madmark605

Has anyone used a strut tower brace on their R230? I'm not trying to make it corner better , just trying to minimize the chassis twist. Any thoughts??

Thanks in advance!!

Mark

RScott

It is intuitive to me that M-B would have fitted a brace if there were gains to be had.

SLcharge

You don't mention the year of your R230.
I have tried measure it out on my 2009, but there is no room for a tower brace, unless you take away the engine cover, and by doing that, you remove the air filters having an open inlet without protection of the MAF sensor.


https://ultraracingshop.com/products..._sl350~yr_2003

A tower brace like this flat one, offered for the R230 is not adding much stiffness to the chassis, since it is too weak and will just bend away under load. A ridgid brace would be right, but there is no room for that.

Further you have to remove the brace, every time you need remove the engine cover, and the easy solution, using ones with hinges, is a waste of money.

Anyway, the components supplied by Ultra Racing don't make much sense to me, not really adding stiffness to the chassis.
The R230 being a Convertible, all the stiffness is in the lower frame /chassis of the car, with some added remove able braces trying to make up for the missing stiff roof normally making the chassis torsional stiff. So the R230 could do with some added torsional stiffness, just not easy to apply.
Closing the trans and prop shaft tunnel from underneath, converting it into a tube, would add significant torsional stiffness to the center part of the chassis.

Swamp_Fox

I have seen something that looks like a "cap" or hat on top of the strut towers of a CL before without the bar going across and looks OEM. Would that at least help with structural rigidity at each tower? Who makes those?

elMacko

Guys, that bar to me looks like a joke...! Someone who wants to make some money is looking for "mechanically illiterate" customers.
1st, if Mercedes didn't put it in, is not necessary..These guys know well what they do..!
2nd, that flat bar would have to be very beefy to apply a good amount of horizontal force over the top of the towers if indeed there is some deformation. The bar design will make it bow up if a force is applied.!
3rd, is an obstacle to access serviceable components.

My 3 cents!

as.thompson

But it looks cool at Cars & Coffee...

HLG600

The whole point of bracing the strut towers is to allow a conventional MacPherson strut setup to work optimally and without interference from any flexing of the body.

So, on the SL350 with a conventional suspension setup (which is what they list as the only compatible R230), it could offer a benefit.

I highly doubt, however, that this would benefit a car with ABC...or any hydraulic or air suspension setup for the matter.