Want to see a strong brace? See the 350Z! Man, over the weekend I saw a 350Z at a mall with its hood open, and those guys have a serious strut tower brace! This thing had large [and thick]stamped steel ends with four huge bolts. It also had adjuster nuts on the passenger side of the slightly flattened round bar, which happened to be painted grey. It seems like most if not all of the aftermarket pieces for our cars have pretty light-duty attachments and ends. Seriously, this Nissan stock bar even puts the Steeda bar with cast ends to shame. Even the strongest bar in the world needs good ends and attachment to really do the job. Unless it's a "just for looks, pseudo-performance part" of course, which many of the aftermarket parts for the Mustang seem to be. Get the hint vendors? And this thing was priced right around GT MSRP. Mike Elia 05 GT lime 87 Regal Turbo T [frame is braced]
You will never see any benefit from a brace unless you race the car hard. 2 bolts are plenty to resist the inward flex of the strut tower
I agree that two bolts of that size are enough, especially given the location. However, I think you could feel a benefit from a properly-constructed brace. The S197's strut towers are far enough away from the firewall that some added stiffness there would be a good thing. It would be better if the brace were to also attach to the firewall, but none I've seen so far do that. If nothing else, it stiffens the unibody up a bit, and that small amount of flex that is eliminated could keep the body tighter as the car ages. It's a relatively cheap bolt-on, and it certainly doesn't hurt anything. Just my 2 cents...
I'm fully aware of the purpose and benefit of strut/shock tower brace (see pic below), however, a street driven 05 will NEVER see a benefit. The car will be in a crusher long before the towers flex enough to make a difference (if they flex at all).
What about drift racing? I imagine most people on here aren't into that, but Gushi is drift racing a mustang sponsored partly by ford. Would front/rear braces benefit here? BMR offers much more extensive chassis stiffening; would this be necessary for drift?
Drifting is all about sliding -- I wouldn't think a sliding car would generate a lot of chassis loading, would it ??
BMR strut tower brace, end of story. best cosmetic looks, best quality IMO, and def the stiffest and beefiest one on the market no question. 189 not a bad price either. www.bmrfabrication.com it was my first mod, and welllllllll worth it if only for the beautifying of under thehood!
