Rear suspension strut brace?

[Helvetica85]

Hi All,

Newbie to the club and GTi's for that matter. Just bought an S plate phase two, never owned anything so grippy Brilliant... cheap too.

This is gonna sound like a dumb ass question I know, but having never seen in the boot of any other GTi I'm not sure if the black metal bar running behind the back seats that bolts to the top of the wheel arches is the standard strut brace or some further mod?

Really wanna stick my mountain bike in the back so ifs not standard kit I'm gonna take it out.

Help please anyone?

Cheers

 

[sri_alan]

its standard, you can take it out though. just two 14mm bolts either side. ive fitted 2 bikes under mine but its alot easier to just take it out. it wont matter if you remove though.

 

[Helvetica85]

Cheers for that Alan. Its good to know i dont have to be rid of the bike. Will it make a noticeable difference to the handling at all? Just wondering wether to leave it out as bike in back is weekly thing.

 

[sri_alan]

hmm i dont know really, i fitted a front brace to my 1.6 sri and you could tell it was tighter at the front and it felt a bit like it was lacking at the back. the rear brace just made it a bit more controllable if the back end wanted to come out. you kind of knew what to expect. just take it out and see if you notice a difference, i wouldnt try to treat the car the same intially just incase something happens as the rear brace isnt there.

 

[Corbalicious]

Apparently, the front brace promotes understeer, and the rear brace promotes oversteer. Not sure if that means the next time you take a corner after removing the brace, you will skid straight on though?!