Quote Originally Posted by JohnL View Post
Spoon,
I more or less agree with most of your post. I think the stiffer the springs and / or dampers the more stress is fed into the chassis and the more it will twist, so the more chassis stiffening is needed. Chassis bracing will tend to be more beneficial with stiffer suspension set ups, and with soft suspension set ups it may be hard to pick much improvement, whereas the same chassis stiffening with a stiffer suspension may be very noticable.

But, even with a stiff suspension set up any added stiffening braces do actually have to do something worthwhile, a 0.01% improvement is hardly worthwhile for the $ and added weight.

I would (and have) install front and rear tower braces since most chassis are quite weak between the towers and good braces actually do something worthwhile (again, more so with stiffer suspensions), but aren't nearly so weak between the LCA mounting points. IMO a typical chassis has substantial compressive / tensile strength between the LCA mounts and doesn't even require stiffening at this point. There are far better things to spend your money on than those braces.
Definantly Agree, it is obvious that these bars will make some sort of differance in chassis rigidity, however re-stating what you said i agree the differance is not worth the money or the added weight. The only reason people should buy all these bars is if they are after aesthetics.

If you were to buy all the bars for a DC2/5 (Strut, Tie, C/B-Pillar, Fender/Floor) a Roll Cage would be more effective and most likely cheaper....expessially if your buying named bars such as Cusco, Spoon, Tanabe etc....You can even get street roll cages that can be hidden.

Bottom Line......H-Braces are like Valentines Day......a marketing ploy by the corporate world...lol XD

Regards,
Andrew