What Does Front Strut Bars Do For The Car Again?

busoptr · April 17, 2008

Hi fellows! In the sticky post lexus es faqs, sk mentioned that installing front strut bars will sharpen the steering feel, I was wondering, does this strut bars go on top of the struts ? ANd what does it really do for your car? Is it really necessary?

wwest · April 17, 2008

Hi fellows! In the sticky post lexus es faqs, sk mentioned that installing front strut bars will sharpen the steering feel, I was wondering, does this strut bars go on top of the struts ? ANd what does it really do for your car? Is it really necessary?

This is a fairly common aftermarket mod for sports cars, Porsche, say, that will be run on the track from time to time. And yes, across the TOP of the "shock" towers.

And pardon me, but I see NO usefullness for these on a an ES300, nor ANY FWD or F/AWD vehicle.

"Pushing" a FWD car to the limit wherein the top of the shock towers begin to move due to body distortion is simply beyond belief for me.

To what purpose...??

Track time with a FWD car...LAUGHABLE...!!

:lol: :rolleyes:

SAFRO.COM · April 18, 2008

hahaha, yeah bud it sounds like that would be your answer, but you can try it out and see if there is a difference, likely not though.

busoptr · April 19, 2008

hahaha, yeah bud it sounds like that would be your answer, but you can try it out and see if there is a difference, likely not though.

okay, thanks guys. So this is not needed. Thats all I wanted to know.

IamThFEAR · April 20, 2008

Actually they do make a difference. Granted dont expect to notice anything with a cheap Ebay model. FWD need all the help they can cornering and that's where a bar helps. I mean the ES at least mine has one soft suspension. I can only imagine they put one on it from the the factory to help with cornering and wallow during it. I was an Altima guy for the past 4 years and it helped our cars nicely.

wwest · April 20, 2008

Actually they do make a difference. Granted dont expect to notice anything with a cheap Ebay model. FWD need all the help they can cornering and that's where a bar helps. I mean the ES at least mine has one soft suspension. I can only imagine they put one on it from the the factory to help with cornering and wallow during it. I was an Altima guy for the past 4 years and it helped our cars nicely.

Fear:

Think of the strut bar as a body brace, it prevents the car body, basically the top of the front fender structures, "opposite" structures, from distorting independently and thereby affecting the stearing angle when there is a heavy lateral load, and EXTREMELY heavy lateral load, on the front tire tread surfaces. Where it to occur as more of a linear function, say in the same way your tires' sidewall deflects (distorts..??) more and more as lateral forces build, it wouldn't represent a problem.

Where body flex of this type comes into play is when there is a sudden change in stearing angle (right at the apex) due to NON-LINEAR distortion of the body.

Again, I just can't imagine this being a problem, absent "track time" on any modern day FWD vehicle. If it were to happen the first thing I would do is have the dealer go over the body and check THOROUGHLY for missing or faulty spot welds.

Lexusfreak · April 21, 2008

The strut tower bar made a difference on my 2001 Nissan Maxima SE.....I noticed a slight imporvement in steering feel & handling. The mod was only about $125 installed. Never bothered with either of my ES's however......that's not the cars mission.

:cheers: