Norm Peterson

Unless you changed springs or stabilizer bars, possibly shocks/struts, or maybe tire pressures, the amount of roll is still going to be the same as it was without the strut and shock tower bars.

Chassis twist probably is a tiny bit different, but this isn't something you'd ever notice (small fraction of a degree that you're sitting in the middle of).


Subjectively, I suspect that the perception of roll varies with how composed the car is under "extreme conditions" and how comfortable you are about driving when there is a significant amount of it going on. The latter probably varies widely among individuals - a noticeable amount of roll will unnerve some people, while it hardly bothers others at all.


The picture below is showing 5° or so of roll due to suspension stiffnesses, plus something like another degree of apparent roll due to different amounts of tire deflection (load transfer). Most of the time I hardly noticed even that much, except for maybe the amount of time it took the car to get there and take its cornering set, and having to start my turning that much earlier.





I was trying to think which Ford SUV it would be these days . . . fortunately for you in your CV you most likely weren't getting gassed.


Norm

ohskigod

I think I would say the bracing better allowed you to feel what the car was doing in order to act appropriately then actually allowing the car to do anything it couldnt do otherwise. That said, is there really a difference between the 2 big picture wise?

I put quite a bit of bracing over the years, patently ignoring what was (still is) the prevalent thought that bracing does nothing in these cars. I couldnt care less if it actually allows the car to do what it couldnt do before, what it does do is allow you to better understand what the car is doing. It's far more predicable.

I actually almost took my rear x brace off as it was disconcerting to start out.....but after I discovered it was me feeling what the rear was doing more I'm glad I stuck with it.....the car practically sends me an engraved/embossed written advisement before oversteer kicks in making it easily countered when it happens.

long story short, because the bracing allows me to feel what the car is doing, it increased my confidence in driving the car hard exponentially. I just started autocrossing it in the last year and love the hell out of it.

ohskigod

and Norm, youre in jersey?

Norm Peterson

Yup. That picture was taken about 10 years ago at a Philly Region autocross, just to narrow it down a little.

"Feel" and driver confidence are more valuable than people generally suspect . . . and harder to identify as such.

I think when you do enough really hard driving, you acquire some ability to pick the signal out of more noise (no STB). That would explain, say, the ability of Chevy's test drivers to set some incredible lap times at the Nurburgring without having a STB present. That's not to say there wouldn't still be some improvement possible with one added, just that it'd probably be less than for people having only some experience.


Norm