D7reU

Hi, has anyone put a strut brace on their C63 and have you seen any actual improvement?

If so which brace would you recommend?

Thanks.

Autosport7

I am on the fence for this one.
Every thread/post I read says they are nothing more than aesthetics.
Seems the most popular are Renntech and SMERC.

Kriston

The Stock Braces are pretty good as is. I however would like to run one. Probably going to jump on the Smerc setup.


Renntech is way off market with there pricing. almost $1K for a strut bar! GTFO.

SROC276

I just replaced my smerc bar with a Cks performance aluminum one from the UK. Turn in and reaction for the car is sharper with bar than without. Cks one although bigger than the smerc bar is way lighter and quality is 10x better. It costs about $650 shipped so pricing is in between a smerc and the renntech unit.

Petakii63

I had a smerc on an 09' c350, I use to dd. For it's price, I say it did it's job. Turn in and response felt much better. The car felt stable on highspeed turns, and I felt more confident. I can have you rest assured that the renntech bar is not better than other bars out there. Your paying for carbon fiber lol. Look into mbh as they also make strut bars.

Kriston

$650 for a strut bar is crazy as well!


For $400 dollars more then the Smerc I really don't think its that much better

glennhl

Placebo affect is in play with strut bars.

Petakii63

Yes and no. A strut bar will stiffen the suspension slightly. But, how would you know it's really doing it's job if you drive in a straight line 99% of the time? Strut bars benefits are seen on the track. So yes, you are correct if you drive, on the street, after you install one, you will most likely have a placebo the first day and the next day might not notice anything. Take it to the track, and you will feel more confident on aggressive turn in and threshold braking with it. Also, don't forget it's a Mercedes, so they have engineered the chassis meticulously. So a strut bar is not gonna have a huge impact. If our cars, chassis was made of tin foil you would feel a night and day difference. I assure you.

glennhl

I autocross and unless the car is poorly designed and has a lot of flex, the strut bars do nothing. IMHO, the C63 does not need a strut bar.

Petakii63

Like I said, you won't notice the benefits on this car. Since, the chassis is so well engineered. The c63's weakness in handling IMHO is the suspension and lack of LSD if you don't have one. I think the c63 has more than enough power to autocross.

ruey220

I think that is fine as long as you feel happy about it. there's also a placebo affect when one thinks driving a C63 is better than a Camaro ZL-1. lol

ruey220

but don't you think ever opportunity to brace all that weight makes a diff?

glennhl

I'll take the Camaro ZL-1!!! And if you are in the camp that a strut will help you, then by all means, go buy one.

VividRacing

Not worth spending the money on it IMO. Unless you are out to track your car.

ruey220

I would but not for $250+. Maybe $199.

glennhl

Yea, that's a bit steep for what it is. The thing that I don't like about these types of mods is that I've never seen any hard data that it helps. Just generalized statement like, it turns in quicker, it corners harder, etc. I guess the best way would be to run a standard slalom, then install the bar, and run it again. Oh, and the thing I really can't figure out is if the strut bar is there to make the front of the car stiffer, that increases understeer, not lessen it. So if strut bars really worked, the turn in would be worse, not better.

-Marlin-

I can think of a lot of ways to waste money, but this ain't one of them. Car is pretty stiff and I can't come close to exploiting the limits of this car's handling.

But each to his own. If it makes you happy, and you think it helps, spend the ridiculous amount of money on a bar that any company would be happy to sell you for 900% above the cost of labor and material to manufacture.

SROC276

[QUOTE=Kriston;6111387]$650 for a strut bar is crazy as well!


For $400 dollars more then the Smerc I really don't think its that much

Yes a little on the high end but for me a happy medium between renntech carbon piece and the smerc which is just essentially a steel rod. The craftmanship ship of this was great and for me there is a noticeable difference in steering feel when going through corners. My opinion....it's worth it.

tfthach13

We need some one to make an aftermarket sway bar instead. Something thicker than the stock..then you'll feel the difference in handling.

SROC276

I would buy that! Need to focus on rear system too

D C

I haven't really looked into the aftermarket for this. Is there really no-one that currently makes sways for the C63?

tfthach13

Not that I know of. There's an Eibach one but that's for the non-AMG C-classes.

an_DREW

I don't track my car, but would one feel any difference in stability during high speed freeway onramps/offramps? If yes, this alone would justify the purchase for me.

4ramin

[QUOTE=SROC276;6111960]thats actually really nice, can you post the link, I'm going to move forward with one..

SROC276

Personally in my opinion yes.....steering feel on cornering is tighter.