As you can tell by my other thread, I just installed front and rear strut tower braces. Obviously I went for a quick drive to see if I could feel a difference, and started thinking about that myth that they are useless. After just feeling the car through turns, I realized that the braces DO something, but I don't know if it's good or not.
I did feel the difference in that the inside (in relation to the turn) side of the car seemed to lift up a bit more. I had heard that the bars could exagerrate body roll, but I don't thik thats what it is. I just think that when the force from the turn is applied to the chassis, without the bar the towers would pivot at their base, thus twisting the car. This would also change the distance between the tops of the tower, in an uncontrolled manor. So the only real job the bar does is keep the tops of the struts equal distance from each other, which would reduce the amount of twist. If the distance changes, then alignment angles would be different for each side. Maybe only minutely, but still a fact.
Now, for my car, not so good, because my suspension is loose, not stiff, so the body roll allows more travel on the inside side of the car. But on a stiff suspension, I think it would be good, keeping the alignment even on both sides, especially when it's a tuned setup with specific angles. Again, add to that better tires with a lot more grip, then through turns more force will be applied to the chassis, causing more flex, making larger changes to the alignment.
I know this is a lot of already there knowledge, I just wanted to see what the other side has to say about all that. I may not have used the right terminology, but it makes logical sense to me and proves that strut tower bars DO something. Now, whether they do good or bad, I'm not trying to say that, otherwise I wouldn't have opened the discussion.
I did feel the difference in that the inside (in relation to the turn) side of the car seemed to lift up a bit more. I had heard that the bars could exagerrate body roll, but I don't thik thats what it is. I just think that when the force from the turn is applied to the chassis, without the bar the towers would pivot at their base, thus twisting the car. This would also change the distance between the tops of the tower, in an uncontrolled manor. So the only real job the bar does is keep the tops of the struts equal distance from each other, which would reduce the amount of twist. If the distance changes, then alignment angles would be different for each side. Maybe only minutely, but still a fact.
Now, for my car, not so good, because my suspension is loose, not stiff, so the body roll allows more travel on the inside side of the car. But on a stiff suspension, I think it would be good, keeping the alignment even on both sides, especially when it's a tuned setup with specific angles. Again, add to that better tires with a lot more grip, then through turns more force will be applied to the chassis, causing more flex, making larger changes to the alignment.
I know this is a lot of already there knowledge, I just wanted to see what the other side has to say about all that. I may not have used the right terminology, but it makes logical sense to me and proves that strut tower bars DO something. Now, whether they do good or bad, I'm not trying to say that, otherwise I wouldn't have opened the discussion.