Right up front I'm going to admit that I don't know much about road racing and sports cars. But I've built and raced hobby and late model stock cars for 12 years. I've learned a lot about support bars and added strength through triangulation.

I could be missing something here, but I can't see where these strut tower bars would have any strengthening effect whatsoever. I'm talking about the bars that just connect one strut tower to the other. I would love to hear some opinions or see some real data that would justify these bars.

Having said that, I've seen the braces that have additional bars that bolt to the firewall and I could see where those type bars would provide support against flexing.

I'm getting the FRPP handling pack and it comes with one of the strut braces. Put it on or leave it off?

 

IMHO, on our cars for the driving most of us do, a strut tower brace is 99% for appearance (vs. a spoiler which is 100% for appearance. )

That being said, I've got a strut tower brace. (No spoiler, though.)

And, since you're getting it anyway, like my grandmother always said: "It couldn't hurt."

 

I agree with you that unless it is connected to a 3rd point, movement is not really diminished. But even with a 3 point bar, wouldn't you still get up/down flexing?

I did put mine on my convertible, as I figured something is better than nothing.

 

I track my car, so maybe don't fall under the "what most of us do" category. I have the Scott Drake/Shelby bar that goes under all four bolts on each strut tower (the one without the central Shelby plaque, though). I think the 2 bolt to 2 bolt ones are probably not all that useful as the motion doesn't seem all that well constrained.

Agent47's bar is also a 4bolt on both sides, and like mine has two large bars going from one side to the other, and considering they have competed in American Iron quite successfully, I think they're worth it. For myself, I noticed a more solid feel to the front end when I put mine on, but maybe that was all in my head??

 

I think you'll find this interesting from earlier today. It surprised me:

https://themustangsource.com/f669/fr...n-note-484830/

And on a side note, many of the early Mustangs back in the day had braces (like you noted).

 

I read the thread posted by cdynaco. I'm surprised! Maybe there's more to the strut bars than I'm giving them credit for. There's definitely a lot more going on with these unibody cars than I thought. Very interesting. I wonder if any of the Mustang magazines have ever done a comparison test?

 

That is all my car is for. Getting close to finishing build (installing fuel cell) and we have no plans for a strut tower brace. Maybe because the vehicle is already stiffened with a cage and other stuff, that a strut brace would not matter?????

 

I was skeptical at first too but after I put one on you could feel the difference. Most notably when hitting a rough road there is a lot more feeling which tells me the front end is stiffened up.

I like being on the edge in a corner too !

 

For straight line racing, the brace is not as important.
In the curves, a good 4 bolt on each side will feel noticeably stiffer.

 

In the popular-consumption area of motoring, you'll have a hard time coming up with "data" regarding the value of strut tower braces. Plenty of conjecture and "testimony", and you can winnow that according to your own approach.

I will testify, so help me: I had a V6 convertible. There was a patch of road near my home that looked like one of the factory test-track sections: rough pavement alternating between the paths of left- and right-side tires. It confused the suspension and body of the car so that you could sense them rotating along a longitudinal axis and not in phase. "Cowl shake" is what it was called in the day of ladder frames and friction shocks. It was a mess in the Mustang convertible.

I had a chance at a BMR single-bar, two-nuts-per-side brace, and it did seem to make a difference in the amount of cowl-shake over that test section of road, reducing cowl shake from intolerable to barely tolerable. Worth the few minutes and few dollars, I thought. I also thought, knowing a little bit about cognitive dissonance, my perception may have been influenced positively by the fact that I had adopted the action of putting on a bar. So, I took it off. Result: back to intolerable. There you have my basic testimony: the strut tower braces do make a difference on a Mustang convertible.

Then, I saw the double-bar, four-nuts-per-side Shelby bar mentioned in a previous post. Twice as much should be twice as good, eh? Off comes the BMR, on goes the Shelby. Result: Yes, it is better, maybe not by two times, but to a noticeable, significant degree. Intolerable without, tolerable with.

