NesTea420

I feel stupid asking this question But, what does a strut bar do? I noticed almost all the cars in here has one...any recomandations? Thanks.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Front upper strut bar braces the two shock towers together increases the stiffness of the structure of the car. If you go over a speed bump unevenly for example (at an angle), you'll feel the body of the car flex. All these braces we add (upper and lower, front and back) make the car unit stiffer, so when you do the speed bump move for example, you'll feel like the car stays rigid. This translates into less 'slop' in the handling overall. Plus, it reduces squeaks and creaks in the car too!

NesTea420

So there are 4 altogether that I need to purchase? Where can I get the best deals on these and are these easy to put on?

Thanks for your info.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Steve Ganz, Carson Toyota, www.l-tunedparts.com shows some of what he offers. He is the man, great prices, great service.

As far as which kind you want, there's some personal preference plus sometimes you have to choose one depending on other mods. For example, there's 2 types of Tom's rear lower chassis brace (LCB) and one is designed to go with a certain (Tom's I think) exhaust. I have the 'regular' Tom's rear upper and lower bars (highly recommended and Steve can get both of these for you).

I'm not sure the front LCB is worth it because the car already has one. If you want to save a bit, skip that one for now.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

If you are talking about Strut Bars, then there is only 2, one for the front and one for the rear. The bar connects the two corresponding strut towers together. The other parts Bit talks about is good too.

Threxx

I researched this extensively, and now have everything installed on my GS4... I'm VERY satisfied with the results of the complete package

If you want to do things right (IMO), here's what I did:

Tom's front and rear strut tower braces
Tom's front and rear lower chassis braces
Tom's 6-piece rear suspension link kit

I did each piece one at a time and made a whole writeup about it... if you will use the search feature for posts I've made with the words "brace" or "Tom's" or whatever... you should see it... I think I made the post about 8-9 months back or so... don't remember exactly.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

I have similar pieces except my front LCB is TRD. My STBs are UGO. You don't have to have the same manufacturer pieces although I only remember Tom's making the rear LCB and 6-piece. You need to consider the STB carefully with the rest of your plans. As Bit found out recently, if you want Tein coilovers and you want EDFC with it, your choices are limited in terms of which STB you can get.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Neo - I now have TRD, Toms' and RMM braces on

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, we don't play favorites.

Threxx

Yeah I know that matching brands makes very little if any difference whatsoever... I just bought all Tom's because

1- The tom's front lower chassis brace includes a couple of extra suspension braces and uses a couple of extra mounting points that the TRD brace doesn't make use of, so I figured it was probably a bit more effective
2- They were designed to work together so I just get extra little peace of mind
3- All the pieces look the same, so it all matches (yes I know... a lot of the stuff is under the car and 99.9% of people will never seen any of it but I will!
4- I ordered everything all at once and all from the same place (Steve @ Carson) and didn't want to fool around with mutliple orders of various different parts.
5- They make the rear lower chassis brace and 6-piece suspension bracing kit... nobody else does.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Nothing wrong with buying all Tom's either.

Since NesTea420 was asking about the STB, I was just giving him fair warning about the STB issues, especially if there are plans for EDFC. In this case, getting the Tom's STB would be a bad choice.