which material is better for making member braces? aluminum or steel? I am looking to buy some new member braces and struts.

 

anyone is kind enough to enlighten me?

 

Steel is stiffer, harder, stronger, more durable, easier to weld (well, more people can do it at any rate), cheaper, readily available and available in a multitude of sizes.

Aluminum is lighter, it won't rust and it looks good polished.

I tried making a front lower arm brace out of Aluminum and it promptly bent in normal driving, so I redesigned it and made one out of steel and it was much better. An Aluminum one of the new design would probably have been good too, but I chose to go with steel.

I like steel, but it really depends on the application as to what's "better".

 

As mentioned above, steel is stiffer for a given volume, by about 3 times actually. The material to use depends on the structural need and the space allowed. You can make an aluminum brace that's just as stiff as a steel one, but it will need to be thicker an weigh the same as the steel one but it won't rust.