I think i installed everything correctly. i tighten up everything.. so its should be good. But. if i put two fingers on the top of the strut bar. and put some force on it.. the strut bar is actually BENDING!!!!!!!!

bending strut bar? i had an ebay strut bar before... it was ugly but it was massive!

and now this? if i can bend it with my force... then its going to bend more when im driving hard, right? so its a useless handling upgrade or what?

http://rapidshare.com/files/19936207...megan.WMV.html

 

just went outside to check my hotchkis strut it bends a lil but not too much. hope its normal.

 

if its only a single bar yeah it should bend a bit.

 

so yours is bends just like mine? what i had it was so solid/massive.. no bend at all.

 

what do you mean single bar?

 

the stress in the bar will be due to tension, your bending it has nothing to do with the tension capacity of the bar...

but that's just my 2 cents

 

it's a strut bar, it's connecting 2 practically solid boxes of steel the front struts go into that is directly connected to the steel firewall

what it does in the first place in negligible, and the fact that it can be bent up/down doesn't correlate to the job it's supposed to do with side-to-side rigidity.

BTW, I watched your video in your OTHER thread where you asked the same question, no real reason to make a separate thread about it as well.

 

yeah i know.. sorry.. but u know... no ones gonna check that topic just only those who has the megan strut bar.. thats why i made this topic so maybe everyone is gonna come in to see: whatta heck? if u know what i mean...

 

I just bought the megan strut bar but haven't installed it yet. I'm a little worried now.

 

and btw.. if u take a toothpicks.. and push it from both sides the toothpicks is gonna bend.. so if i can bend the strut bar with your own hand, then when i drive it hard and the cars frame is bending because of the force or whatever.. then the strut bar is gonna bend too.. because its not stiff/massive. no? i mean. what i had.. the strut bar.. that was one of a massive strut.
im not a genius im not sure.. just.. this is what i think.

i think this is obvious.

 

here... i made an example:
(click on the little picture

 

but .. like jrac said: hotchkis bending too.. so its maybe normal and only i had some really massive ebay cheapsh*it strut bar.
but i dont think so i'll feel any big-uber difference with a softer strut bar

 

what you're worrying about is compressive strength not tensile strength... in that location you do not need a compressive force to prevent body roll, that is what the sway bar is for. The strut tower brace is meant to brace (tensile force!) the towers together.

Understand?

 

Thank you, I was trying to say the same thing but couldn't pull the words for the physics together

and I'll say it again, and in more plain words this time - a strut bar does nothing but look good on the TC. Period. If it looks good, it's done it's job.

 

I say if you are worried about the bending, then just put your old one back on.

The strut tower bar is not meant to do a whole lot on handling..... the tc's design is well built off the lot. The strut tower bar is just there for that additional support.

It would take a whole lot of force to actually force the tc's frame to start bending. This is due to the fact that the tower is built into the fire wall....

 

believe me. that was a one of an ugly strut bar!

i think it was handmade by a guy who just welded a few metal piece together! but i dont want to buy another srut bar. this one looks GOOD, i like it.

 

i do not agree with that statement, the tC's overall design is horrible when it comes down to suspension.

 

the only thing good about the stock suspension is its potential to upgrade.

 

defiantely, with a couple of bolt ons your ready to go and pull .9-1g's, not too hard, and not to shabby for a 17k econo car.

 

Based on what? It's not that I disagree; I just want to know what you don't like about the tC's suspension.

But as far as the struts are concerned, the strut towers are for one, built into the firewall, and two, benefit from support from the A pillars which are one of the stiffest parts of the car. Any benefits from the strut tie bar will be minimal and if you're not already upgraded up the wazoo, probably won't make any discernible difference to someone who doesn't know.