Strut Braces

Hi evryone: Please provide opinions on after market strut braces for an 01 C2 Cab. Do they really make a difference on steering? If so which ones are the best? Is it something that is easily DIY and will it ruin the warrantly if I do so? Thanks PA>

Strut braces on the 996 don't do anything. Some people seem to have convinced themselves that they do, however.

The 996 has a strut brace from the factory, and it's good enough for their racing cars. The 996 does NOT need a strut brace, buying one is akin to snake oil.

As much as I do not want to be in the position of contradicting experts, it should be noted that certain of the Porsche GT3 RS race cars in ALMS use an auxiliary strut brace. The question I would pose vis-a-vis after market offerings is the construction and the mounting position and method thereof as certain designs and mounting schemes will, indeed, be useless and, given even the slight added weight (high up), could actually be contrary to performance.

Please note that those cars are not using a street setup. On street tires w/street settings(on a 996), adding a strut brace will promote understeer (generally not a good thing) J

Hi Jeff, That's interesting! On cars which do benefit from a strut tower brace, understeer is usually reduced simply because keeping the shock towers from flexing, increases the tire contact patch. Allowing the front tires to grip more in front should reduce understeer. On the 9x6 cars, the shock towers are joined together via the firewall. This is an even more effective way to tie them together than a strut brace. How would adding a brace promote more understeer? Just curious in case I am missing something.

I'm with Viken. That's just silly. If anything reducing inherent flex when there was some to be reduced, would increase grip and thereby traction and again reduce understeer. muhahhaha

The 996 has the firewall and an added wall structurally tied in to the strut towers, and is much more effective than any strut bracing. Adding a strut tower bracing would'nt add much more ridgedness. IMO

It might not be silly at all. Consider: If the strut brace makes the chassis flex less, but only in the front, wouldn't that produce the same effect as using a stiffer front bar. Both methods would increase the total roll stiffness in the front without any change at the back. If the roll stiffness balance shifts toward stiffer in the front, voila, understeer To obtain the true benefit of the strut brace, a simultaneous stiffening of the REAR bar would be a potentially good idea. But don't ask me by how much, because I don't know.

well I thought about that when I wrote about it. However while the sway bars to work on opposite ends, they are attached to parts that move! This is the suspension and that is why it works on the opposite end because it controls the torsion on the axis. If you stiffen the mount of the struts on the top in the front it isn't at the bottom and therefore doesn't contribute to the opposite end enough. I experimented with this idea a long long time ago. Now if you were talking about a lower brace like some hondas have on the bottom of the suspension then I might be inclined to say it would have a bit more effect although still not nearly enough to show anything at the opposite end.

oh yeah but if you are doing that to a honda, you're not my friend, j/k hehe

Yes, of course this is a good argument. However, the main purpose of a strut brace, as we know them, is to keep the towers from flexing towards and against each other. By doing so, we are trying to keep the tires on the pavement. On the other hand, there are different braces designed to add even more stiffness for race cars. Some of these might also be part of a roll cage. Now, those will definitely add more stiffness the front of the firewall thus adding some understeer. The bottom line is that the 996 will not benefit from a strut brace.

The strut brace is advertised to keep the towers from moving with respect to each other while suffering cornering loads. Seems like the whole chassis would meet the definition of a moving part. No? Race cars need strut braces (or other braces) because the very stiff springs they use start to encroach on the relative stiffness of the chassis. If the springs are stiff enough, one can hardly tell the suspension movements from the chassis movements in an un-braced car. Street cars use spring constants that produce suspension movements an order of magnitude (or more) larger than chassis movements. Not so with race cars made from street car chassis. If not reinforced, a street car chassis can produce MORE wheel movements than super-stiff suspension springs in a floppy car.

Even the GT3RS race cars do NOT use strut braces. Note the factory braces to the firewall! I totally agree with Viken "The bottom line is that the 996 will not benefit from a strut brace."

Hey Loren where have you been?

Reading up on the GT3 and MOST systems and... answering questions on my board...

Clearly, the GT3 RS is NOT a "floppy" car. Sorry if the understeer-via-strut-brace theoretics got confused with arguing the basic soundness of the 996 chassis.

Hey Loren, sorry but do you have the link to your board again? I think I lost it when I got my new laptop. Also did you move your diy? I tried to give the link to someone asking about it and it lo longer worked, you onto the 3rd domain now? hehe. thanks man. Sean

never mind got it off your profile.

Yeah, every ISP I chose kept going bankrupt I moved all the DIY stuff to my forum server here There are also referring links on my (last) old site.