strut bars ......school me

[sticksdaman]

are they worth it? anybody running strut bars on their e30s? notice a difference? do you think its worth it? if so which ones to get?

thanks in advance

[King Luis]

i got one on mine.
got it for $100cdn.
i noticed the front being a little stiffer when going hard through a corner.

[egk2]

Sparco or any non hinged. I didn't notice any noticeable difference.
Eye candy.

[silverfbimmer]

I felt like the front end was stiffer. I would take a guess that maybe the amount of miles on the car and how well it has been taken care of over the years. I say this becuase strut bars seem to get mixed reviews and like I said I could feel a difference.

[Gus]

rear does nothing, but the front helps heaps (i found). makes it jump around less over bumpy road, and behaves more predictably, especially under braking.

[bmws50b30]

Sparco or any non hinged. I didn't notice any noticeable difference.
Eye candy.

i agree. i'm sure it helps, specially if you track the car.

[silverfbimmer]

I also did notice that the front end seemed to act as one when going over some of the bumps on my usual routes around town. Before the strut bar it would be like both sides the car would get rocked, and now it is like one bump when I hit a deviation in the road.

[blueapplesoda]

i hearsay it increases understeer while tracking...but then again someone with real experience chime in...i want one

[Maeda]

Just the front it will create a touch of understeer.

I prefer a little understeer when I drive though ....

[erik325i]

Just the front it will create a touch of understeer.

I prefer a little understeer when I drive though ....

How will a front strutbar create understeer?

Through a hard corner many forces are being put into the front suspension. These forces will cause things to flex, therefore your suspension geometry will change (like camber, for example).
The strutbar just acts as a brace for the strut towers through a hard corner, so that they don't flex as much.
Since your front camber won't change as much, the front tires should have more traction causing a little bit more oversteer.

-Erik

[Maeda]

The front camber will change just as much to compensate its the chassis that does the flexing, and you're right in your head it sounds dumb but driving my ass off has proven that it creates a touch of understeer.
Just like removing my rear bar helped me lessen oversteer.

Im not going to pretend to know what i'm talking about other then thats what I felt tracking cars for a long time.

[Erick]

I thought the rear bar was useless because it's completely separated from the springs?

[Dave]

rear bar is useless because the seatback does the same thing in our cars.

[Maeda]

Yah sorry, I forgot to mention all my experience may not apply at all because i havn't had the pleasure of tracking an e30 yet.

[Jordan325iC]

In my convertible I can't say I felt any performance difference, but I did notice the front end was a bit stiffer over rough terrain.

And really don't bother with anything but a 1 piece bar. The sparco is great because it holdes the sides of the strut tower and not just the tops. Plus it's cheap (relatively).