Sway bars and strut brace

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Happy so far with my HR springs, 3 dot IE spring pads, and Bilstein HD shocks. Billy Sports were WAY too harsh for me. Thinking next step should be IE 22mm roll bars and maybe front strut brace. Use is around town fun car and playing around on mountain roads, maybe a few autox once in a while but not very regularly. Any thoughts on if this is a good plan, something different, or just leave it alone as I don't really have any complaints currently? Feedback and opinions welcome, thanks!

[Simeon]

  Strut braces have been thoroughly debunked over the last few weeks. Nice bling but seemingly not necessary. 

[Mike_R]

I disagree with Simeon. I have to say after 14 years of ownership, that the $125 I spent on a nice front strut bar was one of the easiest upgrades ever.  Noticeable improvement in front end. 

[Son of Marty]

Rear strut braces are at best a good point for a battery mount but not much else. The front brace as Mike said is very much needed if you drive at all aggressively IMHO. 

[AustrianVespaGuy]

I have my AGM batteries under the back seat and really don't want a rear brave, but I'm open to considering the front one. How about the IE stabilizer bars, worth the $400 upgrade?

['76mintgrün'02]

I'll be the tie breaker and side with Simeon.

I put one on when I got the car and later took it off, in favor of a stock air cleaner.

I could not feel any difference either way.

 

The ST sways that I installed made a HUGE difference though.

Removing the originals, I learned that they'd fused to the rubber pivots; so it seems they were not really working the way they should've.  That may have explained part of the improvement.

 

I can see a brace being helpful on a racEcar, with stiff springs and bushings and things... where they're lifting the inner front wheel off the ground in the corners.  Or possibly on a car that has been flogged over the years and had the stiffness beaten out of it.

 

Perhaps you could rig a way to measure whether you are getting flex between the strut tops...

I tried and did not see any.

 

[venoak]

I added the ST sway bars front and rear. It’s a noticeable and positive difference. Also added IE urethane bushings to improve steering feel.  And finally, I added a harnes bar. As soon as it was installed the whole car felt tighter.

 

I have a similar usage profile to yours.

 

I’m sure you’ll be happy with upgraded sway bars. 

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, think I'll go ahead and pull the trigger on the stabilizer bars, see how I like that for awhile, and then probably add in the front brace a bit later to finish things off!

[Son of Marty]

Way back when the board first started the was a long thread on 2002 dimples and how they formed it turned out that on aggressively driven 02's it was common where on stock cars that were not driven hard they were pretty rare, below is a good picture of the dreaded dimples, when front strut bars came out this was pretty much eliminated.

Edited March 14, 2018 by Son of Marty

['76mintgrün'02]

Well, since I am basing my impressions on just this one car, I will give a little of its history; which may (or may not) be pertinent.  The previous (long term) owner was female... although I generally dislike gender generalizations, I do believe that men are more apt to thrash on their cars.

 

Also, at some point the nose has been replaced on my car, which may have stiffened things back up.

 

My 2002 experience is limited to just this one car, which I have only owned for 6+ years... so it is quite limited.

 

My brain has a hard time telling the difference in some before/after comparisons.  If the change is not immediate, I tend to forget/not notice.

 

I was testing mine while preparing to install a stock air cleaner, which the brace would not clear.

So, I was hoping I would not see a difference.  These things are somewhat subjective.

 

As I mentioned, I did try to measure movement; but my test drive was typical of what I'd put the car through... not a thorough flogging.

I like the idea of sways first and brace later.  Incremental improvements will let you appreciate the changes each modification makes.

 

Tom

[Son of Marty]

Tom I'd say in your 6 years of ownership you've got the car pretty well figured out! If you do chose to stiffen up your suspension, as time goes buy, I do believe the Tii style of brace that curves back along the heater plenum will fit with the stock air cleaner at least worth a look if you feel the need.

[visionaut]

Front strut tower braces work. And adding a front strut tower brace made a big handling performance difference for me, and how I drive my 02.

As an engineer I know how and why they work - in fact and theory. I haven’t seen any evidence that debunks the working of a front strut tower brace, here or elsewhere.

 

Tom

[AceAndrew]

ST bars are decent/generic, but the IE bars are that much better again.

 

I will reiterate what has been said before.  IE swaybars made the single biggest difference to the handling of my car.

 

https://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic/205884-whats-the-best-bang-for-buck-upgrade-youve-done-on-your-2002/?page=2

 

[KFunk]

The usefulness of a front strut brace may depend quite a bit on the roads you drive.  You really notice the difference over bumps, like the many potholes here in Appalachia, or if you make a wrong turn off the race track and go bouncing through gravel pits at 70mph....  not that I'd ever do that.  A solid feel to the front end can be very nice, but maybe not that noticeable on smooth flat roads.  

[jrhone]

IE bars are my next purchase. I’m embarrassed that I have not done them yet.  I have the strut brace and it tightens things up. I think if you drive aggressively you will feel it. 

Edited March 14, 2018 by jrhone