rony1976

I haven't seen anyone talk about this brace, has anyone tried it? The Steeda Q525 has it, I was just wondering if anyone else made the investment.

Chime in!

Evil_Capri

I do not own a S197, but I do have one welded into my Mach. I have it more for insurance if I ever go coil-over in the rear. However, it seems to be a nice compliment to my other chassis/suspension components.

rony1976

They say (steeda.com) that you would get the most out of a coil over setup, but it will help regardless of the suspension mods...

project_v6

The only downside to this is that it requires welding.

I hate welding parts to the S197. Makes me shiver...

rony1976

Why aren't other vendors producing this part (BMR, Saleen, etc)? Is this part truly for the racing hardcore enthusiast that someone participating in a road event wouldn't benefit from this?

Reason I'm asking is because I have a chance to get a few of these and I can pass it on to you guys for a much better price than the $170+ that Steeda wants for it. I guess I'm gauging interest as well as asking if this is a good part for our cars

travelers

Thats a very good question. Why do people think they need this? Maybe if they are road racing the car with race tires and a ton of suspension mods but the DDs don't need this. As has been said before the S197 body has been beefed up and more ridged then any of the others made.

rony1976

Well, you could argue that a DD doesn't need ANY mods (suspension wise) at all, yet people buy different sway bars, panhard, supports, watt's links, LCAs, UCAs, and a lot of those parts are adjustable as well!

If this part improves handling, why wouldn't we see it more? I mean, look at the mods of the Q525, we DDs have a bunch (if not most) of the mods Steeda puts in their cars, why is Steeda the only one seeing benefits of installing this?

Import-Slaya

This is one of those mods where if you are pushing the car enough to *really* need it or feel it, you should have a cage. And if you have a well designed cage, it will support and brace your rear strut mounts orders of magnitude better than this part.

rony1976

Do you have a cage in yours or some sort of brace?

mot250

This one is a bolt in unit made by Strange Development...

http://www.strangedevelopment.com/pr...etails.htm#SZB

But I don't know anyone with it.

rony1976

I just read what it says, and they claim it improves for drag racing as well? Is that true or

rony1976

I have an opportunity to get my hands on a few of these (6) for MUCH LESS than Steeda sells them for. Got mine and it looks really nice!

If there are enough interested, I'll make the investment! PM me!

SoundGuyDave

I'm with Slaya... if the brace was REALLY that beneficial, then Maximum Motorsports, Agent Forty-Seven and Griggs would all be marketing them as well...

Griggs has this to say:

MM offers no braces either, and the only brace offered by A-47 is the strut-tower brace, which is more of a "bling" piece than a functional one.


Those are the "big 3" race-oriented manufacturers. No offense to Steeda, Saleen, Roush, et al, who are producing "tuner" packages for he S197, the "big 3" build racers. Period. I would take a Griggs GR40 AI build and stack it up against any of the others on-track. I'm not saying that other companies aren't making good parts (I have a lot of BMR and Steeda parts on my car), but for competition usage, I would look at Griggs or MM and see what they're offering. Chances are, if they don't offer a version of it, it's not required.


In this particular case, I think that the shock-tower brace is one of those "knee jerk" pieces. It's made redundant if you have a cage in the car, and if you don't have a cage, you won't have the other bits necessary to push the envelope hard enough to NEED a shock-tower brace. Now, I will admit, this is leaving coil-over shocks out of the equation. MOST coil-over kits for the S197 reuse the stock spring mount locations, and add an adjustable perch. If you run a true coil-over in the rear, where the load rests on the shock tower, then I could see wanting to brace them a bit. That said, I would want triangulated bracing, not just a single bar run side-to-side.


Just my .02

rony1976

More like $2!

Jager

With all do respect, Dave, I disagree. Some products are clearly more beneficial to install to improve the handling characteristics. I would classify this item as one that fills a small niche. Manufacturers always have plans to bring to market innovative products, but don't- or haven't yet (R&D, testing, price point within a limited market, etc.).

Consider also the "low hanging fruit" that can't be ignored- those products that will have the biggest impact for the money invested and brought to market- like billet items for the interior.

I'm agree with the "hardcore" statement- how many daily drivers are going to install a roll cage?

SoundGuyDave

Jager, I completely understand where you're coming from, and you may well be right that this product targets a very specific niche market: street cars(non-competition vehicles without full cages) that have sufficient suspension and tire upgrades to generate lateral g-forces that are capable of causing shock-tower deflection. That is if the product is intended to be functional.

If, however the piece is a cosmetic or psychological (look, I have chassis bracing!) mod, like billet interior pieces, carbon-fiber dash overlays, strut-tower braces with a bunch of Heim joints, etc., then it is NOT what the original poster was apparently looking for:

Please don't misunderstand me... I have no problem with cosmetic modifications (I have a few myself), but I was addressing the original poster's question above, and trying to support my position in doing so. The reality is that if the car is able to generate sufficient force on the shock towers to cause flex, then most likely the car will have (or should!) a full cage, since the kind of chassis, suspension and rolling stock needed to generate that force is going to be marginal at best for a street-driven or track-toy car.

Jager

No doubt Dave, I agree whole-hartedly with your view/experience level. Maybe this is a froo-froo piece but customers may want a part from a Steeda "race/street" car and so they are going to sell it- is it going to have some benefit- possibly.

Let me just say I know the new head engineer for Steeda and have met and spoken with Dario a few times- they are a good company for us in the Mustang community and their parts are well thought out. As for their new Watts link, well I can talk to you about that off-line if you wish.

Mark

SoundGuyDave

You have a PM, and I never said it was a "froo-froo" piece, for the record. That's the cool thing about modding cars: If YOU like it, then it is, by definition, a cool piece.

rony1976

I received it yesterday, it's a COOL piece! Very well built (like anything Steeda does). I'll post pics later.

The whole reason I started the thread is to see if there was interest in purchasing these at a much lesser price than Steeda offers, but it has developed in a definitely insightful discussion!

Jager

I agree Dave, to each his own. I'm no engineer....I can't say what this piece has been tested to do, I could ask my friend. And "froo-froo piece" was my take on the multitude of items that some owners choose to put on their cars- not a judgement.

I can only say this part may help- if all other pieces were carefully selected in conjunction- as you have already stated. Or it might be a good part for the convertable guys...hell I don't even know if it would fit in there as I don't have a new Mustang.

[On an asside note- Do I have Steeda parts and do I work for them? No, but I know that Dario is a good guy, a business man and is a real racer at heart whom has a real appreciation for his company and his customers.]