Then I swapped the double bar onto a new GT/CS coupe. I could tell the difference between that and none, but not to the same extent as on the convertible.

Then I got a new GT/CS convertible. One of my very first moves was to put the Shelby billet four-nuts-per-side strut tower brace. Pretty much the same result as on the older Mustang convertible: it reduces the cowl shake over the test section from intolerable to tolerable. Worth it, my view even if it won't clear the factory plenum shroud.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Been rodding for years , and trust me the braces are designed by racers for a reason . They work well , not for everyone though . They do stiffen the ride quite a bit .

 

On a lot of cars, strut tower braces can and do provide a noticeable improvement by reducing NVH levels. This doesn't always mean the car handles any better or will give better lap times.

 

Ok, I'm convinced. I guess anything you can do to add strength to the frame is a good thing.

 

I have the FRPP Strut Tower Brace installed. Last week it went in. For months I installed a full suspension months ago. Thinking that the FRPP would be the last modification. Well, the front end of my convertible is slightly firmed up. I notice less rattle, especially over railroad tracks.

 

I have the FRPP kit w/ the brace. Car is pretty **** stiff. No idea how much the strut bar adds over the springs, bu WTF, it came with the kit and I think it looks pretty bad *** even if it's road driving impact is nominal. Although I'll tell you that the car corners like a GD champ with the FRPP kit. Put it on I say.

 

I have one along with the other suspension mods, it's a cheapo from Blue Oval (only because it will fit over the blower) and love it. My sugestion to you is put it on for a couple of weeks and drive it then take it off. I am willing to bet you will fee the difference (I know I did).

my 0.02c

 

I had my car on the frame rack over the winter (got hit last fall) and we played around with the car a bit to see where it flexes.

We could produce almost zero deflection between the strut towers, and we loaded it a lot harder than a tire would have traction.

Where it did flex, and a lot is in the front ends (firewall forward) vertical axis. The front end would droop 26mm (measured at the K-member under the motor) when the car was lifted using points behind the firewall. It was flexing where the K-member bolts to the tub at the floor where your feet go. We put a dial indicator there to measure it and it wasn’t needed at all, you could see the floor of the tub flex.

The most effective “strut tower brace” would be one that goes from the strut towers to a reinforced section of the firewall at as much angle as you can get them and still clear the intake/blower. A second additional remedy would be to weld in steel plate where the K-member bolts to the tub.

There is enough flex in the front end in twist due to the less than ideal mounting of the K-member, etc to where when I set my car into a corner I can feel the springs compress to a certain point (load) and then if I load it harder the body starts to twist.

The only strut tower brace that I have found that works ok off the shelf is the Edelbrock #5223. I have one on my 2010 Vert and it reduced the cowl shake considerably. I would like to do something like it on my 07' Coupe but it won't go around the blower so I have to make something. And I am done making stuff this year.

 

I have the GT500 STB on my 07 GT. It did help a little, and based on my observation it braces the struts themselves rather than the towers. In order to really brace the strut towers, you must connect them with the firewall.

 

I would agree with this, I don't think it does much about the towers, but the dyamic loading going through the struts with their tops relatively loosely attached to the towers seems to be a source of small movements when heavily loading the car.

Any pics of the attachment of that Edelbrock piece to the firewall? I was under the impression the 05 up Mustangs did not have a rigid enough firewall to employ something like that.

I think Steeda and BMR make pieces that attach the frame to the K member better, and I just picked up the small Steeda pieces that attach the front AR bar mounts to the K member, haven't installed them yet though.

 

If you can afford and fit a STB (blowers might get in the way), install one. It can't hurt. I threw on the GT500 STB and the Ford OEM A-arm lower brace and the 07 GT feels very stiff. My 09 Cobalt feels like it will rattle apart on our MI roads, whereas my 07 GT feels like a Volvo on the same surfaces.