Spin9k

See the little black wires coming from the brace towers? Those are my Cusco Zero-2E eCon acuators. The thing you need to check is the size of whatever acuators you use. The inside diameter available is 3.25", but the top of the shock is right there if your fit. Hope that helps.

AJRx892

iTrader: (2)

thanks

appreciate the help!

rodjonathan

iTrader: (6)

nice rims bro

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

so does that mean it will be the best to just weld the whole front with a huge piece of metal ? that should give you "most contact" point.

you still dont know what you're talking about.

best for your application? only you can answer that question.

so search, yeah ... search. then decided what you need on YOUR own.

AJRx892

iTrader: (2)

i meant a professionally made strut bar with more contact points would logically provide more rigidity

as in the difference between 2 point 4 point 6 point

way to take things literal

why would i ask for a members opinion if i knew everything?

bgreene

As it was pointed out, the "best" strut bar will differ depending on ones needs, and number of attach points making a difference depends on what's on the other side of those points. It's all about load paths and rigidity (I've been working as an aerospace structural analyst on multiple rockets, fighter planes, and some things I can't mention for the last 12 years).

The autoexe 4-point front brace looks to be the most rigid brace available since it ties the tops of the front struts and the spaceframe together with the additional attach points close to the base of the "A" pillar which should be a local hardpoint as opposed to other models which tie to the middle of the firewall (which seems to be less rigid on this car based on various experiences with master cylinder deflections). This will reduce the possibility for side-to-side deflection of the wheels relative to the body under hard cornering which 2-point bars might still allow because there's no triangulation of the front suspension (no idea if this is an actual problem on this chassis when using a 2-point bar).

If all you care about is rigidity, then I'd say this one is the "best" (keep in mind that this rigidity may incerease noise and decrease ride comfort for a street car), but there may be other considerations depending what you're trying to get your car to do.

The autoexe bar is almost certainly heavier than carbon or aluminum 2-point bars, and can complicate certain maintainence procedures as it will need to be removed to get the filter out of a Rev-i airbox if you have one or to get at most of the ingition system which is under the hose connecting the airbox to the throttle body (a 2-point bar can be moved out of the way with removal of a single nut/bolt which is much simpler). If any of that is an issue for you, you'll need to weigh that against the possible difference in rigidty (and how significant that difference might be to the handling characteristics you're looking to get).

I've always liked this autoexe bar, and wanted one a few years back (didn't have the money to justify a purchase at the time), but have since decided to go with the MS 2-point bar on my car due to the maintainence/access issues since I do have the Rev-i airbox and like to do my own work as often as possible (can't comment on the difference in handling yet, my brace gets delivered tomorrow and will go on the car over the long weekend).

The rear brace in the autoexe set was the main thing I always wanted the set for (haven't seen anyone willing to sell that separately), but gtspec has one coming out later this year that looks similar for rigidity, now I'm trying to figure out if having my back end that rigid fits with the handling I'm trying to achieve (I'm looking for a little bit of oversteer, maybe true neutral without power oversteer and I'm trying to figure if the back end being that locked in might give me a little understeer instead). I do need at least a 2-point brace on the top of my rear struts though, since I'm oversteering more than I want under power on my current configuration.

Spin9k

I didn't have a problem w/the RB intake with the 4pt autoexe front brace.

The best base to adjust handling from is a chassis that is a single inflexible structure that has no flex. Then adjustments and modifications have effects that are both predictable and stay that way under load and stress condition. Trying to predict/adjust handling to some goal based on the 'flex' or 'lack of stiffness' of a chassis is not the way to 'tune' your car. Get it stiff as possible, then make it what you want with sway bars, coilovers, weighting, wheels and tires.

AJRx892

iTrader: (2)

im not going to track it

and looking back on that i admit it was pretty stupid to use the term in that way

i guess i meant best as in most rigid yet thats not what i want

i dont know what best for me is yet

but ive been reading alot on here everyday

wow that argument looks really stupid now oh well i apologize for being a noob and posting in the wrong thread

learned the hard way

bgreene

You have a point, but whatever flex is left in the chassis is as predictable as the loads/stresses induced by various driving maneuvers. I do analysis of jet fighters for a living, the envelope on an earthbound vehicle with only a handful of control options and mostly operates in 2 dimensions is very simple by comparison, an unless you're straining the chassis parts to the point of permanent deformation (unlikely for a production car due to things being sized for fatigue or stiffness rather than just for static strength), then the elasticity and equivalent spring rates in the body are as predicatable as the rates in the suspension coils (although it's more complicated to model).

For me, the car is my daily driver and certain mods are too impractical (such as an FI kit which would make the car impossible to smog in CA without a remove/reinstall for the inspection) to be worthwhile for my purpose regardless of how they affect performace; similarly some of the underbody braces aren't appropriate for me since I already scrape a bit going in/out of my parking garage with just the 1/2" drop from the RB springs, then there's the issue of cost vs. incremental benefit over stock config (which is different for nearly everyone for any number of reasons). If I were going to track the car frequently (or had a towing rig and could retire it to exclusively be a track car), then obviously some of these factors would change.

Interesting to hear that the autoexe brace doesn't interfere with servicing the RB intake (getting the filter in/out). I ended up needing to remove the stock bar last time I recharged my filter, and the cross member looks in photos to be in the same spot. Maybe I just jumped to removing the bar too quickly.