Tmoose
Mechanical
- Apr 12, 2003
- 5,636
I was reading the June 2013 Car and Driver at the dentist's office. On page 36 / "upfront - TECH DEPARTMENT" Don Sherman talks about "the lab test rig that tells you everything you'd ever need to know about a car's chassis." Next to last paragraph says "Simon adds that he's never seen an aftermarket strut tower brace provide a measureable handling benefit."
Since so many of them have hooks, kinks, jogs and bends I can easily believe that. Anything but a straight line relies on the bending stiffness of the strut cross section. And they tie strut to strut, so at most could double the stiffness, if the inner tower wasn't being asked to do anything else anyway.
For sure the (factory) brace on 60s Mustangs did "something" as it was part of the Shelby set up that was a pretty effective race car in 1966 and 1967
But that brace tied the shock towers not to each other, but into a portion of the firewall that was oriented parallel to the applied force, which satisfies the requirement for a successful load path as defined by the great Omer Blodgett.
" One must always provide a proper load path so the force can enter into the section that lies parallel "
Carroll Smith, Greenwood, Herb Adams and all the others make it pretty clear that most rubber bushings' compliance is often the primary "spring" in the deflection system anyhow.
Since so many of them have hooks, kinks, jogs and bends I can easily believe that. Anything but a straight line relies on the bending stiffness of the strut cross section. And they tie strut to strut, so at most could double the stiffness, if the inner tower wasn't being asked to do anything else anyway.
For sure the (factory) brace on 60s Mustangs did "something" as it was part of the Shelby set up that was a pretty effective race car in 1966 and 1967
But that brace tied the shock towers not to each other, but into a portion of the firewall that was oriented parallel to the applied force, which satisfies the requirement for a successful load path as defined by the great Omer Blodgett.
" One must always provide a proper load path so the force can enter into the section that lies parallel "
Carroll Smith, Greenwood, Herb Adams and all the others make it pretty clear that most rubber bushings' compliance is often the primary "spring" in the deflection system anyhow.
