Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

I have been thinking about getting an STB...but I have been getting conflicting reports of if they have any benefit on a 5th gen Camaro.

While I like the look of them...I dunno if I want to get one if it is otherwise pointless.

What is everyone's thoughts?

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

i have heard from people saying that they arent needed. pete from pedders said that. however, i think that they do serve a purpose. after having done some front end work to my car(rest of my bushings), i have come to the desicion that a strut tower brace would be beneficial on these cars. when i had the front end pretty much torn appart, i noticed how much the shock moved when the other steering and suspension components werent attatched. the top of the struts moved around quite a bit. the only thing holding the strut in from the top, is flimsy metal. after witnessing this, i could only imagine the stress the stut towers go through. it can only help. i think im going with BMR's 2 point brace. 4 point braces seem liek overkill.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

Beneficial. If you do any type of auto crossing, it's like night & day.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

I can't speak for 5th gens as I haven't really looked into their structure.

I know on 3rd gens, the better bang for the buck is the solid bearing teflon coated upper strut mounts. There's no point in putting a strut tower brace on the car if the mounts themselves are still using the soft rubber OEM mounts (which can wobble vertically and horizontally)

The STB's that hook up to the firewall offer the better bracing if you do go that route.....the down side is that if you ever hit your front quarter panel, you'll end up bending the firewall.

I'd say do it last after any other suspension mods. Besides, most STB's are ugly.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

which one are you looking at getting jason?

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

I don't think they hurt, other than more weight, but I thought that the K-members of these cars were pretty stout. Much more beneficial, first, would be good sub-frame connectors- especially the ones that are tied together in the middle. If you do that, you WILL notice an increase in stiffness.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

Yup, Pete was the one telling me they are not necessary. Then I saw it on the convertible and thought it looked pretty good.

I just wonder if it is beneficial on the 'vert, but does little to help the coupe.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

sub frame connectors are a huge improvement on these cars also. not sure if everyone elses camaro is like mine, but when i jack my car up on any 1 point, 3 wheels come off the ground. my cars pretty stiff.

Go for the sub frame bushings. That's all that's needed. I got all the Pedders bushings installed and the handles like it's on rails.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

I just realized over the weekend that the convertible shock towers are shaped differently than the coupe, so the convertible STB may not fit.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

ive seen the stb from the vert on the coupe. it was installed on a v6 but it was a coupe. and it was a 2011. i was told the vert stb wont fit the 2010.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

if im not mistaken, jason has all the bushings already done to his car.

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

No, only the Radius Bush...and a special one at that...

[autostream]http://autostream.com/camaroz28/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=1120& transactionid=1307368503-638515170&posted_by=JasonD_www.camaroz28.com&youtu be_video_id=N-kJBFDnkq0[/autostream]

:cool:

Re: Strut Tower Brace - Benefical or just eye candy?
 

pretty cool. i have a custom hand made set of pedders sway bars on my car. i was too impatient waiting for my sways, that pete had them hand make the sway bars for my car. are you concidering doing any other bushings for your car? i figured with the power your putting down, the subframe bushings would have been a must. my car got really squirrely with the stock rubber bushings. the only rubber on my car is the tires. every bushing is now Pedders!