Are they worth it? I just ordered one from 'Performance', a tuning auto store here....are they what they say they are, and do they do what they say they do? (lookin' at what I just wrote... )

Are they worth it? I just ordered one from 'Performance', a tuning auto store here....are they what they say they are, and do they do what they say they do? (lookin' at what I just wrote... )

Ummmm - they are strut braces and they .... er .... brace the struts So yes they do what they say they do

Chris

Ummmm - they are strut braces and they .... er .... brace the struts So yes they do what they say they do

Chris

Yes but seriously!!! Do they really minimise body-roll that much??

they can help yes as you are keeping the struts tops parallel, obviously they are more effective if you get top and bottom but they do help

Thanks

Yes but seriously!!! Do they really minimise body-roll that much??

In my opinion strut braces have little effect on body roll. They tighten up the steering. To reduce roll you must either fit lower/stiffer springs and/or stiffer anti roll bars.

You've gotta be aware of what the impact is though - if you have both top & bottom ones you will stiffen up the car a lot, comfort will probably be impacted by it.

Fitting just the top-one will tighten up the steering a little and give more feedback without being too harsh

How much do anit-roll bars cost? I've already lowered my car.

In my opinion strut braces have little effect on body roll. They tighten up the steering. To reduce roll you must either fit lower/stiffer springs and/or stiffer anti roll bars.

I agree - they can't affect body roll as the roll is caused by the suspension and chassis flexing, neither of which the strut can address. Which braces have you ordered?

Chris

How much do anit-roll bars cost? I've already lowered my car.

I believe the vRS item is 50 UKP. The Eibach one which is thicker was quite a bit more - Andy Ellis tried to arrange a group buy a while back....

The only problem is only a front ARB is available at the moment. Ideally you'd want a rear ARB to help minimise understeer.....

Chris

they can't affect body roll as the roll is caused by the suspension and chassis flexing, neither of which the strut can address.Chris

so if a strut brace doesn't combat chassis flexing what does it do?

so if a strut brace doesn't combat chassis flexing what does it do?

What I meant was that, in theory, it helps but in the bigger scheme of things it's effect is minimal, unless you opt for uprated ARB's and uprated springs....... You're not going to remove body roll, just by fitting a couple of struts!

Chris

In my opinion strut braces have little effect on body roll. They tighten up the steering. To reduce roll you must either fit lower/stiffer springs and/or stiffer anti roll bars.

This was my understanding as well...lowering and stiffening suspension should cut roll as well a fitting an ARB bar.

Lower as it drop the centre of gravity and stiffer to resist to force applied on outer most side of car in relation to corner.......or something like that.

For brace is more a case of tightening up the steering....I think... I you consider the struts as 2 poles when cornering these poles will lean towards the direction you're steering....fitting braces will resist the lean more and keep the strut more upright.

* NB: all my usual disclaimers apply.

i didn't mean that strut braces would cut it out totally but along with the other things mentioned will help

Hmmm...

You guys have been very informative, thank you!

The Strut bar I'm getting is Wichers. Never heard of them, but I saw a pic of one for a BMW, and it looks solid:D Can I fit rear struts too? Will the Fabia accomodate them? And if so by how much do I improve handling?

Come on you guys with struts, teach a fellow briskodian!

Hmmm...

You guys have been very informative' date=' thank you!

The Strut bar I'm getting is Wichers. Never heard of them, but I saw a pic of one for a BMW, and it looks solid:D Can I fit rear struts too? Will the Fabia accomodate them? And if so by how much do I improve handling?

Come on you guys with struts, teach a fellow briskodian![/quote']

Errrr.....do yo mean braces?

The vast majority of cars have struts at the front...unless they have double wishbones.

If you mean a brace for the rear...I'm not sure if there is one....one of the members was making a variable brace .....not sure what happened.

I've got a Seat one (which I believe to be a Momo sourced one) and it makes a noticable difference - you can feel what the car's doing when cornering, and really get it on the limit.

The added bonus of these is that one insurance payment can cover all 3 as they go under 'Suspension - Other'.

Also, you absoloutly MUST tell your insurance company about a strut brace.

Why? A friend of mine fitted one and diddnt tell them, he then had a very minor slow speed shunt. What would normally have been a repairable car was written off because the strut brace transmitted the bending onto the other side of the car, twisting the whole front of the vehicle.

Errrr.....do yo mean braces?

The vast majority of cars have struts at the front...unless they have double wishbones.

If you mean a brace for the rear...I'm not sure if there is one....one of the members was making a variable brace .....not sure what happened.

I believe AAT supplied upper and lower front ones and upper rear ones, although at the expense of being able to put anything in your boot! Carjacked Mike did make one for the top of the rear suspension but I've not heard any more about that.......

Chris

Hmmm...

You guys have been very informative' date=' thank you!

The Strut bar I'm getting is Wichers. Never heard of them, but I saw a pic of one for a BMW, and it looks solid:D Can I fit rear struts too? Will the Fabia accomodate them? And if so by how much do I improve handling?

Come on you guys with struts, teach a fellow briskodian![/quote']

Unless the 'Wichers' brace is very cheap, I would recommend the SEAT brace intended for the Ibiza Sport. In the UK it sells for only about 42 Euros and fits perfectly in 15 minutes...

I have a Wichers one, very nice it is too German, aluminium, pretty & shiney.

As to what they do, well, here goes:

Put simply, as well as looking good they do actually have a purpose, which is to link the top front (or rear) suspension mountings together. What this linking does is to reduce chassis flex and thereby reduce spurious wheel alignment during cornering. Fitting a top one will give you an improvement, but adding a bottom one too will be even better. Why? Which is more stable, a 3 sided square or a 4 sided one (you know what I mean).

The Wichers are costing me about 100 Euros worth.

SkodiRS, strut braces are also called strut bars

As far as insurance is concerned, it is not a worry over here. When I got my car and had the kit fitted, before insuring it, I told my dealer (they were handling the insurance papers for me when i bought it)to tell them the kit came with the car, because insurance companies apparently don't insure bodykits. At least here. So he told them the kit was factory-fit, so it's insured

The strut won't be a problem here, insurance companies here don't look into those. I lowered my car without letting the insurance know, had a small accident last year, and they dint point it out.

.

I have a Wichers one' date=' very nice it is too German, aluminium, pretty & shiney.

As to what they do, well, here goes:

Put simply, as well as looking good they do actually have a purpose, which is to link the top front (or rear) suspension mountings together. What this linking does is to reduce chassis flex and thereby reduce spurious wheel alignment during cornering. Fitting a top one will give you an improvement, but adding a bottom one too will be even better. Why? Which is more stable, a 3 sided square or a 4 sided one (you know what I mean).[/quote']

Oh you got one too????? Great, now i have a reference!

Can I fit a rear one too?? That's the question I asked earlier...do you have a read strut TaviaRS?

Oh, and what's your name?

he drives an octavia by the way