There is def a light understeer dialed in stock. When i had my front STB on though, it understeered like crazy. I'm not a great driver by any means, but I felt it was alot worse than stock. I ended up ripping it off between auto-x runs it was so bad, and I haven't put it back on since.

 

i can believe that. my n/a had no strut brace, and it had oversteer, you just cut the wheel, and the back end would slide around naturally. on the contrary, my strut-braced tii tends to understeer. i suppose the strut flex can act like softer front springs

 

I'm glad someone finally mentioned this.
I can PUSH that area of the firewall with my thumb, and it'll give - try it!
You'll feel like Superman!
I always chuckle when people claim it's so much better.


-Ted

 

actually that fact that the bar is solid and it has bolt bolted on sport where the "joint" can flex is good enough in that.. I highly doubt there will be any flex with that bar bolted into place!

 

this one is mounted to the firewall at a bend where its stiffened naturally

 

What is your intercooler piping covered in?

 

Too bad you need to chuck the stock IC to put that in...


-Ted

 

lol its not covered in anything thats just shop vac hose i used for a day to break in the car at idle before my solid ic pipe came in. and you're right reted, obviously this is aimed toward those who have front mount

btw I didn't have a turboII hood and i already had that style tower. i didn't chuck the stock IC its front mounted now due to these 2 reasons, but i know what u mean

 

Huh? You front mounted your tmic?

 

Strut tower bars don't make your car over or understeer, they just stiffen the frame. If the frame is weak up front it'll bend a little and you'll get more negative camber up front, if you don't want it to understeer after installing these get new springs or sway bars or shocks or something.

 

exactly

 

you just contradicted yourself badly... you say it doesnt affect if your car car understeers or oversteers...then follow that statement with :if you dont want it to understeer buy something else the counteracts the understeer to fix it"

anything that effects your suspension will affect its tendancy to over/understeer.

strut bars make your upper suspension mount more solid. which reduced camber changes over bumps. by reducing you vehicles ability to absorb bumps it will translate into less grip under certain circumstances which would be understeer for the front or oversteer if it was in the rear.

it will make your suspension more solid and predictable my holding it to a more defined path but you're cars under/oversteering all come down to overall balance. if you make one end (front or back) significantly stiffer it will have a negative affect overall. you wouldnt put coilover in the front and leave the rear stock would you?

 

I agree with you completely. After installing a CP Racing triangulated strut bar in the front of my '87.5 Sport (and not yet installing a rear strut bar), the car became very tail happy!

 

er... the engine shouldn't actually be mounted to these bars...!
that would be very stupid!
i hope you ment the engine BAY!

 

No, he meant the engine...look at the Mazdatrix website and you'll see that one option ties the engine to the strutbar.
It is unclear how/where it attaches.

 

i would agree i didnt get there ether of where it attaches to. i would understand why it would bolted on tho

 

Engine Torque Brace.