires where more of the forces from the suspension are being transferred to the structure of the car.

On a street car the structural stiffness is more than adequate without the bars.

Cheers,
Sean

 

Well all i know is they look good!!!

 

ya the rear strut stiffens up the rear significatly if you are AutoX or roadracing. Dont know if its worth the money if your not a hardcore racer. Unless you like the looks and everything. But you would benifit more eith swaybars bushings..etc...

 

Yeah i agree

 

would it hurt ur performance?? just wondering if u have all front strut bar, rear strut bar, lower tie bar, and c pillar bar would having all that be bad for ur car?

 

so if i have a progress rear sway and one those moogen knock off strut bars up front and i saw a pic of my car cornerign is that why my rear tires are tucked under and my fronts are normal? shoudl i get a rear strut bar while im blowing all my money away?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikespeed95 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so if i have a progress rear sway and one those moogen knock off strut bars up front and i saw a pic of my car cornerign is that why my rear tires are tucked under and my fronts are normal? shoudl i get a rear strut bar while im blowing all my money away?</TD></TR></TABLE>

That won't help what you are describing one bit, the affect is minimal and you probably wouldn't notice it one bit.

What it looks like from the outside isn't nearly as important as what is happening inside the car. How does it feel? What does it do if you lift off the throttle mid corner (careful if you try it, lol), does it oversteer on turn in and/or oversteer on exit?

You have to look at the whole picture before throwing hardware at the problem, trying to identify the particular handling traits you want to change and pick the parts or change setting to get what you want. At this point I would suggest a good book, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...books

Cheers,
Sean

 

Ive heard of some crazy **** like that before too....

 

I dont believe a strut brace is really effective unless its a setup relative to the ones below...

 

Second one is a good design.

I would prefer triangulation over a box any day.