My car came with stock 3 point strut bar at the front from new.
I plan on getting Ohlins DFV and sway bars (front & rear)

Would you benefit much from installing the followings if above are bought and installed properly?

- Lower arm brace (front, center & rear or some combination piece)
- Trunk bar

These aren't expensive but they aren't free, and they will add weight, although barely. I heard they are great improvements if installed on stock cars but what if you have decent coilovers and swaybars? Bling factors and theoretical benefits don't really interest me, I'd love to hear from people who got the pieces after they got their coilovers and/or swaybars.

Thanks.

 

Well, installing stiffer suspension is only going to make the chassis want to flex more than a car with stock spring rates and sways so.....draw your own conclusion

 

All braces/bars (if properly made) will help. It is just a question of how much they help and are they worth it to you. If you are street driving the car, braces are more for bling since the improvement is mostly going to be felt at the track.

In the front, the car already comes with a good upper strut bar and two lower bars. Not much improvement can be made in the upper bar and good upper bars cost bucks (althought I have one so who am I too talk). The two lower bars can be improved on by buying a well engineered under brace (weight added minimal).

In the rear there are no braces/bars (except on the RS) so a rear strut bar can make an improvement and the trunk brace might add a little stiffness (assume it does since Mitsu added it to the RS).

There are other braces out there (fender, trunk cage, other under braces) with each one giving you a little more stiffness. Gain for the dollar (except the rear strut brace), there are probably better ways to spend a limited budget, such as tires.

Just my 2 cents.

 

From what I've seen over the past few years, the only piece (you asked about) that will help decrease lap time, is the rear sway bar. (coilovers done correctly as well, obviously)

Changing the front sway is an incredible PITA! And, tends to change the handling balance of the car in a dirrection that makes the car slower (provided it's not falling over on itself due to having springs that are too soft etc).

Any money you might spend on braces for an evo, is better spent on just about anything else.

Do look into changing you rear trailing arm bushings. (the bushings will be cheap the install will likely be expensive((press work is required)). Do leave all the other pivots alone, unless the people setting-up the coilovers are doing so around some toe correcting device. (some love them, I see them as something else to go wrong)

Finally, get your alignment done by someone that has spent a lot of time aligning evos. They are amazing cars, they have lots of room for improvement, but are equally easy to mess-up.

Have fun / more is better / all of it will make you sad about your EVO,

JW

 

sweet, thanks all for very informative replies!

 

I would completely agree with this.

For the record.... the best place to spend money is on tires. Some people will argure track time but honestly "sticky icky" tires make all the difference in the world.