Do Strut Tower Bar's Really Make A Difference?

Sup guys,

I dropped my spyder 1.2" yesterday and noticed that I feel a little body roll (I believe that's what they call it) when I make turns or switch from lane to lane. I thought of installing a front strut tower bar, Do they really make a difference?

I would install both(front and rear) just to be safe but yeah you should feel a pretty good difference.

megan racing makes nice strut bars.

megan racing makes nice strut bars.

I have looked at these on ebay and they are fairly cheap and look like decent quality, plus you get to pick from like 3 or 4 different colors. I am definately gonna get one of these in the near future.

There is a HUGE difference in the way it feels. You can feel right away the car stick to the road under you. I would suggest the front, rear, and lower rear all at once. I bought mine off ebay for like $60. Don't bother spending big money for name brands. Its just a bar that connects them. It works great.

There is a HUGE difference in the way it feels. You can feel right away the car stick to the road under you. I would suggest the front, rear, and lower rear all at once. I bought mine off ebay for like $60. Don't bother spending big money for name brands. Its just a bar that connects them. It works great.

That sounds hot, but I heard I'm kinda limited with the spyder. I recently dropped my car so im a little skepticle about the lower bar. I do know that behind the rear seat near the trunk there is a cross bar which I believe functions as a strut bar. Do you think if I install only the front strut tower bar I will notice a difference?

What about those carbon fiber strut tower bars, are those any good?

you can defently feel a differance in steering too, with the on you get alot of under steer?(correct me if im wrong) when the wheel is turned less for greater angle of tire travel.

Going to be difficult to find a rear strut bar for the spyder. From the link to the discussion below it seems like you don't really need a rear strut bar for the spyder.
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=423186&highlight=strut+bar

Here's a quote from Kevin (95 GSXracer) about strut bars:
"Strut bars connect the tops of the strut towers together to prevent movement from the forces acting on the struts when cornering. This is good for 1g, but 2g doesnt use the same type of suspension. The 2g firewall is also VERY close to the shock towers, so a front strut bar doesnt do as much as it does on a 1g. Both cars will benefit greatly from a rear bar though. Being hatches, there is noting to triangulate the rear and keep the body from flexing. The bar will stiffen it up.
I never bothered with a rear strut bar because the roll cage I have to run will include a much stronger version anyway. If you do get one its important that its strong and cant flex. Most brag about how strong the bar is, while the bends and angles in the mounting plates will allow tones of flex. Dont waste your money on a shyte design."

I agree mostly with Kevin. This is my favorite part, "If you do get one its important that its strong and cant flex. Most brag about how strong the bar is, while the bends and angles in the mounting plates will allow tones of flex. Dont waste your money on a shyte design."

The two issues are chassis rigidity and dampener deflection. You can also argue about under and oversteer issues, but they are pretty minimal. If you buy, try to triangulate. A cage for the rear is best, like Kevin has.

Until you're running wider tires, the advantages of the bars are minimal.

Dude the bars help out ALOT! i have the 3 peice megan ones... and my car is hella lowered... you dont have to worry about the bottom strut hitting anything you should be fine. I can take a nice curb turn going 80mph. If you have a fast car you should get them man... its worth it!

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I just wanted to point out that the original post in this thread was in teh context of body roll, which is not something that will be affected by strut tower bars. :) They can improve the handling by stiffening the chassis, allowing the suspension to work the way it is designed to, but body roll wont change. Better sway bars (RM Racing for example) will really help here, if you dont want to run stiffer springs. I rode in a late 2g with stock suspension, but RM sway bars, and that car cornered very flat, with no added stiffness in the spring rate, which means it doesnt feel as "firm" (I hesitate to use the word harsh, since it is always misused in the forums :) ). Sway bars also wont affect your launch, which can be a goog thing if you already have the suspension dialed in for launching, but may not be so good if you also want to improve the launch. You get the idea...

I recently installed an Eibach Pro Kit (1'' lowered), KYB AGX struts, Suspension Techniques front and rear sway bars, Sustec front and rear under brace (yes they make a front lower one), and a complete set of urethane bushing. I figured I could just put on the upper tie bars when I had the money. I just installed DC Sport, carbon steel, front and rear upper tie bars... I should have done it a lot sooner! It deffinately got rid of any feeling of body roll to have some kind of brace up higher.
It's fun to see the look on somebody's face when they're parked in the left hand turn lane and you're headed at them going 50mph about to make a right turn.... Now I just need some new tires. lol

Notice I said that the feeling of body roll has dissappeared... Only sway bars, sprng, bushings, etc. will affect that. But like 95 GSXRacer said, the strut bars will allow everything else in the suspension to work properly by stiffening the chasis.

im not sure if this was clarified already or not but im still not certain if the Cheap $10 ebay Strut braces would be just as effective as the 100$ strut tower braces???