useless

[irondiezl3]

strut bar useless. if i rated the difference one to ten id give it a one at its best. installed correctly and bought a expensive one also. i cant believe people posted it helps i didnt notice a damn thing even when u cut turns hard and fast nothing at all. the only other thing i can try is jacking my car up on a straight lift then installing ive searched online and found that is suppose to improve the benefits of a strut bar better than if done while the car is on the ground. but deffinantly not worth the money i wouldnt even buy the cheap ebay one for that its almost completely pointless.

[[ion] C2]

You must have done something wrong because mine made one hell of a difference, and that one was one off eBay even. The body is more rigid. Get sway bars if you want to cut turns hard and not roll any, but the strut bar links the two strut towers together in a way that it keeps them from individually flexing, it stiffens them up. If you didn't notice anything then I don't know what to say, because everyone else who has them knows that it's like night and day.

[-Alero-]

the front one is pretty much cosmetic, it stiffens up your steering slightly, the one that makes a more noticeable difference is the rear.........but alot of your body roll comes from your sway bars

[irondiezl3]

yea i know thats why i bought it people rave about it here. its a really nice one too. i mean how could it be on wrong my car was on flat ground and it went in easy its not hitting anything and i just took off the 3 bolts put strut bar on and put the three bolts back on. does it need to be loosened my bar has an option to keep each end lose not the 3 bolts that are on the struts its before that there is a nut on each side that can loosen the bar up maybe i have it too tight should i give it some play other then that theres nothing that could be wrong at all. i mean maybe im not looking for the right thing. im looking for when i turn the car doesnt turn my whole body with it as much im looking for the car to stay a little more stright. and when you say stiffen the suspension how so like when i hit a pothole it should just be like a bump instead of vibrating?

[Vinalero]

Ive seen a lot of difference from my front one.

I could feel a slight difference from the back one, but there was one.

[[ion] C2]

It reduces body twist... not roll. It stiffens the strut towers, like I said, not the springs.. lol. There's a lot to do to improve a suspension system, but the strut tower bars definitely DO make a difference.

[irondiezl3]

wow i feel like a idiot what the heck is body twist?

[AJules]

hmm

how much did you pay for it?
if you don't mind me asking

[irondiezl3]

70 Its A Vibrant.

[[ion] C2]

that's cheap chief, most strut bars are $160+

body twist would be the front of the car twisting relative to the rear, the front strut tower bar stiffens up the steering as -Alero- said.

It's not useless.

A strut bar or strut brace is a mostly aftermarket car suspension accessory used in conjunction with MacPherson struts on monocoque or unibody chassis to provide extra strength between the strut towers.

A strut bar is designed to reduce this strut tower flex by tying two parallel strut towers together. This transmits the load of each strut tower during cornering via tension and compression of the strut bar which shares the load between both towers and reduces chassis flex.

Resulting from the improved chassis rigidity (similar to that gained from a lower tie bar); may be improved steering precision under high load conditions (cornering and braking). Reduced understeer, tire wear and metal fatigue in the strut tower area may also be experienced.

[Spilner521]

Sway bars and stiffer springs/shocks are the only things that are going to reduce body roll. Strut braces stiffen the chassis and help the suspension do it's job better.

[irondiezl3]

u mean when u slam on the brakes and the front end dips down? idk i dont really get what it means by stiffening

[irondiezl3]

it was seventy retail is around a hundred and its alot better and bigger than the ebay ones. idk its prolly just me not understanding what its suppose to do unfortunately i dont know alot about suspension so ur speaking a forgeign language to me sorry no disrespect guys.

[[ion] C2]

I dunno, I used an eBay one and noticed a HUGE difference just adding the front one. *shrug*

[TheAftermath]

C2;358058']I dunno, I used an eBay one and noticed a HUGE difference just adding the front one. *shrug*

The 30 dollar grand am one?
I wanted to get that one just didn't know if it would work.

[01silveralero]

The 30 dollar grand am one?
I wanted to get that one just didn't know if it would work.

same. -_-

[[ion] C2]

^Ya, the cheap Grand Am one. I got shipped one wrong plate so I had to have a customs shop plasma cut me a new one. Most people didn't have that problem though should come with all you need.

[TheAftermath]

Sweet though, I definetly gotta get my hands on one.
Do the rear grand am sway bars work on ours as well?

Love the alero but steering definetly isn't one of its best attributes haha.

[[ion] C2]

^Yep.

[Spilner521]

u mean when u slam on the brakes and the front end dips down? idk i dont really get what it means by stiffening
No, stiffening the springs/shocks would reduce front end dive under hard braking. Strut braces stiffen the chassis, not the suspension itself. They help keep the frame of the car from flexing so much that the suspension can't keep the tires planted.

[Redog]

The body twists a lot when revving or hard accel as well. Not like the older RWD cars, but there is some twist, plus on a unibody car it helps keep the car in shape.

It's one of those things that you probably won't feel too much of a difference without the rest of the suspension done

[xXManwhoreXx]

think of body twist like a hanging bridge in the strong wind

[Spilner521]

^^Now think of strut braces as steel beams connecting the bridge to the ground keeping it from flexing.

[Alerosaint]

im getting ready to install my front strut tower bars but they did not come with instructions so...this is my first time doing this so any pointer or is just a simple as nuts off, bracket on, tighten down??

[[ion] C2]

that is how simple it is

unless you want to jack the car up first then install it

[Alerosaint]

tru....now my driveway is not leveled is that cool or my car needs to be on a flat leveled surface?

[irondiezl3]

gotta be flat i read somewhere on the web about the car being jacked up increases the benefits GREATLY but i havent tried it and i dont think anyone has any threads on if it really works or not but im gunna try and see.