Strut bar brace?

what do these really do to me they look like the just go over the engine and dont do anything, but they must do something?

Strut bars also known as Sway bars go accross the top of your engine bay from one side to the other.
All engines have them at the bottom but V8's have them at the top and V6's dont.
They stop the cars chassis from twisting when you drive your car hard especialy when going arround corners.
They are needed because of how a V engines pistons are configured, in a 60 or 90 degree angle (depending on what sort of engine you have)
they tend to shake from side to side when you drive or rev them hard n fast where as Ford engines dont because they have straight 6's where all the pistons are all in a line and vertical and dont really cause as much side to side shakes as a V6 or V8.
So basicly they just stop the engine twisting the cars body when they drive fast with the shakes of the V engine.
V8's almost always have them because they are always quite alot more powerfull then V6's but you can put them onto V6's if you want especialy if you have Supercharged or Turbo your car.

Danny.

I don't think thats right!!!!
I think he means a strut brace.
a strut brace is used to improve rigidity in the suspension, ie. stop any flex in the strut. (sorry, help reduce flex) this is to give a firmer feel when cornering. not just for V engines as attakarrak stated (unless he was just pulling the piss) otherwise how would he explain the use on jap cars.......

They were invented for inital commodores which developed cracks around the strut towers like VB VC and VH
Haven't heard of the problems since late VK and I thinks they were fixed totally by the VL.
Wankers still buy em though

I got a whiteline strut bar off ebay. Put it on. Never noticed any difference. (VR V6) except that it occasionally hit the top of my bonnet causing slight dints in the firewall. So I took it off and steering felt the same. So no difference. And I take corners fairly hard.

wtf? i may be wrong but a strut brace has nothing to do with your engine and everything to do with the flex in your strut towers when you go around a corner. The general opinion is that they do just about nothing for a regular road driven commodore. there would be lots better things to spen your money on if you want your car to handle better.

97 SEN said:

wtf? i may be wrong but a strut brace has nothing to do with your engine and everything to do with the flex in your strut towers when you go around a corner. The general opinion is that they do just about nothing for a regular road driven commodore. there would be lots better things to spen your money on if you want your car to handle better.

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exactly right man, they reduce flex between towers. if you want your car to handle better id get it lowered first,replace the old bushes with some nice firm new ones, check your sway bars. then if you put on a strut brace also get one for the rear end towers and your car will handle like its on tracks

mmm i'm kinda undecided, got one in the VP, and it doesn't creek anywhere near as much when you pull into a driveway one wheel at a time

if its creaking when the wheels go over small bumps its probably the front sways rubbers.
Whack a kit in for about $10 - $20 bucks and a few minutes work.

It definately changes how my car feels on corners when you hit a bump ...you dont get that bump steer change.I have one on my car and I made mine and it cost nothing and try jacking up your car and see how much your cars chassis moves as you do it ...the towers only have to move a bit for it to affect your steering geometry and the effective boxing up of the suspension limits it.....so I'm one of those wankers Burna ....suppose we should go back to 4 wheel drum brakes too cause its only wankers with them too.....dumb comment .