I have sold the JIC, DC, and GReddy bars to xB and tC customers, who all liked what they bought. JIC is a great company, and even though some of their stuff is a bit expensive, it really is top quality. They are working with me on building my tC, and those guys know their stuff! For the record I had a GReddy bar in my Integra, a DC bar in my tC, a AC Schnitzer bar in my BMW, and you know what? they all worked the same. Any name brand company that makes strut bars is not going to be selling junk, so it comes down to what name you want to represent and how much you want to pay. I have the bars for a competitive price. Since I'm about to run advertising here on Scionlife, maybe the first thing I should do is a group buy for JIC, hmmmmm.

 

I have the JiC strut bar on and I must say that I always get rave reviews from everyone who sees it. :D I don;t care if it does anything or not, the dang thing looks so freaking beefy. :D I am loving it jusyt for being so beefy. :D Oh yeah and it does help out a little.

 

I'm interested in the Tanabe at this time. I have not seen it in person on an xB yet. Anyone have a picture?

If the xb version looks like this, I'd buy it. Note that the bar is adustable to pre-load the truss in tension. This makes it more dynamic in action than a passively-mounted plain, solid bar (particularly true because the mounting nuts of the strut towers are not coned

Here is a Gadwin picture of Tanabe's web page. I like what I see and read here:

 

do they make that ^ one for the xb?

 

Am not an engineer but I do have a grasp of mechanical principles.

A slender member may be made stiff by tension.

If this tension, termed "pre-load" is sufficienly great to counteract the
-maximum inward movement- of the strut towers,
then, in effect, the slender strut bar is "stiff".

It must be relatively non-elastic (stretchy/springy)

The Tanabe bar works on this principle.
None of the other bars I have seen to date
feature/posess the Tanable pre-load principle in their design.
Have I missed some other bar that does have adjustable tension?

The beautifully made JIC bar is not a pre-load bar, is it?
I don't see tension adjustments on it, either. I have only seen one
dynamically adjustable bar
and that is the Tanabe pictured in my prior posting.


here's a Gadwin screenshot of the referenced JIC bar.
Carbon fiber costs $52 extra

 

Yes. Go here

http://www.tanabe-usa.com/

under "products", then "strut tower bars", then "view applications".


-new readers see the prior page for interesting data

 

temporary blank space

I will make a semi-technical short essay about the principle of preload, and fabricated mountings for strut tower bars. Will discuss this "cracking" of bars noted in other brands on page one.

Will do this in day or two, so look back here then.

-open for ideas, comments and corrections as always-

 

miscellaneous pictures of strut bars; some are for our specific cars.
how many are adjustable for preload? Only one that I see so far: the Tanabe

Or does the Megan Racing bar adjust to pull tension? If so, it would appear to put
torque/twist on the tower assembly.


random order...google image search.... hosted by imageshack.us:

this is a pre-loadable Tanabe Sustec bar
it is my current opinion that this is the gold standard for these devices



comparisons:










this is the Megan Racing model in various colors anodyzed aluminum. It appears to be a preload model, too. But do note that tension will concentrate stress mostly on just one tower stud. I don't know if that is a bad thing but it would not be my first choice. Does anyone here have this model installed? Is it preloadable?






again, from the first page is the design philosophy of the Tanabe Sustec bars:



I suppose that the Tanabe Sustek at the very top illustrates the xB/xA model.
Here is a (blurry) enlargement of the tiny thumb right above, to illustrate how Tanabe engineering gained height where needed, using fabricated stamped steel. Note the large jam nut appears not locked in this picture. If it were, it would be jammed up against the tension bar (I think!).