blkside

Again because a package doesnt have it doesnt mean that an STB does nothing. Are Ohlins suspension garbage cause I have remote resevoirs and they dont. All I am saying is that you cant say that tying 2 structures together for rigidity does nothing. Thats it. Nothing more Nothing less.

Ducky

Garbage? No. I never said STB's were garbage either. They look good and therefore serve a purpose. Just look at the animations in the link you posted. If you have ever taken physics, you should be able to follow along. The shock is applying an almost vertical force to the shock tower. The inward force is going to be minimal at best. The thing that hurts handling is chassis twist. In that link there is a picture of a cut STB with a difference in height at the cut when a corner is lifted. That is a VERTICAL lift of the strut tower, or a twist of the chassis. Do you think if the force was inward, that the brace would have been able to move freely to demonstrate that variance? Of course not, it would have binded. Hopefully at this point we are in agreement, chassis twist, not "squeezing", is the issue. It's a legitimate issue too, a car will do better on the track with less twist. Well, explain to me how a brace would prevent that twist. There is nothing pushing down on the brace. The suspension pushes UP, not IN, on the brace. The chassis will still twist, the tower will still rise when you hit a bump strip. Subframe connectors, strengthened k-member, and altered geometry will help diminish that twist and improve performance. Which is why the Griggs setup includes the parts it does. The animations in your link are very misleading, and their conclusions are weak.

blkside

Im not arguing chassis twisting,flex or the validity of Griggs suspension.

Somewhere in the beginning of this, the comment was made they are useless performance wise and I believe that to be incorrect. The only way to run conclusive testing is video a setup with its hood off and meters attached to strategic points to take readings. None of this will ever happen because its not that serious.
There are vehicles that dont benefit from heavy front ends and this would be a serious benefit for those with less structural front ends. The point it that it is YOUR opinion they look good and MY opinion that on the right setup they can provide an improvement over stock.

OAC_Sparky

Not true. I work IN the plants where these unibody chassis are constructed and I have a somewhat intimate knowledge of their workings, as part of my job duties is to monitor weld quality.

While the strut (not shock, this is important) primarily acts in the vertical plane, there are no upper control arms or shocks like the older cars to maintain vertical travel. The MacPherson strut also acts as a pivot point for the steering (hence the strut bearings). During the steering arc the strut rotates in position and applies forces at various angles outwards and inwards in addition to up and down. Picture it this way -- remove the strut and what happens? Does the wheel just drop straight down vertically? No the wheel will pivot on the lower ball joint and camber in or out as well. That camber is controlled by the strut. IF the front subframe isn't rigid enough (not saying the Mustang isn't) the strut towers would tend to flex inward on suspension compression and outwards when unloading.

Now, is a STB a necessity in a Mustang? I would say, generally speaking, no. Or ALL the GTs would have them; from what I've seen of the stock one, it's not a super-rigid piece. I DO have a strut bar on my Focus ST -- it made a noticable improvement but it's more functional and less decorative. But I wouldn't go so far as to say it does nothing, either. I would put it at 75%looks 25%functional at best.

montreal ponies

I'm with Matt on this one.

David Young

I've had a strut tower braces on my past few cars. My Dad's 2010 Taurus Limited (not a SHO) has one from the factory. It goes from one strut tower, bends and runs near the firewall then bends forward to the other strut tower.

Nokternal

Bingo


I'm getting the STB that utilizes all four bolt locations on top of the tower as opposed to the stock STB that only utilizes the inner two.

Like Sparky pointed out, when you go over bumps your wheels do not move in a straight line up and down, they move up and down along an arc.

When the front suspension is compresssed the front wheels arc upward and inward, which is when the STB is compressed just as (or very close to) it is shown in the animations on the link somebody posted.

I have also heard that the STB can help reduce cowl shake.

montreal ponies

Good point and more than likely true.

kylerohde

Guys - I bought a factory STB from another forum member since my car with 18's didn't come with it. Wondering what the strut tower nuts need to be torqued to when I remove them to install the STB - anybody know? Haven't been able to find anything via search.

Thanks in advance.

kylerohde

I ended up finding this on another forum, so I'll put the answer in here for the next guy that needs it:

The correct torque setting for the strut tower nuts (eight total, four on each side of the engine compartment - need to remove at least two on each side to install a strut tower brace) is 26 lb/ft. And you need to use some blue Threadlocker when reinstalling those nuts.