03-16-2004, 12:35 AM
no, it doesn't have much flex. On the order of a milimeter or so with R-compound tires. It's driving me nuts, I can't find the article that tested this. But for a frequently tracked car, it can help prevent cracking of the strut towers. This is a decent little estimation of the load those towers have to handle:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://e30m3performance.com/myths/Strutbar_Theory/strut_bar_theory.htm">http://e30m3performance.com/myths/Strut ... theory.htm</a><!-- m -->
It concludes that a .2 inch deflection would lead to .5deg loss of camber, but from what I've heard and read, they do not deflect nearly that far. I would just like to keep mine from cracking. haha... though I'm reminded why James (@ Bimmerworld) never ran them, not only because they didn't really help, but because he figured if the side of the car ended up in a wall, he'd end up with 2 bent strut towers instead of one! :lol:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://e30m3performance.com/myths/Strutbar_Theory/strut_bar_theory.htm">http://e30m3performance.com/myths/Strut ... theory.htm</a><!-- m -->
It concludes that a .2 inch deflection would lead to .5deg loss of camber, but from what I've heard and read, they do not deflect nearly that far. I would just like to keep mine from cracking. haha... though I'm reminded why James (@ Bimmerworld) never ran them, not only because they didn't really help, but because he figured if the side of the car ended up in a wall, he'd end up with 2 bent strut towers instead of one! :lol: