strut rower brace and differential
 

it's tempting when some one posts an engine bay picture with super clean engine and a shiney strut bar.......but I always have had a few questions for the brace...

(1) I assume the 2.0L and 2.3L non-turbo-charged 3's have open differential ( i know for sure the speed3 have limited slip differentials), since the brace makes the suspension stiffer, in a hard cornering, the inner wheel has more tendency to be up in the car (or at least with reduced traction), and this wheel is where the open differential sends more torque which is to be wasted, at least the outer wheel (which has a lot traction) would get less torque. Pushing throttle in this situation may not help at all. Same thing could be said for the rear wheels.

I would think that the brace will help cornering only if we have limited slip differentials.

(2) Since the brace connects two towers, do you feel extra lateral movement (sensation) when one wheel goes through a bump or pothole?

Comments anyone?

--wish we had computer controlled variale suspension so our cars bank itself in a turn......



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RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

In short, the brace holds the towers apart so they won't flex inward when lateral pressures are applied.Since the brace is held to it's mounts by two longitudinally mount bolts, vertical movement is limited by the brace by not completely restricted.
I have not noticed a loss of traction in hard cornering, which I do a lot, but then again the advantage of the strut brace is subtle as well.
And you are correct,all n/a 3's have an open diff. [:'(]

RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

Virgin, thanks for your note. I can see your point in that the brace helps reducing tower flex, but does it also help (subtly) to pull the inner wheel off the ground in hard cornering due to weight transfer (see the following picture, esp civic, FL wheel is up in the air)?


[IMG]local://upfiles/13140/A98353007EAB4B769542D510556D6475.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/13140/5DF6E16EA3F04D1AA6241DC026032725.jpg[/IMG]
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The Vision

RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

The brace is only there to stiffen the upper chassis laterally allowing the suspension to do it's work more effectively by keeping the front tires from going to "negative camber" in a hard turn. Struts suspensions are notorious for that because they rely on the sheet metal of the inner fenders to keep the struts in line. It sounds like you are confusing what the brace does vs the work of a large diameteranti-sway (torsion) bar.
No I haven't noticed any ill effects from the brace such as you describe.

RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

As Virgin1 was saying, it is the anti-sway bar that actually unloads the inside tire not the Strut Brace

RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

My understanding of the anti-sway bar is that it takes tortion to minimize the roll of the car body in a turn. In other word, in a turn, the outside suspension is depressed, the anti-sway transfers some of the tortion to the inner wheel suspension to keep it depressed as well to reduce body roll. It compresses the suspension on the inner wheel side, it does not unload the wheel.

Now for the strut brace, it takes lateral forces between the two towers, no tortion involved. Correct me if i am wrong.
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RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

I think I understand what you are saying now......more likely the strut brace would be in compression during cornering rather than in extension, so it won't work against the inner wheel suspension. For that matter, can you actually tie the strut brace to the nearby firewall just to stiffen up the tower?
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RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

The anti-sway bar tries to keep the car level by limiting independentsuspension movement, but the further you stuff the right wheel into the wheel well the more it is going to unload the left side by trying to stuff the left side into the wheel well to keep the vehicle level.

RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

Now you're getting it... I think?
Yes, some strut braces that I have seen actually do tie into the firewall in a 3 bolt triangular pattern or 4 bolt ladder style pattern. The whole idea is to stiffen the chassis and let the suspension do what it was designed to do... suspend. This is why car manufacturer's are always touting and improving chassis stiffness and torsional rigidity.

RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

Siber and Virgin,

Thanks for your notes. i undertood that adding the strut brace reduces tower flex. the bottomline i am trying to get to is the question: would letting the tower/chasis flex delay the lifting up of the inner tire during cornering? because if the inner wheel is up in the air, no torque will be transfer to the driving wheels with open differential. see the cartoon i drew. i knew thattower flex is harmful to integrity over time, and one would lose negative camber as well. but aren't you worried about traction in cornering?

[IMG]local://upfiles/13140/9D0F844326784559A010A6E8A6D9288E.gif[/IMG]
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RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

No. The anti-sway bar does that.A tower/strut brace haslittle/no affect on that part of the suspension.

RE: strut rower brace and differential
 

Let me clarify a bit with another cartoon. Assume the car is in a right turn, on the left the suspension is closed with a strut bar which stiffens the structure just like you close and tape a card-board box, on the right is the stock configuration, no strut bar.

In a hard right turn, due to weight transfer, the out-pulling force is experienced at the upper strut mount, this is the primary reason for the strut bar so the load can be shared by two struts. Now look at this from the whole car pespective, the rigid structure on the left of the cartoon is more prone for the inner wheel (right wheel for this case) to lift up in the air. Without the strut bar, two struts are connected via car body, so the body flex more, and suspension geometry may not be maintained as well, but exactly due to this, the inner wheel could still have traction.

It's certainly benefitial to stiffen up the suspension, but if the 3 is already stiff enough (which I really don't know how to quantify), beefing it up more could have detrimental effect along with the assumed benefit.Wheel lifting updue to super stiff suspension can be experienced not onlyduring cornering, it can happen on rough terrain as well.

It'd makehuge sense thatstrut bar should go with limitedslip differential, not an open one. Adding strut baris benefitial, don;t get me wrong, but there's another side of the coin, esp. w/ open differential.
(again, if the inner wheel is up in a turn w/open diff, no torque could be transferred to the outer wheel, however, if you tap on the brake, there then will be torque transfer, counter-intuitive, but true.)


[IMG]local://upfiles/13140/D9A23A478EE149369BD46ACDE27EAD75.gif[/IMG]
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