Strut-Tower bar does work !!!

Yep. Mine works great !!!

Bought mine from a China Man out in Riverside ... He advertises on ebay - Fyi.

Have a Great Sunday everyone !!!

 

Lol, that's why Danny and the mods don't bother responding to you ya noob.

 

I'm new here. I do have much background in racing Porsches and have no doubt that stiffening the chassis will improve the handling, though perhaps at some loss of comfort. I drive a little fast in the mountains often in my wife's Prius, and the front tires come loose regularly (understeer).

I see on eBay there are two strut tower brace sellers, Sabresport and Dreamconceptz. The bars look the same and are both $44.50 shipped.

Does anyone have experience with this bar from either of these sellers?

Thanks,

 

To me, that bar looks very inadequate. First off, the brackets don't look up to the task. Two little pieces of flat stock forming a steep triangle?

Secondly, the bar itself appears to be aluminum (not stiff) and it's already bent in 2 places! I suppose this will simply flex up and down, absorbing any tower flex and keeping stress of the fragile triangle brackets. I don't see it stiffening much!

 

I think you will get better results with sway bars vs strut tower bars.

Understeer is present in front wheel drive cars because the drive wheels are up front and the engine sits right on top of these wheels.

You could start with chassis bracing the car with under braces, but honestly, it's a FF. Understeer will always be there.

 

Wow...only at Priuschat could someone tell you that hubcaps and wiperblades will net or lose you 1-2mpg but a strut tower brace, something used in performance oriented cars since at least the 60s, is a placebo.

 

Their website says you should raise the car on installing.
Tanabe USA Inc. - Sustec Tower Bar

There's 3 little boxes outlined in red, click the middle one and a brief explanation comes up on why. I can't copy/paste since it's flash. Do you think it makes that much of a difference on raising the car or not?

 

OK, so I bought the strut bar from Dreamconceptz for $44.50 shipped. It took about 1.5 hours to install using the excellent directions posted by Gadgetdad. The brackets are hardened steel. As pEEf notes above, the brackets are bent. You could install the bar straight, but would have to eliminate the windshield wiper system to do so. I'd call this an engineering compromise, and will prefer to keep the wipers. This bar is a clone of the Tenabe bar, and Tenabe is a respected aftermarket engineering firm. It feels quite secure to me.

From the factory, the car felt like an over-cooked linguini noodle, writhing through the corners. I installed a transmission tunnel chassis brace, and it helped a lot. The car stiffened up. However, in corners the inside front wheel would come up and the rear outside shock/spring would compress. It was a nice improvement, but still exhibited a lot of under steer.

After installing the strut bar, on driving in town, there is no noticeable change. In the mountains at high speeds, improvement is very evident. The front end stays much flatter in the corners. The inside front wheel stays down. Turn-in is more immediate. When the car is pushed until the front-end comes loose from the pavement, the tires break away in a more gradual and controlled fashion that feels very predictable. Net, I was able to take corners at noticeably higher speeds and with more control. The car feels more balanced towards neutral, with less under steer.

Downsides: With more grip in the front, the back feels more playful in mid-corner, like it wants to dance a little. With all mods, you change one thing and it effects something else. Stiffer springs and shocks would probably cure this, but at some loss of daily ride comfort.

My take is that if you are an average driver, this would be a waste of time and money. But, if you have some enjoyment of performance driving or spirited runs in the canyons and mountains, this strut bar is a bargain that you will be thankful for.

 

All mods are a waste of time and money for the average driver, that's what makes them the average driver. Good review. Thanks.

 

I think what some are trying to say is that the gains are minimal when compared to lowering springs, upsized wheels, sway bar etc.. This has been my experience with American muscle cars. I've no experience with this mod on imports.

 

Just a couple of quick comments, not to offend anyone. The average driver may not be spending time looking at a web forum that talks about suspension mods. Most people interested in this subject are willing to spend a few bucks to make improvements.

Also, improvement, not perfection, is all we are talking about. The Prius will never achieve Lotus or Porsche RSR handling. Then again, the Lotus and Porsche will never achieve Prius gas mileage or durability. We don't need straight tower bars or welded-in roll cages just to make useful improvements. Enjoyment is the goal, not perfection.

People who deny the results of these modifications may not be sensitive enough to suspension changes to notice a difference. They may not know when and where to look for them. For them, such an investment would of course not make any sense whatsoever. They may have more benefit from a driving school to learn vehicle dynamics. Highly recommended.

Thanks for listening.

Curt..Porsche Club of America National Driver Education Instructor

 

That's a handful. So you teach people how to drive Porsches?

 

Only on the track. As we say, it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

 

US-Spec Elises and Exiges apparently hold up pretty well (except for the paint which attracts rock chips for obvious reasons) so I wouldn't say they aren't as durable as the Prius.

Driver education will almost always be the most effective modification. Unless you're this guy:

Also: have you thought about changing the tires to something stickier? I swear by my AD08s.

 

I couldn't have said it better!

 

Thanks for the Yokohama tire tip. I also like those tires. The Prius is my wife's daily driver, so I guess Michelins will be the tire for now!

 

Sorry, haven't been on here in a long time.

A placebo effect if you do not drive your car to where the chassis flexes. And it takes quite a bit to make a car flex. How can you tell me something works if you drive it gingerly?

Sure it works but it won't work as good as a welded bar. The bolts provide room for play. Play = less stiffness.

Further proves my point. There is no way you can tell the difference unless you push the car. And knowing how people are with their Prii, it's highly unlikely 99% of you really noticed a difference.

They are pretty much the same, in a sense, imports vs hotrods/muscle cars. What will work with muscle cars will work on an import, minus a few adjustments. ie meth injection, turbo charging, boring, honing, weight reduction. I know alot of the import guys using proven tech off of the muscle car guys.

 

OK, I'm a noob here and with the Prius but I do drive a Benz also though I'm not one of those "cocky rich" guys (It's always the other guys, right?).

I'm not any kind of race driver or anything like that, as a matter of fact, while driving my Benz thru a twisting mountain road I got my butt kicked by a girl driving a pickup! Even with my lack of driving skills I can still tell that the Prius is a handful compared to the Benz. So if I can tell the difference between the two cars, why shouldn't I be able to tell the difference if I were to install the strut braces?

I was hopping that I could improve the Prius handling, or maybe this is a masterful plan by Toyota to save MPGs by making us drive like grandma....

 

I think if you can sense the handling difference between your two cars, you will easily be able to sense the improvement with the strut tower bar. Go for it. And, get the stiffening plate as well. Good luck.