Front Strut Brace Advice Please

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

GUYS N GIRLS...

I gave up on my idea of lowering our Rolla 06 SR hatch due to the expense of it all mainly + my other half being against the idea!!! However i've been thinking about opting for a genuine Toyota front strut brace as another mod option for him really...BUT i dont know anything about front struts lol! Are they easy to fit? How do they work exactly? Im assuming you remove the 3 nuts attatched to either shocker...place stut in place...attatch the 3 nuts back on...and thats it? Or is there more to it...adjusting strut bar in some way...or maybe i'll need longer/shorter replacement nuts??? :o Please let me know your thoughts guys, Thanks.

Sammy

[dangermooser]

Should go straight on, it did with mine so you should be OK, get that one on eBay at £60 inc postage its a good deal

[oldcodger]

i dont know anything about front struts lol!?? :o Please let me know your thoughts guys, Thanks.

Hey,

Have seen several threads in this forum that certain imported braces are much better than the typical eBay stuff.

Kingo also stocks one.

Although can see the advantage to having one for track use, does it have any pros or cons for ordinary road use with the standard suspension parts ?

[minidoughty]

if you can get a second hand Tsport one for under £100, then that'll probably be your best/safest bet.

only downside is the Tsport one has a shock absorber on, rather than just a solid brace which is better.

have a search around, look into prices for solid braces, I was lucky enough to get a TRD one on eBay.

the TRD one, the Compressor one, and the c-one brace all came to about £200 new, when i looked.

[sizzla538]

the one on eBay that ships from hong kong is good for the price. can have the mounts any colour u want. have to do it up nice annd tight though

[CorollaD4D]

i think they work by stopping the chassis flexing inward on corners, stiffer chassis = better cornering i would assume? nevertheless they make a good cheap upgrade to the handling of a car, i think coupled with lowering they would make the car handle totally different. my diesel lump is heavy so my car understeers really bad, everytime it seems a corner it just falls over lol!

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

Nice 1 lads for the advice...Does anyone know as to whether i could still use the original nuts to fit the brace??? Anyone else with some more scientifics as to how a strut brace works lol???

[Corrolla18]

Howdy the principle of the stut brace is to prevent chasis flex as already stated. when you load up the chasis in a corner the chasis will flex in on itself which means that the suspension is not working as hard as it should. A strut brace will reduce this flex and allow your suspension setup to perform at it's best. Of course the single strut brace has benefits but the more bracing you do the more benefits you will see. You can get lower braces, upper braces, side braces, rollcages basically anything that can be stiffened will improve handling. You want a solid bar ideally or at least an adjustable - have had experience of Tein and they are very good.

You can use the nuts that are there and it's a 10 minute job to fit. You will be surprise at how tight the car feels with front and rear strut braces.

[rallyfan1986]

I would have thought the original nuts will be fine. its more the length of the bolt section you need to look out for - as long as there is a bit of thread sticking out the top of the nut once its all tightened up with the brace fitted it'll be fine.

All the strut brace does is reduce twist in the chassis, imagine going round a sharp corner, the car leans to one side, this makes the whole car twist, adding additional braces onto the car stops this twist, ensuring the wheels keep better contact with the ground resulting in better handeling.

have a read of these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strut_brace

http://www.e30m3project.com/e30m3performance/myths/Strutbar_Theory/strut_bar_theory.htm

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

Now i fully understand...sure is a worthwhile mod i recon...further on though...where exactly does the rear strut brace go??? Im thinking it cant be inside the boot on top of the rear shockers...so it must go underneath some place???

[rallyfan1986]

Yep it goes inside the boot, almost directly under the parcel shelf.

A better option is a new rear anti roll bar (ARB), theres been pleanty of discussion on this forum about them recently

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

Ahh cool...where can i get one from? Hey did Toyota make genuine TTE rear braces??? I dont think i've ever seen a genuine one.

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

Guys...just thinking...on the topic of strut braces;

Does anyone on this forum have a rear strut brace fitted?

Does it make any significant difference? Or is the front one more important?

As Toyota made the originals for the T-Sport/Compressor...does anyone know if they made an original rear one?

Sammy

p/s...just thought of something else...when fitting the front brace...wont the aircon pipe (i think) come in the way??????????????

[Corrolla18]

Strut braces make a difference the value of this difference is dependant on the driver. As I mentioned earlier the more bracing you can do the better. So yes the front will make a difference but mated to the rear brace you get an even bigger difference.

I have always fitted front and rear braces to my cars and bang for buck I've always been impressed.

No if you get a brace specific for your car it will not foul any piperwork.

[dangermooser]

p/s...just thought of something else...when fitting the front brace...wont the aircon pipe (i think) come in the way??????????????

On a PFL the FL strut can/ will require a little modification of the pipework but its not to dificult to do

[sizzla538]

the hong kong one doesntr need any modification to the abs tubes. front is more important than rear id say. and you can use original bolts. makes the steering so springyu in corners. when your coming out of a turn you can feel the car springing back into shape. and it really is a fun mod for the 10 mins it takes. looks great too!

[Parts-King]

We do a SPARCO strut brace for anyone interested, only fron tho, not rear

Kingo

[Phil01]

We do a SPARCO strut brace for anyone interested, only fron tho, not rear

Kingo

How much??

[Parts-King]

£115 delivered to any UK address, sorry we cant do international delivery on this item

Kingo

[oldcodger]

Hey Guys and Sammy,

Is this the Hong Kong one you refer to ? - Strut Brace

From the pic it looks as if its a fixed bar , not an adjustable one ?

Re the comments made earlier wondered which are the better type, the fixed ones or adjustable, assume the latter would be better fitted during a suspension alignment check to get things spot on ? or do you just adjust them to fit when on a flat surface ?

Also wondered about the Sparco one mentioned, from the few pics I have found it look as if the mountings only attach to 2 of the 3 strut bolts - would have thought all 3 would have spread the load better ?

sparco strut

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

GUYYYYYYYYYYS...

Received my genuine T Sport strut brace today...and boy does it look sexxy ...Cant wait to fit it at the weekend...Just gave it a good polish (sad i know)...Cant wait to feel the difference in my cornering lol! Does this mean i can take corners harder n faster???

Takecare all

P/s...method for fitting once again...park on level ground...undo all nuts...position brace...refit all nuts nice n tight...right???

[SAM LOVERS HER TOYOTAS]

Guys...

Finally got around to fitting my front strut brace...And i must say it was the easiest and quickest DIY job/mod i've ever done in my life lol...literally 8-10 mins all in ...Have tried to upload some pics but sadly i keep getting "file too big to upload! :ffs: Takecare all.