cdown16

I got a hold of Granatelli and they gave me a steal on their double bar chrome finish strut tower brace! They are sitting on a bunch of units and have put an eBay auction up stating they are possibly scratched in a few places but I called them and he said they have so many that they are trying to sell them cheap. I received a perfect condition brace and it was only $45 plus shipping ($10-15). Snag this deal while you can!! The car handles great now.

RodeoFlyer

Granatelli is garbage, and so are strut tower braces.

Sorry to **** on your parade, but it has been proven that they are a conversation piece. If you want it because you think it's cool - more power to you, but it in no way improved the handling of your car. In fact, you just added weight in the absolute worse possible place, thus hindering your cars handling if anything.

The good news is that your placebo effect only cost you $45.

I wonder why JR has so many sitting around???????

ffk_pennywise

I have that brace. I paid 30 for it new off craigslist. I know its worthless, but it looks nifty under the hood. Its very very lightweight so i wouldn't worry about the weight addition. Kind of like adding a plenum cover.

157dB

Its funny how $$ outlaid seems to improve
performance of an already stiff front end chassis....

05 Mustang

as some of the others have said, sorry that you had to find out like this, but the strut tower brace really doesn't help with our cars as with others....but I hope you enjoy your new brace, because they do add a certain look to the engine compartment.

....also, don't ever buy a throttle body spacer, because they are worthless...

cdown16

Well, I guess my parade got rained on. I was just trying to share a good deal. I actually felt a bit of a stiffer feel while driving. I put it on right before a long trip through the Virginia and West Virginia mountains and thought that it handled a bit tighter.

If useless, why do so many companies make them? I had an '04 GTO before this and it came with one stock and I think that car out handled my Mustang anyday, I thought that may have been some of the difference. Or I am just a moron.

Thanks for the throttle body spacer tip. I already have one but I guess I can just take it off.

ffk_pennywise

Dont feel too down about it. You didnt pay much and its certainly not going to hurt performance. As long as you look at it the way I do, as an appearance mod, then you'll feel good about it. Nothing wrong with shiny stuff under the hood.

cdown16

Yeah, I don't. I am bummed a bit as far as performance goes but it does look killer under the hood. The chrome accents the red under there well.

Norm Peterson

What you felt was a slight reduction in NVH. You didn't make the car anywhere near as much stiffer as you'd like to think, you just shifted a few structural vibration modes off to different frequencies where they aren't quite as bothersome. Enjoy it for that reason alone and don't ascribe any handling benefits to it.

FWIW, Buick added a STB to some of its models a few years ago . . . do you really suppose that their reasoning was to obtain better handling or was it to improve the overall comfort level?


Hindsight being what it is, mightn't it have been better to ask a few questions about these various chassis bits before throwing money at them (and then hoping for validation after the fact)?


Norm

cdown16

Point taken Norm. I just figured with as many as there are available and in many brands that are reputable, I thought I was buying a product that really worked as they state it does. Now I know and I will also pass this info on to my friends that thought the same as me. Atleast it looks good and was cheap. Thanks Norm.