mlg

had one on my ctsv and that car cornered on rails, pulled 1.08 g on in dash g meter on street corners, front end felt very solid

JUAN CASAUS

Who Makes one for W203? I don't think I've seen one but I'd be interested in one if you can find it .

splinter

Note our W203’s MacPherson strut towers are remarkably stout as engineered.

Witness documented TÜV/IIHS sacrificial frontal crash tests or MB’s original lateral and torsional strength criteria for validation.
There is far more NVH axial and radial compliance designed into the OE strut mounts that ought to first be addressed.

mlg

im lowered w kw v2 coil overs, the car creaks when starting to enter a drive way on an angle, ie. front end is twisting, never had this with ctsv ??????

ALLDATAdiy INFO

Which one are you looking at?

mlg

" There is far more NVH axial and radial compliance designed into the OE strut mounts that ought to first be addressed " per Splinter. SAY WHAT!!
i highly respect splinters expertise, so maybe im barking up the wrong tree with thought of adding a strut brace. so, splinter how would i decrease NVH axial and radial compliance on kw v2 coilover struts mounts to make steering response sharper?? thanx, mike

Autotechnica

There isn't much room to play with in the back where a strut brace could be mounted. My fabricator is going to look into making a custom one for me. With all the bends and thin material needed to squeeze through the tight spaces, it might not even be worth while to make one.

BTW, splinter just means that the front strut mount is already quite "beefy" and a strut bar may not be needed. It's far more important to address the issues of the front suspension components. The flex you describe may be comming from the suspension and not the chassis. Personally, with my C55 suspension, I don't notice much flex. The car is very solid and corners like it's on rails. The chassis is really quite solid. Look into replacing suspension bushings or worn parts. On car like BMW's, x-braces are used to stiffen up the chassis. This connects the subframe to the mid-chassis under the car. I had a custom "v" shaped brace made for the SAAB, it made a significant difference. If you want to reduce front end flex, this is really the way to go. i haven't looked under the car lately, I'll ask my fabricator if anything can be made.

Bry

mlg

autot, im thinking about a front tower brace as i had on my ctsv, see photo,,,, please post/pm me what the fabricator has to recommend, thanxc, mike

JUAN CASAUS

I would want one too if the price was right

Autotechnica

The braces I'm talking about are mounted under the car. These were far more effective than any strut brace. However, when a strut brace was used in combination with the X-brace on my BMW, the car honestly felt race car stiff.



If there are some good holes for mounting points, something like this could be fabricated to work with the merc. Nutserts would have to be used for threading the holes. This was an original peice made by BMW Motorsport used in the BMW E36 M3 LTW limited edition as well as convertable models.

mlg

thanx for the photo, makes more sense now, interested to see what your fabricator says, curious what bmw unit cost, sounds like under brace is the most effective but i wonder if the strut brace would do a goo job and be more readily accessable/easier to manufacture and at a significant cost differential. mike

FrankW

rollnn has one. forgot who made it, but you can ask him.


i think the x-brace only existed for the e36 convertible which you can bolt it to the sedan or coupe as well, but they added the x-brace for the convertible because when they chopped the top off the chassi became very weak. one of my friend still has his e36 m3 sedan and still drives great.

Autotechnica

I had this X-Brace on all 3 of my E36 BMW's. It was originally designed by BMW motorsport. Like I said, it was built for the BMW M3 LTW which was a limited production track ready E36 M3. It was adopted for use on the convertable models for the reason you mentioned (lack of roof). However, it is a BMW Motorsport part. The E36's IMO were a poorly designed chassis. Especially compared to the E30's. I had to do a lot of subframe reinforcements throughout the car's life. My company use to manufacture the racing reinforcement kits used in stiffening the subframe as well as preventing stress cracks. The BMW M3 LTW also used stacks of metal plates between the strut tower and the strut mount to try and make the strut towers beefier. Not one of the best chassis I've driven to be honest. Cracked strut/shock towers as well as seperated subframe mounts were not an uncommon sight on E36's that were tracked.

Anyways, a "V" shaped (not as strong as the X) reinforcement was used on my SAAB and a Square shaped reinforcement was used on my Volvo. I know a thing or two about reducing chassis flex. My car is going to be hoisted up this weekend. I'll let you guys know what I come up with.

BTW, rollnn has a lower chassis brace or a strut brace?

Autotechnica

It was about $180CDN from the dealer minus the hardware if I remember correctly. It really shouldn't be too expensive to fabricate. The BMW unit wasn't even made of any fancy material. Just regular tubular steel.

xxaarraa

If I remember right from my E46 M3 days, the front strut brace was very functional while rear didn't add much value. That was specific to M3, but just saying.

I'm in for a front brace group buy if one is put together.

mskembo

On my E30 (sedan) I noticed a HUGE difference when I installed the tower brace. I'm very interested in this, even though I'm just going to be using it for spirited street driving.

mlg

still researching group buy for undercarriage front brace , but must first get approval by moderators, ill keep u posted. thanx, mike

ROLLNNN

Hey Guys,
here are a few pics of my front strut bar:









I did notice a slight difference when i installed it but it was minimal. The rear sway bar helped out a lot. Maybe once i get my front sway, the 2 together will make a major difference. Im also running on Tein coilovers with about 80k miles, i can tell they are getting a little soft, so that might be a factor too...

Autotechnica

I don't think that would fit on the C32. there isn't as much clearence as the 230k. Also, that strut brace looks like it would have a lot of flex. It doesn't have nearly enough mounting points to the chassis. The most effective strut bars are the ones with the fewest fittings. Eg. just welded at the ends and bolted to the strut tower. This one looks like what's typically offered by companies like "Vibrant" or "ractive" for the Japanese market. Thanks for the pics though.

bry

c32used

it be nice if it fit the C32

03MBC32

http://www.ultratuning.com/en/produc...aluminium.html

JUAN CASAUS

Thanks!

mlg

if official vendor we may be able to get permission for a group buy??

JUAN CASAUS

Yeah 200 euros is kind of high don't you think?

03MBC32

Yes it's $$$ and will it work with the 3.2 Kompressor? 200 euros is better spent on any other suspension upgrade imho.