Additional Front Strut Brace - worthwhile?

M@r said:
{"]Over on M3 Cutters a guy over there has moved to a rather nice Z4MC, he put a strut brace on the front as apparently 'its a must on the Z4'

Anyone an opinion on this? Should I ad it to my forever growing list of mods to be done?
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Hi Mark,

Thats was me on the M3 Cutters forum. Had an M3 before this.

I've had the strut brace fittted a little while now, i'm not conviened it's made a massive differance. I'll tell you after i've taken the car over the Europe nect month.

Biggest change so far was having a proper KDS wheel alinement with a little additional negative camber added to the rear wheels.

I'm also just about to fit a set of CSL's with Cups on so i would like to think i'll get some change here as well.
 
Just an update, after reading this thread with interest I decided to see what my car was like without the strut brace. I drove along a road I know well, very rough surface where the damping struggles on most cars let alone the Zed, lumps and bumps to the extreme, drove up and down with the brace removed and you know what.....

I preferred it!

Re-installed the bar in a quiet spot and did the same drive again, and it was confirmed. I found that with the bar the steering felt slightly more direct or sharp, and the front end did actually feel less numb just as Evo reported.

However, without it the car handled the stress of the bumps and different cambers far better. Immediately, the car felt more like it used to, I wasn't constantly fighting with the steering either. So I've decided to take it off for good.

Guess it depends what you prefer but for me taking it off made more sense as I always find myself on these type of roads. Maybe they are more suited to the roadster.
 
daz05 said:
Just an update, after reading this thread with interest I decided to see what my car was like without the strut brace. I drove along a road I know well, very rough surface where the damping struggles on most cars let alone the Zed, lumps and bumps to the extreme, drove up and down with the brace removed and you know what.....

I preferred it!

Re-installed the bar in a quiet spot and did the same drive again, and it was confirmed. I found that with the bar the steering felt slightly more direct or sharp, and the front end did actually feel less numb just as Evo reported.

However, without it the car handled the stress of the bumps and different cambers far better. Immediately, the car felt more like it used to, I wasn't constantly fighting with the steering either. So I've decided to take it off for good.

Guess it depends what you prefer but for me taking it off made more sense as I always find myself on these type of roads. Maybe they are more suited to the roadster.
Click to expand...

Is it now for sale then ? :whistle: :D
 
The ny-lock nuts that hold the brace rings to the strut towers shouldn't be used and re-used, but the bar itself is bolted at either end to these rings with standard nuts.

Borrowing Beedub's photograph:

babypicturesandSpacerinstall025.jpg


As such, it's a matter of a few seconds work to attach the cross bar when going on track, and then to remove it when driving on crappy UK roads.
Mine lives in the boot when I'm not :evil: on the track for the very reasons you describe...
 
Good idea if your on and off track, best of both worlds, that's what I did today for my testing, far easier than removing the whole thing.
 
Is that the OEM strut brace? Forgive the dumb question but never seen one and was expecting it to be like the black tubes...


Tapatalking...
 
Bing said:
And Stuart - I am not sure that's an OEM brace though it looks similar, IIRC they don't fit over the ///M engine, let alone the lump under Beedub's bonnet... However the OEM is silver :
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I believe it is the OEM strut brace on Beedub's.

The OEM strut brace (part number 51710305114) is suitable for most models - about £290 last time I looked.

51710305114.jpg
 
Bing said:
Just noticed - why is Beedub's engine wearing a beany ? (next to the ESS inlets at the front). Looks to be made of cloth ?

And Stuart - I am not sure that's an OEM brace though it looks similar, IIRC they don't fit over the ///M engine, let alone the lump under Beedub's bonnet... However the OEM is silver :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Genui...CarParts_SM&hash=item2c6419cc94#ht_1783wt_968

Probably be proven wrong now...
Click to expand...

Yup its the oem brace and the cloth cap is for the powersteering tank, they blow out the fluid during extreme cornering.... This just catchs the mist from the breather whole if it happens :-)

Despite how it looks ther is considerable clearance between the engine/intake plenum and the brace.....

Um very pleased with the oem brace which is a priece and actually is a SB rather then engine bay bling, the hinged ones are pointless... When i picked my up it was only 150 quid.... They are pretty expensive now ...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
mmm-five said:
Bing said:
And Stuart - I am not sure that's an OEM brace though it looks similar, IIRC they don't fit over the ///M engine, let alone the lump under Beedub's bonnet... However the OEM is silver :
Click to expand...
I believe it is the OEM strut brace on Beedub's.

The OEM strut brace (part number 51710305114) is suitable for most models - about £290 last time I looked.
Click to expand...

Mine's OEM too, but I didn't pay anywhere near that much for it for it. I didn't even pay as much as Beedub :D
 
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