Choosing body braces.

[Sam-Q]

I know this is going to upset atleast one forum sponsor but I thought it would be good to have a discussion about so called braces that just don't work or how to pick which ones are the best. I have had a similar thread on club4ag for a little while which has been quite entertaining. I am only talking about structual gains here not something that helps your car stay together in an impact, there is a big difference.

Now for anyone with an ae86 with a conventional layout in the rear suspension no rear brace between your "rear strut towers" will do anything for you. Unless you put rear coilovers in they arn't even strut towers and they can not and will not work. Even with coilovers there is not a good way to make a brace that goes there without body welding. Something that goes between the seat latch mounts is a different story as this is off a very solid mounting point and braces the body itself, as a bonus it also serves as a great harness and camera mount.

Other braces had the potential for working but failed in their design such as having a small adjuster or having a U shape in the middle which both encourage flex instead of bracing anything. One bar I have seen even has both.

Bars without adjusters can be a bit of an issue as well. While initially these look to be the most solid option they need to made to fit all cars and hence have to have very wide tollerances, this means that it's pretty likely that any body movement will be taken up with the slop in the bar design. However this may not apply to some designs

Then there's braces where they don't actually brace anything or alongside a major body support.

So as a rough rule pick a brace with a large diameter, a large adjuster if there is one and in a place where it's needed.

Now I would like to see what people think and their optionins which is why this is here instead of the tech threads. I am open to corrections on things, but I need people to keep it calm or else their thread will get editted/deleted by me.

[stx-16]

could you post up some pics or links to some good braces that you think are good and worth getting
im in the market for some decent barces
or maby some pick/links of some plases that some one like me with a welder some steal and a mean angle gringer can make some brace??

[takai]

Harness bars between the seat anchor points, while it does seem to make sense it means that you are trusting your life to 2 M8 bolts in shear.... Stupid idea.

[Sam-Q]

thats a very good point, it didn't cross my mind.

[Sam-Q]

one of the only braces I have seen so far is that I know for sure is worthwhile is the whiteline strut brace. other than that it goes downhill really quick.

[MarmO.]

when i do the cage in my car it is more going to be for bracing, full cage, with the rear bars going to the back of the hatch, then bracing off those onto the rear wheel tubs shock tops, and then back to the main hoop, then fronts and back tagged to the body in as many spots as pratical, side intrusion bars and taxi with a cross brace hopfully it should do a good job lol

[takai]

Effective body bracing.



Pointless crap.

[Todd]

not a cusco flat bar fan?

[Sam-Q]

yes the cusco flat brace I saw on Takai's car I saw many years ago was very rigid so I give that the thumbs up. Is that a T3 add-on for the tri-part?

[Todd]

it's genuine cusco i believe.

and then there are these: