Strut tower bar installation

Hello!
Is there a proper way of installing adjustable strut tower bars.

I found this on Tanabe website:

Adjustable Preload
A very common error when installing tower bars, It is always recommended to raise the vehicle when installing so that the load of the shock uppermounts on the shock towers is relieved and balanced out. When raised, and the tower bar is placed onto the vehicle, the preload can be adjusted and set. After it is bolted on and the car is lowered, each shock tower will have equal load and will prevent independent movements of each shock. This will provide an extremely noticeable difference after installing. If a tower bar is installed on a car that is not raised, great benefits will be missed.

Thoughts and suggestions guys?? thanks!

There seems to be two schools of thought re: strut bars.

1. The bar is a static brace, so should be installed with wheels on the ground.
2. The bar is a stressed brace, so should have some pre-tension dialed in by installing it with some load off the towers.

I have no clue which one is the 'right' way, but I did dial mine in with a few mm's worth of pre-load in it. Interested to see where this goes.

INteresting...i heard it was meant to be installed neutrally, with no preloading..

i agree with the tanabe website.
the purpose of the bar is to improve rigidity, so you'd want to install it neutral, and then have load put on it...
if you install it with load already on. then what benefits can be gained? all you wouldve done is tighten the imbalance.

i did mine at benjammins place, he told me to place the part that connects to the top of ur tower...i dunno what its called...but it looks like this...

http://www.mz3.net/articles/images/1...ut_brace_c.jpg

then connect the brace onto both sides...

http://www.mz3.net/articles/images/1...ut_brace_f.jpg

then tighten the bar...

all was done whilst the car was on the ground with load...

make sure you guys tighten it up every 3 months. lol can become lose eventually.

i put load on them because its flat against the body of the car anyway so i thought it would not make a difference

imo raise teh front, take load off the front struts

ut on brace and preload it

lower front

= tightly braced struts

More Views and opinions from someone with heaps of car knowledge, or proven physics behind there reasoning please !! =D

fcuk trism your picture made me scared of my cat.

anyway gonna try no loading them today. see what it do

it makes sense for no preload installation.

good question TIMIZKOOL

That tower brace in those photos looks to be a truly excellent brace. It's obvious that any flex in the bracing tube results in poor tower brace performance, but equally any flex in the tower brackets also results in poor brace performance, no matter how rigid the bracing tube itself may be.

Note how rigidly constructed those tower brackets are, I can't see them flexing to any significant degree, so performance should be very good. For reference, have a look at the brackets on typical Ebay style tower braces, much less robust...

I think the rod ends are nice (both look good and good engineering practice), but in reality are overkill. Note that an articulation at this point(s) doesn't affect brace rigidity, because the brace doesn't work by providing vertical stiffness (doesn't and can't, unless it looked like a bridge girder), only lateral stiffness in compression and tension.

I'm not sure how much real difference pre-loading or not pre-loading will make, but it's probably not much (?). I could be wrong, but it should be easy to test it in real life just by back to back testing with pre-loading and no pre-loading in the brace.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnL

I'm not sure how much real difference pre-loading or not pre-loading will make, but it's probably not much (?). I could be wrong, but it should be easy to test it in real life just by back to back testing with pre-loading and no pre-loading in the brace.

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I can tell you that too much pre-load will mess up your suspension geometry, to the point that one of my previous cars would understeer through every roundabout if there was even a whiff of moisture on the road.

I've heard a lot of different theories about strut bars - one person even went so far as to tell me to drill out the threads in the bar, so that each end link will become 'truly adjustable'. It kind of makes sense, and kind of doesn't :confused:

I'll try a neutral installation one of these days and see if I can tell the difference.

with anything that is meant to resist forces acting on it (strut bars, tie bars) by adding rigidity to the chassis, it should be installed with no load.

That's how i did it on my ek1. and the stiffer chassis was noticeable immediately.

And I mounted both my front and rear tower braces with the chassis sitting on the springs, and in both cases the stiffer chassis was noticable immediately...

Having said that, I haven't yet jacked it up and reset the mounts, so I can't say from experience whether this is better ot not...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Feverpitched

I can tell you that too much pre-load will mess up your suspension geometry, to the point that one of my previous cars would understeer through every roundabout if there was even a whiff of moisture on the road.

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What does 'too much' pre-load mean? There is either zero pre-load, partial pre-load, or full pre-load. 'Too much' preload sounds like you might have gone past zero preload into negative pre-load, i.e. the brace is actually forcing the towers apart?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Feverpitched

I've heard a lot of different theories about strut bars - one person even went so far as to tell me to drill out the threads in the bar, so that each end link will become 'truly adjustable'. It kind of makes sense, and kind of doesn't :confused:

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Makes zero sense to me! If you remove the threads in the bar, then the fittings will just slide in the bar, the effect being to not have a brace at all, even though one is fitted...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnL

What does 'too much' pre-load mean? There is either zero pre-load, partial pre-load, or full pre-load. 'Too much' preload sounds like you might have gone past zero preload into negative pre-load, i.e. the brace is actually forcing the towers apart?

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Exactly. It was my first strut brace :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnL

Makes zero sense to me! If you remove the threads in the bar, then the fittings will just slide in the bar, the effect being to not have a brace at all, even though one is fitted...

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Well... If you wound up enough tension in the end links then there will be a degree of 'stiffness' in the bar. And aren't bars meant to reduce inwards flex of the towers, not outwards? As I hinted though, I didn't really believe the guy so hence my bar remains unmolested.

So is it... jack the car up or don't worry about jacking the car?

don't jack the car up and install strut brace.
if you jack the chassis flexes.