chassis re-enforcement v.101

[Rabbit16v@attbi.com (Rabbit16v)]

> Dave, how on Earth can any stress bar reduce "sway"?

Read on.

> What exactly do you mean by that word, anyway. :^) Are you referring to
the elimination of roll?

Roll, to me if I have it right, is what the tires would cause if you had
stock tires on a car with highly modified suspension.  They would create a
roll by the sidewalls flexing.  I realize that swaybars, suspension, and low
pro tires are all things that take care of roll, or sway also.  I consider
the feeling that you get when your upper strut towers (and no, I'm not
talking about the strut assys/springs themselves but what they mount into in
the body) give a little when you go into a corner hard (close to loosing
traction is what I call hard) sway as I don't know another word for it.
Now, since I have been an auto tech for quite some years (granted, not all
working on our wonderful VWs) I have become very sensitive to goings on in
the suspension so what I feel others may not but when I installed the upper
strut brace, the car handled better in hard cornering.

> The upper strut brace (stress bar, etc.) simply keeps the strut towers
from
> moving apart from each other.

and from moving closer to each other.  Taking a right hand turn the top of
your left strut tower should have a tendancy to move inward, if the car's
suspension is modified and the car is low, because there is force being
applied at an upward angle.  I would think that if the top of any strut
tower moves in a corner you would notice it.  A strut brace would eliminate
this because strut tower would have the other strut tower to strengthen it
some.

> However, the tendency to roll in corners is not reduced a bit.

I disagree here because if your strut tower moves at all and a strut brace
helps it not move then a strut brace would help.  I don't have a zillion
years of racing experience or an engineering degree but I do have common
sense and this is what I am going off of.  I've been proven wrong once (in a
while) so if I'm wrong then LMK.  But I was absolutely sure there was a
difference after installing a strut brace.

Dave