Can someone please tell me why the car has to be jacked up for strut bar installation? I had my friend install mine. He was a Volkswagen mechanic. I told him that i heard you were supposd to jack up the car before install. He didn't agree with me. So he installed it without jacking the car up. Can somebody explain to me why this needs to be done? and perhaps what happens if you dont do it? Thanx all

 

When the car is sitting on the wheels, the strut towers naturally fall inward a little bit. Jacking the car up takes the load off the strut towers, so when you attach the strut tower brace it isn't "pre-loaded". I doubt you would notice much of a difference installing it jacked up vs. not jacked up, but the right way to do it is with the car jacked up.

 

If you jack it up, there is no stress on the strut towers. So when it's installed and adjusted properly, it is most beneficial.

 

yeah i also remember reading somewhere that the car was supposed to be jacked up to take the load off of the struts when doing the strut bar install. however, the hotchkiss bar instructions didn't mention it, so i decided to not jack up the car...