# REAR STRUT BAR build



## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

hificruzer226 said:


> If you want better handling than I would suggest a slight drop and heavier duty set of rear springs only.


The other day I was looking at the stance of my cruze without my spare tire, the rear is quite a bit higher than the front(and even higher than with the spare installed). I wondered about options for lowering the rear only, sure enough found a ton of posts online where people installed just the rear lowering springs on a car. 

Some(including myself) worried about the handling being effected with unmatched spring rates front/rear but most that have done this said their cars were fine. I also thought the stiffer rear springs could help with significantly with body roll, sure I can feel the whole car roll into a corner, but when I initially turn in I can feel most of the roll originates in the rear end. 

You might be correct the cruze rear strut bar is more of a body stiffener, however because the struts are mounted in the crumple zone of the rear it does make a pretty significant improvement in the car as the metal in this area is quite thin and flexes readily.


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

I didnt mean to install the rear springs only for ride height , I meant it to help bring the rear around to help counter act the understeer. But if enough people want it I will make them.


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## CHEVYCRUZE RS (Mar 29, 2011)

the rear strut should help with body roll. even on my coilovers without a strut you still feel a bit of play but much more improved then stock springs. even when I had the pedders lowering springs....still a lot of sway. im looking into the rear strut for my cruze to go a long with the coilovers. a lower center of gravity will for sure get rid of most of the body roll.


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## Gnfanatic (Oct 2, 2013)

Yeah but what about the rear sway bar??


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Gnfanatic said:


> Yeah but what about the rear sway bar??



If your asking if it does any good, yes it does. However if you have a z-link it has less effect since the z-link pretty much does the same thing.


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

CHEVYCRUZE RS said:


> the rear strut should help with body roll. even on my coilovers without a strut you still feel a bit of play but much more improved then stock springs. even when I had the pedders lowering springs....still a lot of sway. im looking into the rear strut for my cruze to go a long with the coilovers. a lower center of gravity will for sure get rid of most of the body roll.


So please vote on the poll. This is a market study to determine if there is enough interest for me to invest so please vote


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

35 views and one vote thats odd


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

hificruzer226 said:


> 35 views and one vote thats odd


You'll probably get 4x as many views as votes. Most would have an easier time voting if they could see a finished product or an example of your build quality.


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

spacedout said:


> You'll probably get 4x as many views as votes. Most would have an easier time voting if they could see a finished product or an example of your build quality.


Well I am trying to see if people really want them even though you cant call them a strut bar but more so a body stiffener. As far as a pic of build quality, have you seen the pic of ultra racings? You can't see anything really.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

How are you guys driving to have a problem with body roll in a Cruze? My diesel doesn't have a watts linkage on the back and still feels quite flat in push on driving. I used to race a RWD car and when it was lowered all around it pushed quite badly, after raising the rear and stiffening the springs this was cured. As FWD naturally pushes I would hesitate to lower the rear only. Fitting matching front and rear sway bars and a LSD made an amazing difference to the handling without killing the ride.

By the way, make the car too stiff and wet road driving can get really interesting.


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

First off, it is obviously not a STRUT bar, and it never has been, so stop calling it that. Its a rear upper TOWER brace.

Now, in terms of its actual impact on handling, yes it DOES do a lot, and I'll explain why. First off you have your chassis, and then you have your suspension. Your suspension takes the initial impact/grunt of the force when you corner, hit a bump, etc.; however it is your chassis that is one of the most important things when it comes to actually handling the corner. You can make your suspension as stiff as possible, and put world class coilovers on a stock cruze, but you will flex so much that you will only gain some handling.

You need a strong chassis as a basis for a good suspension in order to get the full potential out of your car. Don't believe me? Then explain why on my car stock the rear tower brace allowed me to go an extra 5mph around a corner before my rear tires broke loose and kicked my car's butt out by a foot.


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

Smurfenstein said:


> First off, it is obviously not a STRUT bar, and it never has been, so stop calling it that. Its a rear upper TOWER brace.


Whoa! Take a chill pill smurf. The problem is that is not a true tower... (ie strut tower). Picking 5 mph on a corner has a ton of variables like the line you took and how you approached the apex. Still the point of this is not to tell you that you wasted money its to see how many people would buy them if I made them for less than a Chinese importer. I would do 2 different models one with round stock and another adjustable via turnbuckle which would be a little more for obvious reasons.

