I'm looking to order my xB this coming weekend and I'm considering choosing the Hotchkis front strut tie bar. Does anyone have experience with how much this can improve handling over stock? Is it worth the cash? Thanks!

 

Your going to pay more for it through the Dealer......If you really want one try www.scionsport.com or www.ptuning.com or www.partshippers.com they also have other Name Brands beside Hotchkis....Your Choice.

 

I wouldn't buy any of those options from the stealer. I found the hotchkis with a little eBaying for 105 shipped NEW... still in the wrapper.

 

they sure do look simple simple simple! to bolt in.

Of the few that I've seen (am a newbie) only the DC Sports model impressed me as being -capable of resisting compression as well as extension strains.


sidebar: What is the difference between the words, -stress- and -strain-?
and I mean, not some dork-engineering definition, but in the -pure and simple facts of life sense of the words in the mechanical world.

stress...strain... you tell me so I don't have to look like mr know it all (which I am NOT)

Let' have the answer come from a young blood other than from the half dozen or so old hands here, all of whom surely do know reality from wishful 'feeling'.

cheers!

(i know the difference, yas, but there is much more for me to learn, and I do learn from all of you here. All of you. Big part of the reason I talk so much is to get feedbacks by which to learn more)

 

I have the bar in question, bought the bar in question from the dealer, love the bar in question, am now thinking of putting the same bar in question on my xA as well.

It does indeed improve performance, and also, looks great while doing it.

 

Good questions:
"Stress" is the amount of force exerted per square area, like pounds per square inch.

"Strain" is the amount of stretching something does per unit of length. It is usually expressed as inches per inch, but you can think of it as a percentage.

Materials are said to be "elastic" when the strain of the part is not permanent. "Plastic deformation" occurs in something when it has been stretched beyond a certain maximum stress limit. So if you bend a piece of metal and it stays bent, the bent region has experienced plastic deformation. This is also called "yielding".

So if the tie bar is resistant to extension strains, that means it won't stretch out permanently. If it is resistant to compression, that means it won't buckle.

Incidentally, I bought the dealer bar and installed it myself. I think it makes for a more solid ride up front, but to be honest I really can't tell. Judging by the light construction of these cars, I bought it just because it will substantially strengthen the front end metalwork.

I'm a mechanical engineer by day, so I hope this wasn't too much of a dork-engineering explanation....

 

hahah... so you're a trained pro!

blzzzzzt! disqualified by being overqualified! (I joke)

I would like to make it really simple for we lay people
and -anyone may correct me- but do keep it simple simple
simple!

Stress is the pressure or force
Strain is the ]yielding; the movement caused by that force

Stress, in theory, shall not strain a perfectly rigid object
Ah, but - no object or form- is perfectly, absolutely rigid. none!

some of the strut bars look to be fine in extension, but relatively
floppadoodle in compression.

((is my take and simplified wordings))



but i don't -think- any of this is such a big deal... I -think- that Toyota made it 'good enough' and so, we gild the lilly for a relatively small improvement. Subjective opinions from either side do not hold scientific water: we feel/see/taste/etc what we want to experience. Science and engineering can be cold, but then again:

-figures never lie-

 

moved...