BMR Strut Tower Brace - Worth $ on LT1?
08-07-2013, 04:14 PM
#21
TECH Junkie
iTrader: (7)
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: MA
Posts: 3,934
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It doesn't hurt.. but it's not giving you much bang for your buck in the handling department.. not compared to what you could spend money on to improve handling.
Compared to springs, shocks, swaybars, better tires, alignment, changing the location of the torque arm... an STB does little to nothing.
I've heard an STB can be a good thing on a car that actually has struts though.. like a 3rd gen for example.
Compared to springs, shocks, swaybars, better tires, alignment, changing the location of the torque arm... an STB does little to nothing.
I've heard an STB can be a good thing on a car that actually has struts though.. like a 3rd gen for example.
08-07-2013, 08:05 PM
#22
The placebo effect is a true phenomenon that is documented by clinical studies. I'm not saying that a STB does not provide some differences in handling characteristics - I have no experience with STB's - but I would be interested in solving this debate.
What we would need is an experiment. Have a subject drive a test car a number of times, the more the merrier. Each time, he/she will walk away from the car for 10 minutes to a disclosed area where someone will "work" on the car - the controllers may either elect to take off or put on a STB unbeknownst to the driver. The driver, then, will drive around a parking lot/course and give his subjective opinion as to whether or not there is/isn't a STB. If the car is driven around for 10,20 or 30 times I would say a STB brace does provide some type of positive driver feedback if subject can identify correctly 75%+ of the time - so 7.5, 15, and 22.5 times respectively. I know it's an arbitrary number but you'd figure statistically, anyone would have a 50% chance at correctly identifying if there is a STB on car or not.
Until someone does this, the jury is still out.
What we would need is an experiment. Have a subject drive a test car a number of times, the more the merrier. Each time, he/she will walk away from the car for 10 minutes to a disclosed area where someone will "work" on the car - the controllers may either elect to take off or put on a STB unbeknownst to the driver. The driver, then, will drive around a parking lot/course and give his subjective opinion as to whether or not there is/isn't a STB. If the car is driven around for 10,20 or 30 times I would say a STB brace does provide some type of positive driver feedback if subject can identify correctly 75%+ of the time - so 7.5, 15, and 22.5 times respectively. I know it's an arbitrary number but you'd figure statistically, anyone would have a 50% chance at correctly identifying if there is a STB on car or not.
Until someone does this, the jury is still out.
Last edited by 38DD2436; 08-08-2013 at 05:27 AM.
08-08-2013, 05:37 AM
#25
TECH Senior Member
When I bought my 2009.5 G6 GXP there wasn't alot of aftermarket upgrades due to the fact GM/Pontiac died. I was able to find a company in Canada called "Raceline" who still had some surplus stuff for the G6. The first mod I did to the car was their STB. After install, the steering wheel response was noticibly more firm and a bit more of the understeer was gone. Then I added poly MM inserts etc.....
I did on mine and noticed nothing.
08-08-2013, 07:24 AM
#26
Will you feel it in normal driving? I don't know for sure, as I don't have the tools available to me to do a structural load analysis. But EVERY chassis tuning book I've ever read says that triangulation of a structure is beneficial, so I have a 3 point STB triangulating my engine compartment....
08-08-2013, 02:26 PM
#27
TECH Junkie
iTrader: (7)
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: MA
Posts: 3,934
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I autox and do a circle track type event. I noticed no difference in handling characteristics when I removed mine. Maybe I'll try it again to see if I notice something...
Maybe it does "something", but I think even a lot of people who believe their STB does something will agree that it's almost nothing compared to the modifications that I mentioned above. I don't know how you disagree with that.
Maybe it does "something", but I think even a lot of people who believe their STB does something will agree that it's almost nothing compared to the modifications that I mentioned above. I don't know how you disagree with that.
08-08-2013, 05:02 PM
#28
Also, I wasn't impressed with how the SFC fit the car, so I tried to make them fit better. After "massaging" them for a while, I could no longer return them, and I was still unhappy with how they fit in the car. I gave them to someone less fussy, and installed a pair of Kenny Brown Racing SFCs. Later, I wound up with a Strano/Koni set up. That's my list of mods.
Nonetheless, I still insist that the STB adds rigidity to the front end of the car. There's no way it can't. HOWEVER, the question is if the amount of rigidity it adds is perceptible in my case, that is, street driving....
08-08-2013, 06:58 PM
#29
I need all the rigidity I can get. I dont have a roof to tie in the 4 points. I did a long search and found that race cars use the STB and there is a video that shows how the towers move while driving. There's not a lot of movement but never the less IT IS THERE.
08-09-2013, 05:14 AM
#30
You're overlooking something....The upper suspension mounts of the 4th gen cars, are the shock towers. So it doesn't matter if the car has struts or coil overs, the load of the suspension is fed into the unit body structure, not to a separate subframe, as the first and second gen cars had. Therefore, any bracing added to the upper portion of that unit structure will help increase structural rigidity.
Will you feel it in normal driving? I don't know for sure, as I don't have the tools available to me to do a structural load analysis. But EVERY chassis tuning book I've ever read says that triangulation of a structure is beneficial, so I have a 3 point STB triangulating my engine compartment....
Will you feel it in normal driving? I don't know for sure, as I don't have the tools available to me to do a structural load analysis. But EVERY chassis tuning book I've ever read says that triangulation of a structure is beneficial, so I have a 3 point STB triangulating my engine compartment....
The upper control arm will exert some in and out motion on the shock tower, but by the design of the tower, deflection *should* be at a minimum. As metal fatigues, a brace may or may not make much of a difference.
The way I see it, if you want one, buy one. They are inexpensive, and everyone has a different opinion.
08-13-2013, 11:55 PM
#31
I felt better u-turns on my lt1 with a stb. It was tested a lot, and i only felt a difference on u-turns. If you can get them for cheap, id say they're worth it. Plus they look good
08-14-2013, 10:51 PM
#32