So if you disagree with me than you would select I wanna buy right now. This is not a debate just my personal view. There was a thread that talked about it and I said I would look at building and selling one for less than ultra racing and a few people were excited about it. So now I put my opinion on it and want to see if people still want it as a body stiffener.


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

hificruzer226 said:


> Whoa! Take a chill pill smurf. The problem is that is not a true tower... (ie strut tower). Picking 5 mph on a corner has a ton of variables like the line you took and how you approached the apex. Still the point of this is not to tell you that you wasted money its to see how many people would buy them if I made them for less than a Chinese importer. I would do 2 different models one with round stock and another adjustable via turnbuckle which would be a little more for obvious reasons.
> 
> So if you disagree with me than you would select I wanna buy right now. This is not a debate just my personal view. There was a thread that talked about it and I said I would look at building and selling one for less than ultra racing and a few people were excited about it. So now I put my opinion on it and want to see if people still want it as a body stiffener.


I'm just fed up with the whole stab at this bar being useless, when its not. I know all about approach/apex/enter speed/throttle play and on a corner with repeated results, the rear tower brace nets a 5+mph gain.

And if you do in fact plan on manufacturing your own bar, please know that you would be in conflict with the sites current vendors, and would have to purchase a vendor account/badge in order to sell on this forum.


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

So we will just chalk it up to a choice of words ( terms ) and from this point forwards consider the object as a rear upper Tower Brace ... Smurf Be cool !
To answer this in a word , No I would Not be interested in a purchase from you at this time . Not really on me short list of investments sorry .

Smurf did you take out yer back seats = + 5 mph faster . 2 - 18 in. Subs - 3 mph .


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

Smurfenstein said:


> I'm just fed up with the whole stab at this bar being useless, when its not. I know all about approach/apex/enter speed/throttle play and on a corner with repeated results, the rear tower brace nets a 5+mph gain.
> 
> And if you do in fact plan on manufacturing your own bar, please know that you would be in conflict with the sites current vendors, and would have to purchase a vendor account/badge in order to sell on this forum.


Its clear that you are sensitive about it but you dont need to get up in arms about it. Is ultra racing a current vendor? If people want it than Ill build it, if not than I wont. As a moderator you should be a little more receptive to a possible new vendor since a monetary contribution must be made... just saying. I am not attacking you but it sounds like you may be towards me.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Smurfenstein said:


> First off, it is obviously not a STRUT bar, and it never has been, so stop calling it that. Its a rear upper TOWER brace.


Both those things mean the same thing. I have heard the upper strut tower brace referred to as a strut bar many many times. I agree with you though this definitely will make an improvement in the Cruze. 

I'm surprised there has not been more interest yet, cheaper and american made? sounds like a much better buy than the only other alternative.


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

hificruzer226 said:


> Its clear that you are sensitive about it but you dont need to get up in arms about it. Is ultra racing a current vendor? If people want it than Ill build it, if not than I wont. As a moderator you should be a little more receptive to a possible new vendor since a monetary contribution must be made... just saying. I am not attacking you but it sounds like you may be towards me.


I'm not sensitive about the bar, its just a piece of metal. When I made my initial post I wasn't trying to yell through text, I was simply pointing out the proper term as its more of a tower brace than a strut brace. Maybe I'm technical since it does not in fact attach to the strut even partially like the front one does, but to me its a tower/chassis brace.

Ultra Racing is not a vendor on this forum, however companies that sell similar parts like BNR which sells sway bars from Whiteline can be seen as a competition. Not to mention that selling anything on this site that is made by you or a non paying (vendor) company is against forum rules & policy.

I'm not trying to shoot your idea down, I'm simply stating that your whole point of view of this brace being worthless is flawed. Not to mention that if I'm buying a performance part for my car, I'd rather not buy it from someone who tells me its useless. After all, if it is indeed useless, why are you wasting your time manufacturing it? And to the point, how can you possible convince me to buy your product if you yourself have doubts in its sole purpose?

As far as being personal, I have no vendetta against you, I'm simply replying to the given information, and if I came off as harsh or offended you I apologize.



spacedout said:


> Both those things mean the same thing. I have heard the upper strut tower brace referred to as a strut bar many many times. I agree with you though this definitely will make an improvement in the Cruze.
> 
> I'm surprised there has not been more interest yet, cheaper and american made? sounds like a much better buy than the only other alternative.


It does make an improvement, much more so than the front upper strut brace due to the FWD nature of our car.

