# Upper Strut bar



## tsblu22 (Aug 8, 2013)

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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

I believe there is another upper front bar for our car, however its a tower brace made by a no-name brand that requires you to drill holes into your tower to bolt it on. As for the Ultra Racing bar, it fits all Cruzes regardless of engine(which only dictates the engine, not the body style as every Cruze has the same base frame), and I have personally had one installed on my LS for over a year now. I will say that there is a difference, but if you really want to feel a change, get the rear tower brace instead. Being FWD our cars naturally have a tight front with a loose rear end, and so bracing the rear helps much more when starting bracing mods.


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## Danny5 (Dec 22, 2011)

I stumbled upon the rear brace the other day, and felt it was a smoke and mirrors mod. The rear spring cup, where the force of the suspension would act upon the body of the car, is nowhere near where that brace mounts. 

While I have no doubt it would add rigidity to the structure as a whole, it would do almost nothing for the suspension. Please prove me wrong!


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

Danny5 said:


> I stumbled upon the rear brace the other day, and felt it was a smoke and mirrors mod. The rear spring cup, where the force of the suspension would act upon the body of the car, is nowhere near where that brace mounts.
> 
> While I have no doubt it would add rigidity to the structure as a whole, it would do almost nothing for the suspension. Please prove me wrong!


It doesn't have to do anything for the suspension itself in terms of the struts/springs, what it does is strengthen the chassis, which is ust as good, if not better. After all, when the springs are compressed it then exerts energy on the chassis, making it flex(on non braced cars) meaning you get soft handling. But when you strengthen/brace the chassis, it doesn't flex(as much), and therefore the force is contained, and you have a much tighter feel in the corner.

This explains why sway bars do so much, because the suspension travel dictates how much body roll your car has, and the sway bars connect the bottom of your A arms, which transfer force evenly across both sides of the suspension, and limits the amount of compression of the springs now that the force is being put on both sides, instead of one.

In short, suspension mods minimize body roll/how the chassis takes the force of a corner, and chassis mods minimizes flex by distributing the force applied.


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