Gives me a good place to put my hand too when I'm working in there... 
View Poll Results: STB make a noticeable difference?
YES
44
49.44%
NO
45
50.56%
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STB make a difference?
STB make a difference? Hello all, did u notice a difference in your car after installing a stut tower brace? Please vote only if u have one not from what you read or have been told. Thanks
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Shock tower braces (f-bodies don't have struts, so no strut towers) are good to lean on when under the hood. Otherwise, don't improve performance at all. I don't think anyone has proven that shock tower braces actually make a car faster (by prove, make back to back runs on an auto-x/road course and see a definite reduction in times).
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I installed a STB and a few months later, a set of weld-in sub frame connectors. I didn't notice any big difference, but I drive the car everyday, and just get used to things. A friend rode in the car a short time after both were installed, and he said the car appeared to be tighter, at least in his opinion.
I've wondered the same thing as well. I guess the easy way to tell would be to put a two peice bar in spanning the shock towers where one end slides into the other end, something like a piston and sleve. Then take a spirited drive and check to see if there are any signs of the piston flexing in and out of the sleeve. If there is flex, then the shock tower brace is working, if there is no flex, then it's an expensive peice of engine jewelry.
Launching!
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 294
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From: AR (PA born and fled)
I've wondered the same thing as well. I guess the easy way to tell would be to put a two peice bar in spanning the shock towers where one end slides into the other end, something like a piston and sleve. Then take a spirited drive and check to see if there are any signs of the piston flexing in and out of the sleeve. If there is flex, then the shock tower brace is working, if there is no flex, then it's an expensive peice of engine jewelry.
More than one engineer type person has attached strain gauges to a 4th gen STB and found that there is almost no force being transmitted.
This makes a lot of sense if you take a step back and think about how the 4th gen front suspension works.
Exactly. It has been done for a lot of cars, and as far as I know, no one has found significant movement on the front shock/strut towers. OEM's aren't stupid; they know what loads are being transmitted to the chassis and what it takes to properly support them.
I have a friend who actually removed his front bumper brace for weight savings and while drag racing the front of the car twisted like a ****. He thinks a STB would help if you did a mod like this. I will have to double check to see if I got the story right.