Strut Braces

B

Big Daddy

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#2
It is my understanding that they have little effect on the e46's, but I have no personal experience. I had them on my e30 and they made a big difference. I have them on my roadster as well and that is where I see the biggest gain due to the flex inherit in a soft top. I do no think on the other hand that it will hurt anything, just saying you may not see a big measureable difference. Any e46'ers here that help him out?
 
Kirby

Kirby

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The strut brace reduces/eliminates strut tower flex in corners. As Dan said, it will have a bigger effectt on ragtops. For typical street driving, in your E46, you will probably not notice any siginificant difference. It can have a big effect on cornering on a track/autocross car.
 
B

B M W

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#4
Kirby said:
The strut brace reduces/eliminates strut tower flex in corners. As Dan said, it will have a bigger effectt on ragtops. For typical street driving, in your E46, you will probably not notice any siginificant difference. It can have a big effect on cornering on a track/autocross car.
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Ditto. Also if this is your first suspension modification then I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference. First id recommend you lower your car's center of gravity via coilovers or spring/shock/struts. From what I hypothesize, the reason that some people dont believe that strut bars help as much in e46's is because most e46's havent had as much wear and tear on the chasis as older pre-e46 cars, so the e46 kinda is still pretty stiff. It will help, just dont get a jointed strut bar, it kidna defeats the purpose.
 
I

iffy

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well my vehicle is already lowered on schnitzer springs so thats a start. However, if no effect on hangling, will the strut braces lower the life of my suspension?
 
B

B M W

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iffy said:
well my vehicle is already lowered on schnitzer springs so thats a start. However, if no effect on hangling, will the strut braces lower the life of my suspension?
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Awesome, d you have stiffer shocks/struts now?

Id do sway bars before you do Strut bars. Sway bars do some 80% of the work to prevent roll compared to strut bars.
 
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