jerrypeterson

First tacos, now rolls... Aren't they feeding you at home Chris?

ScienceofSpeed

LOL! I haven't had lunch, packing boxes all day. I'm very hungry

jschmidt

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ScienceofSpeed
[B]The STB aids in stiffening 3 axis of flex: torsional, lateral inward/outward, and lateral up/down (very little torsional and lateral up/down). It's primary usefulness is lateral inward flex under braking to reduce dynamic toe changes. Due to this, the "stiffness" really isn't a concern since torsional and lateral up/down movement is so trivial. However, like mentioned, the x-brake is placed at a much more efficient pickup location. I would argue with the notion that it is "useless". I believe it's performance advantage is just best exploited at the limits of the car.

ScienceofSpeed

I agree that the pickup points of the control arms are so far away from the top of the shock towers that any flex in the rails would be barely affected by the brace located at the top of the towers. I also agree that the front cross member is more than sufficient for most situations. This is why I mentioned the x-brace is more effective as it is located closer to the control arm pickup points. However, the point I was trying to make, that you mentioned as well, is that at the extreme limits of the car it has the potential of reducing flex. As trivial as it may be, I wouldn't call it useless. Plus it makes a good arm rest to lean over on, hehe.

As I tell my customers, don't buy the front tower brace for a performance function. I don't sell a lot of braces due to this

-- Chris

cthree

As I said, it's an armrest. There isn't a single active and experienced tracker that will tell you it does anything functional beyond that. Yes I have one 'cause it looks nice and I can lean on it