[Marck]

I am just curious what’s the take on fitting a strut brace on a 4wd. Is there any bennifit / need.

M

[watermouse]

Depends on body construction. If the body is monocoque like the NGV then it may provide some benefit on road, and limit some body flex offroad.

If the car is like an SE, SV or SQ vitara then the strut towers are welded on the chassis which makes the brace a bit more complicated to clear the body. Certainly not worthwhile bracing it to the firewall like some monocoque cars do.

If you are looking to maximise flex then don't fit one. If you want hektik driftz'n'skidz then, by all means, go for it.

Either way it is amazing how much a body can twist. I remember at one time opening the rear door of my GV while stopped in a crossed up position. I couldn't close the door again until I was on flatter ground.

[Gwagensteve]

V6 Vitaras had a strut brace factory /hektik

[watermouse]

Gwagentsteves right. So did my GV. What am I on about...

I'll show myself the door.

[atari4x4]

Id hate to put a go pro watching a SE 1.6 vit strut top, would wobble around like you wouldn't believe.

To get the strut brace on/off on my SV, you had to jack both wheels off the ground to get the bolts to line up.

[Marck]

So the consensus is that they would reduce off road performance on an NGV ?

[Gwagensteve]

No, not at all. I think (hope(?)) Watermouse is being a little bit facetious. Anything you can do to stiffen a monocoque is helpful. I’ve been in an outlander that hit a BIG pothole at 80km/h and the windscreen cracked. That’s the effect of the monocoque flexing heavily. If you’re relying on monocoque flex to add capability, you’ve got the wrong car

[Marck]

Ok cool. I am heading for the cape later in the year and expecting reasonable coragations my thinking is that a strut brace might reduce a little of the resonance through the body and maybe make the life of the shocks a little easier with that bit of extra support. It’s getting a new pair of struts in a couple of weeks so I figured it would be a good time to throw it in also if it’s worth it. Or I could just be overthinking the whole thing.

[Gwagensteve]

It won’t make any difference to the life of the shocks, but it may help resonance

[got_bar_work]

Limit strap would help with strut life

[Marck]

Yeah I think that might be what killed the one that just failed. Any tips on how you would fit them to an NGV? Dose anyone make a kit ?

[MrRocky]

If you take away anymore travel from a ngv strut your going to wind up with zero lol

[vet 180]

watermouse wrote:

Depends on body construction.

Either way it is amazing how much a body can twist. I remember at one time opening the rear door of my GV while stopped in a crossed up position. I couldn't close the door again until I was on flatter ground.

That’s not too bad tbh. Have gone out with other monocoques like the R50 pathfinder and it opens the rear it’s self on the trail


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[onegearnofear]

Hi fellas, so I have a 95 sv620.

Would removing the Factory strut brace permanently be a bad idea?

Guessing it’s there for a reason.

If it has to stay Could I re-shape it to go backwards off the strut tops then accross the engine in doing this would it weaken the bracing affect?

[fordem]

onegearnofear wrote:

Would removing the Factory strut brace permanently be a bad idea?

It certainly would.

Try this - unbolt & remove the brace - and then without moving the vehicle, try to reinstall it. If you can't do it, I tell you how for the price of a couple of rum & cokes.

The point is this - if you get that much sag by simply removing it - how long will it take to permanently deform the chassis if you drive without it.

Regarding "re-routing" it - any "bends" in the bar are points at which it will flex, you can brace it, but I suspect that the bracing will be as much of an interference issue to your project as the bar in it's original location would be - you cannot brace it to the firewall, as can be done on a monocoque construction vehicle, because, in this case the firewall is not attached to the frame and moves independently - any attempt to attach the brace to the firewall will probably rip the firewall apart at the attachment points.

Oh - the trick to re-installing the brace is to jack the car up under the crossmember so that the weight is off the front wheels, allowing them to droop.

[onegearnofear]

Yeah I found that trick out when I put dropped strut tops in, I guess I was just confirming what I already suspected.

There are a few guys out there who have done it but with the amount of money I’m putting into this thing I’d rather ask the brains trust what they think first.

Hopefully the charger fits otherwise I’m thinking Only other thing is to go up and then bonnet bulge will be the only option...