Upgrading your suspension?

Fact. Strut tower braces help even out the impact on bumps in the road both large and small as you steer. Instead of the shock traveling up to your steering wheel and moving it side to side over a pothole around a corner, the STB's transfer the shock across the bars from one strut to the other and down the struts back to the ground. It helps keep the car more stable.

Try driving over any bump, dip or pothole of any given size with, & then without a front strut tower brace. Even going slow in a straight line there is a noticeable difference. especially if both wheels are effected by the bump.

My driveway has a huge curb like dip going out to the street, and it doesn't like my lowered car. It felt completely different pulling out of my garage into the street after I installed the front stb. Much smoother. The car didn't even dip as much when the wheels hit rolled off onto the street.

I use the strut tower brace that attaches to the 3 nuts on the strut tower on each side and uses a bar that is connected to the 2 strut towers with Heim joint ends. I have one on the front struts AND the rear struts-it is VERY effective in stiffening up the chassis. ^ As noted above, the car is MUCH tighter over any type of bumps, has no squeaks or rattles, and is much more responsive to steering inputs, and it definitely improves handling. They are well worth the money just for tightening everything up in daily driving. I had these same bars on a 2004 Impala LS before switching them to the GP in 2006 and they as one would expect had the same impact on the GP. Just put a strut tower brace on a 2008 Chrysler 300 in front only and the impact was the same. I have the GMPP strut brace but did not use it since since it's attachment points to the strut towers are not as effective as the braces that attach to the 3 bolts on the strut. Hope that helps!

The best STB is one that connects the towers directly with no bends and connects to the firewall.

Guess who's mounts to the firewall?

No ones...

Two or three bolt wont matter... Heim joints allow more flex than a solid piece of steel.

I found that the rear GMPP bar was weak.

I found the Addco rear bar didn't do much for handling either.

I found front stiffer struts and springs helped.

I found the dorman front bar with poly bushings helped the most.

Note dorman bar is a very similar size to the front addco bar yet cheaper. (see mass production) Both are solid.

With stiff strut/springs out front, "addco" sway bar setup and stock ~90K mile rear strut/springs out rear.

I found oversteer.

Installed matching spring/struts out rear and it was rather neutral, slight understeer.

Noticed my GMPP trailing arms allow for massive flex in rear suspension. (bushings)

However, the front is still losing grip before the rear. No point in stiffening up that rear just yet...

I found the zzp front STB to be rather minimal in effect.

Still understeering slightly.

Have the rear to install when it stops raining.


SUMMARY:


The very first place you should look to improve handling would be your LCA's.

One year of spirited driving is enough to start tearing those front bushings.

Keep a close eye on them if you're hard on your car.


Trailing arms.

Replace them as soon as you take ownership.


Higher spring rate, stiffer struts, stiffer sway bars all around (ensure they are a matched set).

This results in better handling.


In terms of stiffening the chassis, a STB that is two point isn't going to be nearly as effective as the previously mentioned mods.

Having three points fab'd up would be nice.

But so would tubular LCA's without a heim joint, subframe connectors, and a tubular front engine cradle...

true matt, my zzp stb didnt do anything but add a few pounds to my cars weight

engine poly mounts on the other hand were my fav as of yet but i imagine if ALL destroyed 100k mile rubber bushings etc were replaced it would feel WAY better..and cheaper

uppers or lowers?

did both at same time..eyeing the UMI trailing arms as they are sexy pieces..too bad zzp control arms are so much damn money, now if there was a part that kept the damn front from lifting at all then BAM..we would be in business

ZZP LCA's are a bad idea unless race car.

Heim joints really shouldn't be used there.

And you need coilovers.

The UMI trailing arms are nice, I got a set and they are beefy. The other mods I have are Eibachs, Konis, and GMPP sways. I still want to get some STBs. I might be able to fab some up out of scrap steel/aluminum from work...

Originally Posted by Sandman

The UMI trailing arms are nice, I got a set and they are beefy. The other mods I have are Eibachs, Konis, and GMPP sways. I still want to get some STBs. I might be able to fab some up out of scrap steel/aluminum from work...

I've got two brand new GMPP STBs sitting around if you're interested. Have the hardware and all that they came with

I used to have one and it bent, I'm going to look at getting something that mounts to the actualy strut mounts.

Im looking for some good springs, i mean "good springs" not ssc nor dna and dont want to spend 300 bucks on springs unless i have to.
Im going to put the springs on GR-2's, and its a DD
So basically im looking for good lowering springs for a DD that wont break the bank

Originally Posted by Sandman

I used to have one and it bent, I'm going to look at getting something that mounts to the actualy strut mounts.

don rome makes some brackets for gmpp bars so that they mount to the strut mounts

Originally Posted by f3racer

don rome makes some brackets for gmpp bars so that they mount to the strut mounts

If I've bent them I dont trust them, I was talking about something like the ZZP bars which I did just pick up a set.

i know this is an old thread, so from what ive just read, what would you guys recommend for DD's and those who take it on the track?

those are completely different topics. if you want something that is track ready it won't be 'nice' to drive daily on the street.

Z06/ZR1 are about the best street cars for the track among domestics.

Well this is a upgrading suspension topic and well there were reviews only on selected products, someone should do a modding your suspension thread similiar to the safely modding your 3800,

you know how long it took each of us to write the stickied threads? lots of beer.

Alright here goes, *pulls out 3 32 packs. Let's get wastes

i was planning on doing a proper w-body suspension thread, but getting enough input from many experienced members could be a problem so i gave up.