strut brace

[kdogg_60]

what about a front strut tower brace for a 03 gt. did anyone notice an increase in stiffness? worth the purchase or no.

just looking for some more stiffness and eventually going to upgrade the suspension

 

[blacksheep-1]

IMO it does not help as much as subframe connectors

 

[03ghoststang]

it only helps when doing heavy cornering since i have a steeda one but it does help a little........but everyone has different opinions about it that is just for looks and stuff like that

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

it's nice to have, but not anything special. Get subframe connectors for stiffness

 

[Tim2002GT]

I would say it all depends on what kind of driving you do. If you are into the corner carving, then it will definately help. I'm more into the straight line driving so it wouldn't do me a whole lotta good.

 

[bdcardinal]

no difference in the corner carving dept. only needed if you have coil-overs. Don't consider anything but the MM one, due to its superior design, the way it mounts is better than other companies.

 

[BlueRuckus]

I have the Steeda STB on mine and I noticed a difference but only on tight fast turns. You'll notice the full length sub frames more.

 

[007]

Full length subs do more.

 

[kdogg_60]

full length subframe

anybody have a "how to" for the full length sub frames

 

[larrendeuce]

I noticed a huge difference when I added MM strut tower brace and 4 pt k member brace to my GT. Going up a driveway or over rough broken pavement chassis movement and noise was all improved. I drove with just those while I was waiting to add the subframe connectors.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Yes, the relatively inexpensive way to do this is to find the convertible sub frame connectors and the k-brace. Because I ran in the "stock" class this is what we had to do, however, weld ins are much better, not only are they more substantial, but they're less prone to flex becuase they are welded. It just depends on what you want to do, a "good" stock set up like I ran meant the convertible parts, like I mentioned, the biggest rear sway bar known to mankind, either a convertible or off of a mid 80's Fairmont wagon are two good places to start, Tokico non adjustable shocks from Ford performance and a cut set of springs to lower the car. Use the Steeda bump steer kit with the extended ball joints to get the roll center back up out of the pavement (that bit of info actually made a HUGE difference in handling).
http://www.steeda.com/products/x2_balljoints.php
http://www.steeda.com/products/bumpsteer_kit.php
If you don't have to conform to rules, you could substitute aftermarket parts, but this will give you a real good starting point for a street car. If there was one area that I would change, it would be to buy aftermarket springs, and don't mess with the stock front sway bar, leave it alone.

 

['13_ImpactBlue_GT]

no difference in the corner carving dept. only needed if you have coil-overs. Don't consider anything but the MM one, due to its superior design, the way it mounts is better than other companies.

It bolts to the back of the firewall instead of just the shock towers, I love mine but the SFC's are definitely worth it

 

[tomustang]

what about a front strut tower brace for a 03 gt. did anyone notice an increase in stiffness? worth the purchase or no.

It doesn't stiffen anything up.

just looking for some more stiffness and eventually going to upgrade the suspension

Read this

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=690493

 

[blacksheep-1]

A big +++ on the Watts link, for some reason ($$$) Ford tried to make the rear end components do too much work, like both locating the rear side to side and front to back. The watts linkage takes care of those ills, Steeda and others also make those similar parts, I tend to go with Steeda because they're 50-75 miles away, but there are other companies as well.
I just wish we could've run that stuff.

You know, I was thinking, you could probably fab up some upper arms with heim joints and build a panhard bar, it would do about the same thing, the Watts is still better, but it might be a low budget alternative. FWIW

There's also a "Jacobs ladder" which is lighter and cheaper, but not as strong, I've really wanted to try this, but it would have to built way heavier.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/654,754_Aluminum-Jacobs-Ladder.html



http://www.steeda.com/products/5link_2rear.php