I've seen two types of rear strut tower bars now and wonder how well either works compared to the other. There are the ones like Corksport sells, which cut into the speaker/strut towers and attach to the strut top bolts, and there is the one on Ebay that is like an extra frame that connects to the outside of the tower without cutting into it. I'm guessing the Corksport ones work because they attach more directly, but does the Ebay type even do anything? I'm not planning on getting the Ebay one, I'm just curious to know if it works?

 

Think about structural design, The corksport brace 4x as likely to flex under load than the one on ebay. with four mounting points there isn't much room for any flexing. Plus the ones on ebay are steel, not cheap Aluminum. if they used T6 aluminum it might be a different story.

 

How can it be strutualy sound if it bolts to the outside of the speaker tower? With a light kick you can pretty much destory the speaker tower, how is that suppoto support somethiong on your car?

 

Here's one on ebay that looks good:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2425068459


maxst420:> Steel is stiffer than aluminum. An aluminum bar needs to be about 50% larger in 'dia' to be as stiff as a steel one. But T6 is nonsense. Heat treating the aluminum doesnt make it stiffer, just stronger. The bars dont break. If they flex then they arent doing their job

 

I'm kinda thinking like Crackhead here, in that the four point doesn't seem to really tie to anything substancial. The CS type is tied directly to the rear shock mount bolts while the Ebay thingie goes to the exterior sheet metal as far as I can tell. How much strength can you get by bolting to sheet metal? If there were more than just sheet metal there, I would see a point. Or do I need to take apart the rear of my car to find how structurally sound it is there?

 

Are you serious? Have you ever tried to bend the speaker tower metal? The last parts car I had, I got bored once I was done, and decided to have a little fun with a mini-sledge. You can hit those towers HARD with the hammer, and it barely makes a dent. IMO though, Id rather have the CS one that mounts to the strut mount.

 

those kind of strut bars bolt to the shock tower, not the speaker part above it..... you are talking about the CP racing ones sold on ebay, right?

 

cp racing = good stuff

and since when is aluminium cheaper than steel?

alu = strong and light
steel = stronger but heavy

 

good point terr

 

Maybe I am missing something here on this thread, but the Ebay pic is of a FB not a FC for starters.

Anyway, a strut bar's funtion is to prohibit the flexing of the strut/shock upper mounting during hard lateral G forces. It is not for increasing structural rigidity of the tub itself. Idealy the point to attach a strut bar is directly over the shock/strut mounting hardware. The further you raise the mounting point the less effective it will be, regardless of the material

 

I have the one from CP and it does not fit the vert.

 

those towers are made of very thing metal though, bolting a bar there without actually bolting to the top of the shocks will just stress that metal and maybe even tweak it a bit in HARD cornering since the bar will be much more rigid than it's mounting point. go for cusco on the rear car, or JIC (cusco is cheaper though hehe, i got one at the shop brand new for sale if anyone is interested, PM me).

 

Im sorry but that is rediculus (sp) how could it be be a sturdy design if its not bolted directly to the struts, the speaker towers are made out of THIN metal, its as thick as sheet metal, the bar wouldent flex but the speaker tower would.

A rear strut bar is useless unless it is bolted directly to the strut! get the corksport one

 

I installed the CS rear strut tower brace that connects the rear two struts(works really well). If the bar doesnt connect the the struts together to keep them from flexing is it really a strut tower brace? If it sits between the towers what does it really do besides weigh the car down?

 

Just wondering since some of you guys have them; do they cause more noise in the chassis(sp?) or get rid of it? I put on a front Greddy strut tower bar, RB sway bars and then some RB endlinks on the rear end. It really made a big difference in my opinion, but the car creaks a little on uneven surfaces and maybe a little around corners, and I'm almost positive it's coming from the rear but more inside the car. Am I on the right track? I plan to get a rear bar from CS sometime in the near future, and eventually some KYB AGX's to finish off the suspension. Any other helpful info people have?

 

The noise is created by the bushings, they probably didnt have enough grease on them