Ultra Racing might be Chinese made, but that by itself should not reflect on its quality. Not to mention that when it comes to car modification, unless you're a skilled fabricator, cheap usually means poorer quality, regardless of the manufacturers location.


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## CHEVYCRUZE RS (Mar 29, 2011)

just wanna let you know smurf...no matter what.....i got you brother!!!!! lol


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

Smurfenstein said:


> Ultra Racing might be Chinese made, but that by itself should not reflect on its quality. Not to mention that when it comes to car modification, unless you're a skilled fabricator, cheap usually means poorer quality, regardless of the manufacturers location.


I didnt say it was poorly made, there was an interest from a past thread so I left my opinion. I have a full machine shop at my disposal and members said they would rather buy from a cruzer than an importer. So I am just trying to find interest or no interest. This is not a thread to discuss the benefits or lack there of, for a "tower brace". It was my opinion and if you believe in it than great. I am not saying you are wrong I am stating that I disagree. Its the same thing as different SCCA guys setting the same car up differently, based on opinion of what makes their car behave the way they want.


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

The difference in cost is because I am not shipping it across seas. I am not allowing a importer to take on profit margins I would be factory direct, IF I decided to build them for the people that want to support a cruzetalk member especially if its cheaper and at the same build quality or higher.


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## nike12000 (Sep 13, 2013)

What kinda cost you looking at 80-90 or 40-50 I would be interested but cost will be the big factor

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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Smurfenstein said:


> Ultra Racing might be Chinese made, but that by itself should not reflect on its quality. Not to mention that when it comes to car modification, unless you're a skilled fabricator, cheap usually means poorer quality, regardless of the manufacturers location.


China has never been known for quality products, especially when it comes to steel. You ever use a cheap tool and break it? I certainly have, that just shows how inferior their metals can be. You should see the difference in a knife blade made in america vs one of the many blades made there, seen many Chinese blade snap in half. 

That is not to say the UltraRacing bar is inferior, its probably made very well and I would hope of quality metal. I for one welcome more options for parts, especially if a cruzetalk user can make a similar product that cost less. 

I worked for years in a metal shop, making a rear stut brace is not rocket science. Obviously no one would be interested in a poorly built, crappy looking bar which is why I suggested the OP show some example of how this would look. I realize his post was just to gauge interest, but really he would need to show some photos of the part he made for his cruze before most would even consider it.


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

spacedout said:


> China has never been known for quality products, especially when it comes to steel. You ever use a cheap tool and break it? I certainly have, that just shows how inferior their metals can be. You should see the difference in a knife blade made in america vs one of the many blades made there, seen many Chinese blade snap in half.
> 
> That is not to say the UltraRacing bar is inferior, its probably made very well and I would hope of quality metal. I for one welcome more options for parts, especially if a cruzetalk user can make a similar product that cost less.
> 
> I worked for years in a metal shop, making a rear stut brace is not rocket science. Obviously no one would be interested in a poorly built, crappy looking bar which is why I suggested the OP show some example of how this would look. I realize his post was just to gauge interest, but really he would need to show some photos of the part he made for his cruze before most would even consider it.


That might be true, but you cant really compare tools or knife blades to a ~40" tubular bar as they are nowhere near the same thing as when making knife blades or tools they're usually tempered and/or chemically treated metals to function properly, where the main strength of the object comes from.

Not to mention that Ultra Racing as a company is a very well known brand in terms of chassis braces in the JDM world (China, Korea, Japan, etc.) just like Volk wheels. They're not a knock off brand, and have been known for quality.

As for actually making a strut brace, I agree its not rocket science, but when welds are involved you can get ugly welds, or ones that eventually crack after use. I mean if ZZP had a problem with the weld connecting the V-clamp ring perch to the downpipe pipe, one can come to question even known brands, let alone a machine shop I don't know.

Not to say that hificruzer's shop has bad quality, I'm just making sure I ask questions. I will say I agree that if a prototype was already made it would be better to gauge interested.


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## AlcoholicPolak (Dec 28, 2013)

I'm all for saving money and supporting "local"... If you could make a quality part that rivals UR's bars, I would buy immediately. I'd also be interested in a front STB and rear sway.

Handling was my main focus on my Cobalt and it will be the main focus on the Cruze as well.


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

AlcoholicPolak said:


> I'm all for saving money and supporting "local"... If you could make a quality part that rivals UR's bars, I would buy immediately. I'd also be interested in a front STB and rear sway.
> 
> Handling was my main focus on my Cobalt and it will be the main focus on the Cruze as well.


