fitting a strut brace

harryd1986

harryd1986

fitting a strut brace (fitted) but....

silly question...... fitting a front strut brace is as easy as it looks, the car isnt gonna fall apart is it:) when i remove the bolts :D

cheers
 
no, the car wont fall apart lol the weight of the chassis keeps the top mounts in place when the bolts are undone. just make sure you do it on level ground.
 
fitted it, had to adjust he angle slightly, only the two bolts at sides will go back on, ive been told this is ok, is it?
cheers harry
 
Leave the inner nut on. Chop the inner bit off the strut brace. Sit it on top of the inner nut and then bolt it down with the two outer nuts. Dont drive the car with only 2 nuts holding the top mount on
 
Yes, all 3 nuts MUST go back on unless you want the strut falling off.

2 nuts holding the brace on is OK though...so you have to modify the end pieces of the brace to do this.
 
can you feel a difference? got one in the garage, havent got around to modifying it to fit yet, got the back one and tbh i cant feel the slightest bit of difference with it.

i think any bushes on the almera are going to be way too soft for a strut brace to make a massive difference, maybe im comparing it to a go kart but driving it i dont feel particularly connected, have had the front wheels screech slightly through a bend and theres no feed back, if i didnt have the window down and the radio on quitely i wouldnt have known. its great to chuck around but im sure if i ever find the limit its going to be a suprise to me, dont seem to know whats going on with it, doesnt roll much or anything like that but even with a bucket seat i cant feel much about whats going on
 
i felt a difference on my old sri which had about 110k on the clock when i fitted the brace. its easy to cut the inner bit off, just use a hasksaw and a vice
 
Sprint, not sure what wheels and tyres you have but perhaps maybe some lower profile tyres may give you a better feel for the road.
I put my 14" Si wheels and tyres back on a while ago and i didnt have much feel of the road. I now have my 15" wheels with 195/50/15 tyres back on and it makes a marked improvement and gives me much greater confidence on the twisty bits.
Either that, or you could try adjusting the tyre pressures?
 
im on the same size tyres as you now Dale, will have to have a play around with tyre pressures and see what it feels like, the tyres arent great but even so i would expect to feel whats going on, maybe even feel it more with the grip being lower. apparantly with slicks the hard thing to get used to is the incredible amount of grip followed by them suddenly letting go, can only imagine lower grip would mean they would break away more predictably, suppose that depends on the tyre though.

tbh i may be expecting too much from it, before driving the almera the only thing i had driven on the limit was a twin engined go kart, in them the limit was easy to find and once you found it you could stay on it as much as your confidence allowed, obviously that was on a track though so doing that on a winding road with trees either side wouldnt be a good idea.

i could do with checking the front end out anyway, been a few times now when i have come into sweeping bends, tapped the brakes and when turning in the front has felt very very vauge, it actually feels like its jerking from side to side slightly for a split second, doesnt feel nice at all on a narrow road at 50-60mph
 
I find the strut braces make the car feel more controlable. On sharp bends in the dry you can feel the back end stepping out or floating out if its on a crest, but you know what the cars going to do. I noticed the difference straight away when I put on the front brace.
 
refitted and tested- well im still alive and it feels alot better around some of the sharp bends, and long bends near me, where b4 id have to ease of now i can carry on through. next up a rear brace and a lowering. it felt better with just 15's and decent tyres but now i have confidence around bends.
advisable for any ejit like me.
 
the GTi rear brace isn't really a strut brace... it doesn't attach to the sruts. the front brace will make a difference though.
 
ah....but you want the rear end stiffer in comparison to the front to promote oversteer....thats why some people actually remove the front strut brace.

A stiffer front end in comparison to the rear promotes understeer which is less `snappy` and probably feels `safer`, but overall you`d be a bit slower around a track.
 
today i noticed a funny knocking sound from the front lefts corner(onlywhen i turn right tho), kinda like when u overtighten somet with a drill. ive checked the nuts and there all tight, any ideas plz?
 
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