WildoutWhiteGSR

There has been a lot of talk about this at the meets recently so I decided to go out and try it.


Now for daily driving I do not have the rear strut tower bar on due to my subs in the back, but on the street you'll barely notice anything anyways.

So PITTL # 4 came up on saturday and I thought what a better way to put this to a end.

First run was done with out the strut tower bar.

Second run put the bar on and double check tire presure's. Felt no difference, continued on through out the day hoping to see some difference, I mean I did make the purchase and would of loved to have it justified.

Still no difference.

At the next auto-x event I will be running without one. I will be loaning the bar to Platinium Playa to see if he can notice any difference worth writing home about.

I will try again with a different type of rear strut tower bar to see if anything comes up. Will update this thread then.


Conclusion, I felt no difference on and off the track. The bar is still on the car now. I will drive with it on for the next couple of days.

I'm guessing the stiffer your spring setup, the less is required of the chassis. So stiffening the chassis more did nothing for me. Maybe on a stock suspension car there will be a difference. I don't know since I didn't have a rear on the car when I was stock.

Now does this mean take off the bar if you already have it and sell it. Thats up to you. What this does mean, is that for people looking to mod there cars to handle better, focus more on the springs, shocks, sway bars and tires.

JayBRO

Rear bars are strictly for bling, just like rear lower tie bars.

engsr

On my GS-R, stock and with the Eibach/Konis, the JDM Type-R rear strut made the back more solid. The rear of the car reacted a bit better, but in no way did it correct understeer (which it isn't suppost to do anyway, but some think it does).

The thing you have to consider is the design of the rear strut bar - a solid bar, much like the Type-R will have a lot more rigidity than something like the DC Sport, which has pivot points and overall a really weak composition (the bar is flimsy).

Theorhetically, a strut bar is suppost to tie the tops of the shock towers. When one side is compressed, the opposing side is going to flex. The strut bar helps minimize this flex and keeps the opposing strut planted. If the strut bar has pivot points, then the flex in the chassis is transfered through those points, thus making the bar useless.

The best test to discover if the rear strut does do anything is the clay test that we discussed at Mike's uncle's house.

RRRex

Might depend on the type of bar you're using. Most are for show unfortunately and bend with the chassis instead of stiffening anything. I noticed more of a difference with the rear bar on my car than I did with the front one. But then soon as the half cage went in I noticed a huge difference - so does a rear tie bar help? I doubt it. If it's a cheap one then definately no. It has to be pretty thick to make a difference. What kind did you try out?

WildoutWhiteGSR

Bryan I considered your setup more on the softer side of things, we atleast it's softer than mine so you probably noticed it more where as I did not. Although I do plan on using the ITR rear strut bar as long as I can find one. I would also like to try the clay idea, but I didn't quite know where to apply it to make the test valid. I was thinking the top of the mount where the bar connects to directly. Any ideas?

Miles I was using the dc-sports type design bar. I'm currently trying to find the itr one, but that's really rare.

Blue Dragon

The rear bar stiffend the chassis. I could jack the car, and still close the trunk, something I could not do without the rear bar.

engsr

I think that's the difference - your set-up is already stiff enough that you probably won't notice it as much. Then again, you were using something with pivots, which basically is useless. If I still had my Type-R ones, I would definitly let you borrow them to see if you notice a difference.

You have to look real hard for the rear ones as there are tons of copies floating around. I know exactly what the OEM looks like and what to look for in the bar itself. I'm keeping a lookout for another as well.

As far as the clay is concerned, I'll explain it to you the next time we meet up.

boost obsessed

I was wondering the same thing about the rear bars, my friends itr has all the factory bars and he's on tein ra set up, my car has just the front itr strut bar and tein ra's as well and I cant tell a difference.
I was wondering if this would actually work or is it just the begining of new rice http://www.lokarmotorsports.com/gbarsystem.html

WildoutWhiteGSR

It's the begininng of new rice.

If you want to go that far. Try this one out instead http://www.passwordjdm.com/product.a...For=&PT_ID=374

its me.. mario

when i jacked my car up to change the rear wheel, the hatch would not align properly with the latch.. it was off by maybe 1/8" ... i have no rear shock bar.

its me.. mario

this one should show improvements since there's no pivot points and the X is welded solid.

WildoutWhiteGSR

Update:

Fuzzy and I tested out the OEM JDM ITR Rear Strut at Auto-X yesterday.

First impression, solid bar, with no pivot points.

He drove the car to the auto-x without the bar. Fuzzy had it for the first two runs. Where he had two consistant runs. Didn't notice much difference he said. Now inbetween runs, I stole it off of his car and didn't tell him. I decided to put it on mine.
After his run I asked him how that run was, without mentioning that I took the bar off. He said it was a lot better, but couldn't put what changed out there. He dropped his times by a second. Later on I told him that I had taken the bar off of his car.

I think the reason it helped him by taking it off was he has no suspension travel ie, is slammed. So when he was running with the bar, one of his rear tire was actually leaving the ground over certain parts of the lot. This caused him to oversteer more. No tire touching the ground...less grip.


For me the difference was, during hard corners with the bar off, I would get the rear wheels hopping around the corner. Like a bounce.

With the bar installed, instead of the bouncing around the corners and hopping. The rear would just slide around the corners, so no more hopping.

So did it induce more oversteer? For me no. It was still the same amount, but the sliding was easier for me to control, instead of the hopping. So some might think it did oversteer more, but for me it was still the same amount and a lot easier to control.

My times through out the day were the same with the bar off and with it on.

WildoutWhiteGSR

Wayne,

Bryan, Fuzzy and I tested this yesterday at auto-x. I have tried this with both my bar with pivots and the JDM ITR one.

Both times the trunk wouldn't close.


Now I had the car jacked to the max height (approx 2 feet) the jack would go. How high did u jack the car?

WildoutWhiteGSR

Fuzzy and Bryan add in any comments I've missed.


Also could a Mod add *Updated* to the subject title. I can't seem to do it.

engsr

I think the hatch has to do with the flex in the roof, considering the hatch is hinged there. I believe the C-pillar may help that, but in no way did the rear strut tower do anything.

In any case, the effect of the bar has a lot to do with your suspension set-up. Hopefully, next weekend I will be able to test it as well as the trunk floor bar.

karma

off topic ... but its really good to see u guys discuss this issues on the forum ..instead of just talking to each other ....noobz like me can get a chance to really understand the key issues concerning the performance of the teg(or any car in general)...good work guyz ..its interesting to read all your opinions and standpoints ..keep on posting stuff like this ..thankz

abhi

FuzzyLS BRO

ok, i had the bar on my car for the first 2 runs of HADA, i diden't pay much attention to it however those were my 2 slowest times, on the second run i lost the rear-end. then T took it off my car, i went around the same turn, same speed and the rear stayed in place. so for MY setup, it did cause more oversteer.