LeAn_Tc

my Tc has on a s tech Tein springs on..n im thinkin about gettin strut bars for da front..wat do u guys i think i should do..need help thanx..should i get one for da rear as well?

deflaytedwayz1

i think you should SEARCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i hope you mean SWAY bars

ballnxb08

i have a front and rear greddy strut bars but the first thing i would get if i were you would be a rear sway bar you will find a huge difference out of that

LeAn_Tc

oh ok thanx man..if i get da rear sway bars n im about 2 get it pretty soon..should i still get struts..wat does those do? cuz a lot of people say dat those r only for show

deflaytedwayz1

They reduce flex in cars that don't have their struts so close to the firewall. Since ours are so close they don't do much other than look pretty. Don't get me wrong, i'm not against them as I will be getting one down the road for under hood points at a show but for function get some sways. Hotchkis has a package with both front and rear and trdsparks.com sells it for a good price.

MoScion

I had the TRD front strut tie bar. It didn't do a thing for me and dirve my car hard. I ended up giving it away. IMO it is worthless. The tC is well balanced as it is and corners great especially when it is lowered.

ballnxb08

yeah the struts dont do much but i just got them because it was a good price for both the front and rear. i'm looking to upgrade my rear sway with the Hotchkis and getting the front one too.

deflaytedwayz1

now that you'll notice!

Joe_Dezod

Sway bars make the largest difference, aside from coilovers.

Strut bars, as mentions above reduce flex. I've had some benefit to having upper strut bars. There is a VERY small amount of flex in the car, but you really have to know what to feel for if you want a difference.

I would get the strut bar that matches the theme you're going for in the engine bay, rather than the one that has "best features". I had the Hotchkis bar up top, Ingalls rear brace, Progress rear sway (on race setting) and H&R coilovers. The car was on rails and had a very predictable ride characteristic.

ippskidder

I installed the MMW rear tower brace/bar whatever you want to call it and it did wonders. I can turn with more confidence!!!!

I'll be installing coilovers and the rear sway bars in 2-3 weeks, woot!

Other than that, I installed the dc sport front strut after the rear brace, and didn't really notice a difference. I should have gotten the hotchkis front strut or the greddy, they look a lot better.

senseiturtle

Strut bar in the front - Might get you show points. No handling benefit.

Strut bar in the rear - (Some, but difficult to measure) handling benefit.

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To make it very short, rear drive cars get a handling benefit from front strut bars, as it increases rear grip relative to front grip. Reduces sharp oversteer, by pushing the balance more towards understeer. Since we understeer naturally (and don't over), then theoretically this would make the problem worse... but in the real world, we don't see much of a change.

I started writing a big dissertation why, but I figure it's better if I leave that out. PM me if you're curious or have specific questions.

ippskidder

I think the rear tower bar, actually made quite a big difference. Although it is relative. I can turn much faster, and the car doesn't feel like its going to tip over as much as it did before. Probably not a huge difference compared to a rear sway bar, but definitely made a noticeable change, that I wouldn't call small, lol.

LeAn_Tc

oh ok..so for sure imma get da rear sway bars since everyone keeps sayin that it really helps on turnin or takin hard corners..dat was wat i was lookin for..now i juss gotta see wat kind to get dat i can afford..lol

ippskidder

you have a couple of options on the rear sways.
Progress, Hotchkis, TRD, a few others.

I believe.... Hotchkis is cool because it has 2 or 3 settings for the rear. The front also has 2 or 3 settings. The others i'm not so sure if they are adjustable.

If you get hotchkis it comes with Front and Rear sways. Only way to install the front, is to remove the transmission or the crossmember, something like that, its complicated, lol.

So you should probably only get the rear, unless your gonna do autocross or something, then get both. Most people only get the rear.

Progress and TRD, make rear sway bars, no fronts.

hotchkis>TRD rear sway, because it is much thicker. Not sure about any others.

I hope this helps.