Hey Folks,
A friend just gave me a Greddy front strut tower bar - looks pretty simple, but it didn't come with any hardware (but the bar) or any instructions. I know it basically just bolts from one tower to the other, but does anyone have this part? Did it come with any hardware like longer bolts or anything? Please let me know as I'd really prefer my car not to fall apart after I throw this in! Any tips? I searched around and I know some people have it, but nobody has install notes.

 

try the red search button.
then go to trdsparks.com and look up their install for their strut bar install and follow the directions accordingly

 

take the nuts off the strut bolts, put the bar in place, screw the nuts back on. done.

some people say to jack the car up and to torque it to spec, though its really not needed. tighten the nuts so it wont fall off though, haha.

this is probably the easiest mod... besides changing a wheel

 

From the trdsparks.com page install instructions for the TRD bar (which I guess is the hotchkiss bar) it has you take off the wipers and the cowl underneath them - which actually makes it more complicated. I'll look and see if I need to do that. Lastly, the Greddy bar I have is the kind with pivots - I assume that you leave it loose for install and then tighten the pivots? Or do those stay loose after install? Really wish I had the rest of the packaging ;)

 

you need to take the wiper and windshield cowl off to get to the bolts. its cake dude.

and as for the hinged bar (which is IMO retarded to have a strut bar... or any bar that is made to "stiffen" something on a hinge), you can leave it loose, install both sides, then put the bar in place and tighten it.

 

Thanks BreakAway - It doesn't look too elaborate, but anything where you're pulling out the bolts holding the suspension and throwing in extra hardware without the manual it came with makes me a little cautious ;) I'll let you guys know how it goes.

 

keep the car on the ground when you do the install, and on a flat surface. the bolts that you are going to be taking off is what connects the top of the strut to your car. but you should only be removing 2 of the three bolts, so your fine w/o worries.

and yes.. its very straight forward, 30 min install (just cause i hate removing the cowl... its not hard, just annoying to me)

 

I hear you - I hate removing any trim and things with little clips. Luckily I have a flat garage so it hopefully won't be too hard to get the work done. I have the greddy bar though, and it's got 3 holes in it, so I think I'll be removing all 3 bolts! I'll be sure not to pull 'em off and then try driving it anywhere ;)

 

yup. ur good. simple install. it will look good, but wont really provide any improvements IMO.

 

This is why I went with the DC Sports bar. Welded solid with no bolts/hinges of any sort. Seems to make more sense.

Then again, if a friend gave me a strut bar, I probably wouldn't care what kind it was... and neither would eBay.

 

Yeah - if it was retail boxed that would be one thing, but I don't have one on my car and it's got a nice clean look even if it will only provide minimal functionality. Greddy wouldn't make them this way if they were useless, you know? Anyway, I think I'll give it a shot, see what I can do.

 

Ya, might as well. And they do look nice. And it really is a pretty easy install.

Only trouble spot I ran into was on the driver's side strut tower - one of the nuts is kinda hard to get off b/c even after you take off the wiper cowl and stuff, there is a piece of metal that overhangs a bit over one of the studs. I just took some pliers and bent it up a ways to slide the bolt off - then bent it back down after it was installed.

That is actually something that I think the TRD instructions recommend jacking the car a little so that the strut falls down a little bit allowing you to get the nut off without bending anything. But it's not totally necessary if you don't mind bending a tiny bit of metal.

 

Ah - good to know either way. I'd probably jack it up before I bent something, but we'll see how big a piece of metal we're talking about! I always feel better about knowing what to expect going in though. Once this thing is apart I don't want any surprises.

 

not true... this bar does 2nd to nothing, but looks good. and that goes with all strut bars for the tC, not just greddys. the strut tower is EXTREMELY close to the firewall, and no bars on the market for the tC connect the strut towers, and the firewall, so it wont "stiffen" much. now if it did connect to the firewall, you would probably feel a differance when you go over something at an angle. but again.. they look good =]