soul878

Would it be worth it to buy a cheapo ebay front strut bar with stock suspension? Or is it really only worth it with upgraded suspension?

They're only like 8 bucks for a no-name brand.

Thanks

Joepro

My buddy bought one, and he claims it made a difference in stiffness and handling. Most pll say they cant notice a diffrence with the cheap one, at least from what I have read.

he has kyb shocks, but they are really old.

BlueSteel

i have one of those strut bars. i got it as a show mod tho... i cant feel any handling diff but then again i didnt really expect to

DubbayoC

i picked up a used mazdatrix one with engine brace. it rocks!

soul878

but is it worth it with stock suspension?

198512A

Corksports is like 80, but you probably wont notice a difference. Plus if you can get one that is rigid, one piece, not a hinged one. Racing Beat and CP in Canada sell them, but they are more expensive.

mazdadude

iTrader: (2)

get a ractive one, i have one and it rocks, fitment is good too. Its also super stiff!

get it at car domain store, they have it for 27 bucks

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

I would think a strut brace is a strut brace myself. It's just a piece of metal connecting your struts for rigidity. now fitment is something differant. I have an ebay rear strut tower bar and it was a bitch to install that bastard.

86GXL

If you dont feel a difference you probly didnt intsall it right. You have to lift the car up then install it then set the car back down.

ShadowX

There is little difference in the performance strut bars, but fitment is the main issue. As long as the strut bar doesn't have excess play, it'll work. On that note, I didn't notice much difference when I put it on my RX7, but noticed a huge difference when I put one on my Celica GT-S

Jager

iTrader: (10)

The one that Corksport sells is a replica of the Cusco one (only for half the cost of the Cusco one), and I've only heard good things about it.

mudbone

What if you would get a hinged type put it one the car make the adjustments and then take it off and weld the hinges

1987RX7guy

iTrader: (3)

I believe we had a long thread were some members on here did the mathematical calculations and basically they will work even if they are cheap/POS's there isn't a lot of structural rigidity needed for a part like that so even cheaply made ones do their job. Not to say the good quality ones don't work better, they likely do.

ddub

As long as the cheap ebay type ones are a complete piece of ****, it should work.

However, that being said here is my experience. The last owner put a POS ebay one on my car and it was complete crap. It would never tighten fully, and if I grabbed the bar and shook it the bar would rattle against the mounts. Hmmm, tell me something that is loose like that can't be doing a whole lot of good, can it?

Now I has front/rear corksport bars and a Mazdaspeed lower arm bar, and I am happy. The ebay one is sitting in my garage trash corner.

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

thats strange he must have installed it wrong because I think I have the same one as you are talking about (9 bucks shipped ) and that bastard is tight! However like I said in the last post the fitment sucked *****! Now what is this about lifting your car up first?? Is this true??? I've never heard of this before, of course I haven't heard of a lot of things either

ddub

No it wasn't installed wrong. It was the front bar and it has the bolts with hex key heads and a nut on the other end to tighten the bar against the mount just like most strut bars. When I first got the car it was okay, a little loose but not too bad. But over time it just kept getting worse and worse and no matter how hard I tried to tighten it nothing changed and it'd still be loose. More time that passed worse it got.

You get what you pay for I guess, but at least I didn't have to pay for that one

soul878

ya from what I heard strut bars are like clothing. You pay only for brand name when in reality they are all generally the same.

Gregs

i dont see how ther can be a difference from the "cheap" ones and the overpriced name brand ones, all it is is a solid beam crossing your strut towers

ddub

I've already experienced a difference, and the ebay one was complete and utter ****. It wasn't tight, it wasn't solid, and the fitment was mediocre at best.