Thank you for the responses, I should have clarified. Does it help prevent flex in the chassis in the same way a strut tower brace or lower tie bar would in a heavy load situation IE: roadcourse?

Matt J

 

There is no conclusive evidence, but all indications point to no. If they had any performance benefit, they would be running them in Jap and Euro models.

I removed mine and it's definitely not handling any worse.

 

How hard is it to remove the front and rear bumper supports? Any cutting required or it is just bolted on? I don't have an Evo yet but I would be very interested in removing them when I do get an Evo.

 

They're just bolted on...sort of a Band-Aid fix for the American market.

 

When you removed it what did you do about the two screws that were attached from the front bumper. Did you make a bracket for them or just leave them off?

 

i got in a small accident and it saved my lights and intercooler! if its not their your whole bumper will crush along with your lights and everything else... if you get in an accident and someone gets hurt and those supports arent their your insurance company might not cover it either, think about that all for a couple pounds!

 

My advice for weight reduction(#s are est., but very close)

mini battery -20lbs
lightweight exhaust(ie greddy titan., bushur) -20-30lbs
rotors(rotara rotors weigh a total of 15 lbs lighter that stock)
lightweight rims/ rim bolts -10-15+lbs
spare tire/jack -40lbs
intake(plastic heavier than alumin.) -3-5lbs
i/c piping -2-5lbs

this is prob. a few things that could be done on a list of many

 

Left them out. There seem to be plenty of bolts holding the front bumper on there as it is.

That crash bar is also blocking some of the air flow to the FMIC through those 2 little slits above main opening.

 

I have to admit that when I removed my rear bumper cover to take care of the rust problem (search and you will find out), I was amazed that the crash bar was kind of "hung" on the unibody. Definately an after thought.