Rear sway would be harder to make as it involves bending tubing, and proper mounting bushings/etc.

Not to mention that if anyone fabricated one to sell here on CT, it would be in direct conflict with the Whiteline bars offered by BNR.

It would be nice to see however.


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## AlcoholicPolak (Dec 28, 2013)

Is there a no compete clause for vendors or something?

Also, this is why I would like to get John Powell involved in the Cruze market...he's VERY well known in the Cobalt world along with the Corvette world and racing. But I think he's still got a lot left to over the Cobalt crowd so he probably couldn't afford the time needed to start on yet another car.


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

I can bend up 3inch pipe which would be funny for a sway bar on a cruze


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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

Not sure that it matters - however the UR bars are a product of Malaysia. They do appear to be of high quality. The shop that has installed two of the chassis brace bars for me has not complained of the quality. The only issue was lack of installation instructions.


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

I havent seen much on the install of their bar. The pictures I have seen are not that informative as far as fastening. Anyone care to chime in on their experience?


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

AlcoholicPolak said:


> Is there a no compete clause for vendors or something?
> 
> Also, this is why I would like to get John Powell involved in the Cruze market...he's VERY well known in the Cobalt world along with the Corvette world and racing. But I think he's still got a lot left to over the Cobalt crowd so he probably couldn't afford the time needed to start on yet another car.


There is no "no compete" clause, and I never implicated that. What I said was if he chooses to make a competing product, he has to buy a vendor account in order to sell his product.



blk88verde said:


> Not sure that it matters - however the UR bars are a product of Malaysia. They do appear to be of high quality. The shop that has installed two of the chassis brace bars for me has not complained of the quality. The only issue was lack of installation instructions.


It was a PITA for the rear tower. Tie fishing line around the nut so you don't loose it putting through a square cut in the tower above the mounting hole. Then fiddle with it until it sticks through and put the bar, washer, then nut on and tighten. Theres a youtube video explaining the install.



hificruzer226 said:


> I can bend up 3inch pipe which would be funny for a sway bar on a cruze.


Do it.... lol that would be nuts.


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## CHEVYCRUZE RS (Mar 29, 2011)

After a hard day at work.....i gotta say....cruzetalk always makes me laugh


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## AlcoholicPolak (Dec 28, 2013)

Smurfenstein said:


> There is no "no compete" clause, and I never implicated that. What I said was if he chooses to make a competing product, he has to buy a vendor account in order to sell his product.


The part that confused me was this: "Not to mention that if anyone fabricated one to sell here on CT, it would be in direct conflict with the Whiteline bars offered by BNR."

You made it sound like it isn't allowed by saying in conflict. Personally I'd take the UR bars over BNR's any day. I get the whole vendor thing, but your comment didn't sound like that to me.


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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

A bit of a thread revival. Purchased a front strut bar made by ultra racing but it's being shipped from Malaysia. Are they made in china or Malaysia? Just curious since this was brought up earlier in the thread.


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## hificruzer226 (Mar 27, 2013)

iTz SADISTIK said:


> A bit of a thread revival. Purchased a front strut bar made by ultra racing but it's being shipped from Malaysia. Are they made in china or Malaysia? Just curious since this was brought up earlier in the thread.


I would assume Malaysia. I decided not to make them because as you can see it wasnt well received here. I was thinking about making a quick install kit for their bars since their system is stupid for mounting the rear bar.


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## rayray718 (Oct 14, 2013)

iTz SADISTIK said:


> A bit of a thread revival. Purchased a front strut bar made by ultra racing but it's being shipped from Malaysia. Are they made in china or Malaysia? Just curious since this was brought up earlier in the thread.


Which bar did you buy? All I see are ones made for the 1.6L, 1.8L and the 2.0.

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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Was there a difference in body besides Sedan Hatch and Estate/Wagon if we go globally for these bars?


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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

rayray718 said:


> Which bar did you buy? All I see are ones made for the 1.6L, 1.8L and the 2.0.
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App











This one. I messaged the seller and she said it would fit and it did


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## Mo Cruze (Aug 29, 2014)

iTz SADISTIK said:


> View attachment 93905
> 
> 
> This one. I messaged the seller and she said it would fit and it did
> ...



Did you notice a nice difference since you installed?? Was it worth it? How does it feel now? When i put a front bar on my civic it was amazing how well it took turns and off ramps. Sounds like on here eveyrone saying it didnt do much or makes there ride rougher makes me have doubts..


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