Installed the rear strut bar today. Took about an hour and a half (but I'm a little slow). Purchased from Corsport. (Some of the pics are boring, sorry!)

The black wire in the center is for underglow, the rest on the right are for stereo components.

Have not test driven yet.

First a few notes:

Fitment was just fine, but drilling out the one hole on the left side was NOT easy. I burned a drill bit using the size they recommend, and ended up using a smaller bit and just working it around until the hold would accept the bolt supplied.

I used a steak knife to cut the foam to fit -- not too hard (you can tell I got tired and less careful on the right side).

 

nice!

 

sweet... i wonder if it actually does anything?

 

Honestly, there is solid metal all across the trunk area, so doubt it's going to do anything dramatic. Kept me out of trouble for a couple of hours, tho!

Next is a C-pillar brace, that should help stiffen the upper area.

 

nice job, garm!

 

strut bars like the greddy and the mmw one DO work. If you can't feel it working, you've just never pushed the car hard enough to notice. This would require the car to be pushed to its limits before and after the install. And yes, the c-pillar bar will stiffen up the upper area in the back a lot. The tC has loads of body flex. Park slanted on a driveway and look at the gap difference on each side of the hatch.

Props on a clean install and getting the foam pieces back in tho.

 

Good work Garm! I like the leftovers pic haha.

 

I see this not working in the 08-09 tC and rs 3.0 without removing the specker and amp from back there. Looks good.

 

I love mine!
I left my Styrofoam cubbyholes out tho.

 

I too have noticed the chassis flex. Especially within the last 5k miles. I have 20K on the odo right now. lots of percieved flex over speed bumbs or mid-turn road bumbs. My Moonroof has also started to make noises within the last couple weeks.

My Saturn that I used to race had a very stiff chassis and didn't flex or make noises like my tC does. So I never had a need to reinforce the structure.

I have only recently started looking at braces and strut bars for the tC, mainly on Dezod's site. What would you recommend as the best most economical, yet worth while parts? I noticed that someone mentioned a c-pillar brace, something I haven't come accross yet. Could you recommend a manufacturer?

Some extra info: My tC doesn't get raced(yet) and I'm generally nice to it, however I do take it to the mountains occasionally and I tend to take corners around town quicker than your average driver. Tires right now are stock but may soon be Yok Prada S or Potenza RE070's.

Thanks.

 

when I installed my brace in the rear allot of the creaking noises in the back went away....that alone was worth the buy. I think we can all agree that a rear brace will do much more for you than a cpillar bar, or strut bar will ever do. my 2cents.