Hey guys and gals, I recently bought my Evo and I frequently attend track days and other TT events. Do any road racers or AutoX'ers use any the seemingly endless chassis braces or stiffening add ons with good results? Some seem to make sense, some not so much.

Thanks,
Brandon

 

The basic answer is that you don't just randomly add things like that, but rather you plan out your suspension as a system and build it accordingly. The chassis braces are mostly for bling or so that you can say, "I have a Cusco V2," the rear strut tower bar is completely useless, and the sway bars can be good OR bad depending on how you use them.

I would suggest spending some time searching before making a thread like this so that you can learn the basics and get an idea of what the real racers are doing. Then, you can also see what the poseurs are doing and decide which route suits you best. Next, you can peruse the sites of some suspension experts like Robispec in order to get an idea of what you can do within your budget, and whether you purchase a package from someone like Robi or not, you'll at least have a framework in mind for how to properly mod your suspension.

Lastly, you can then come back with all of your research/analysis and ask us much more specific and detailed questions with which we can be a great help.

 

I have been reading the race specfic Evo forums, and I am waiting for Robert to get back to his shop to place my order for his springs and sway bars. I was asking this question because I had not seen, heard or read any good or bad opinions on the subject of all these chassis braces (I did not mean sway bars). I am new to Evo's specifically but not to modifying or racing cars in general. If one of these simple bolt on braces actually works, it would just be gravy for the nice proper basic package I will be adding it to.

You named a few of those to stay away from, do you have positive feedback for any of them?

Brandon

 

I haven't used them, so I can't give any direct info. The point, though, is that it would be in his package if it was a recommended addition. I personally don't agree with going the basic route of just springs + RSB. yes, Robi has put together a nice combo that works as well as such a combo can work, but it still doesn't hold a candle to a proper set of coilovers. Regardless, the last thing you want to do is just randomly add bars/braces/whatever to an already-proven combo. The point of his packages is that the individual parts have been mated to work together as a system as I said before. Taking a working system and tossing a wrench in it isn't usually a good idea.

 

I wouldn't say that the chassis braces are all just 'bling', it's a matter of how much performance benefit they add versus $$$. I bought a used RSTB for $50 from a friend. For $50, who cares?

Now, all these FSTB's, titanium, blah blah, are they better than the original? I guess if you get the titanium, it'll be lighter... Some of the braces probably are better than the original, many probably are not. But some of those things cost $500. For what would probably be a very minimal performance benefit, I'd skip on it.

For the underbody braces, they probably help some, but noticeable enough to be worth the money? I don't know. The Evo chassis is pretty freakin stiff stock so we're lucky in that regard.

Warrtalon brings up a good poinit of the overall system though. On a stock suspension system, most of the complience is probably in the stock rubber bushings, etc. You start to go with a stiffer suspension setup, stiffer bushings, it'll translate more load to the chassis to the point you'll notice the braces better. But before you go stiffer in the bushings, etc, then probably minimal performance benefit.

Lets just say there are other areas that are better performance/$$$ ratio. If you have money to burn though...

 

IMHO, on a lightly modded EVO with softer spring rates they aren't worth it ... The chasis on a stock EVO has very little flex.

 

What year EVO do you have? What mods do you already have?

I have an 03 and an 06 and the difference is night and day. When upgrading my 03 I felt like every mod helped but 06 feels as planted in stock form.

Suggested mods will differ with age, wear, and modification level.

The best "mod" (outside of drivers ed) I've ever paid for was R COMPOUND RACE RUBBER!!!