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I've gotten a few more chassis braces installed on my car and awaiting one final piece which is a Hard Race front sway bar that should arrive in June. At that point I believe I've fit just about every chassis brace/bar on my car thats available or that I know of. The car feels really incredible to drive coming from bone stock when I got it.. which was still fun. Here are some new and old pics showing the parts I've added. The rear sway bar cant be seen in the pics, and one pic of the two rear lateral braces is from the UR site just so you can see where they are located because I dont have a pic from a lift, but I have the same setup on my car. The person who installs some of my parts has a nicely modded RCF that he tracks regularly and said my car feels as rigid as an F but lighter weight. I took that as a huge compliment. After the front sway bar arrives, I'm also planning on adding SS brake lines and the Figs diff bushings.
Suspension mods -
- RSR best*i coilovers
- Ultra Racing front upper strut tower bar
- Toms Racing rear upper strut tower bar
- Ultra Racing front 4 point subframe brace
- Ultra Racing front lower tie bar
- Ultra Racing 3 point subframe brace
- Ultra Racing front tunnel brace
- Toms Racing rear tunnel brace
- Ultra Racing rear lateral braces
- Ultra Racing rear subframe brace
- SuperPro rear adjustable sway bar
- Figs LCA bushings in bracket
That looks awesome. How much did everything cost? I briefly looked into getting ultra racing braces but ultimately didn't commit. Was it difficult to source all the parts? Can you recommend which braces are most important and least important?
Looking great, love the stance! How is ride comfort affected by braces?
Will be interesting to see how the OP replies.
Theoretically, a stiffer chassis should force the coil springs and roll bar to deform more, therefore giving a more compliant ride - flattening the bumps more, as opposed to riding over the bumps.
Also, because the chassis is stiffer, the body structure should flex less, leading to fewer creaks and rattles.
When coil springs are too stiff relative to the chassis, the coil springs don’t deform to give a smooth ride, but the chassis flexes instead, leading to creaks and rattles.
That looks awesome. How much did everything cost? I briefly looked into getting ultra racing braces but ultimately didn't commit. Was it difficult to source all the parts? Can you recommend which braces are most important and least important?
I suspect the front and rear strut tower braces are most important because the large and wide removable hood & trunk openings really compromises the rigidity of the monocoque.
The other braces are smaller with much shorter spans, hence they won’t bolster the rigidity by as much.
Looking great, love the stance! How is ride comfort affected by braces?
Thanks!! So they do have an effect on the overall ride quality but I actually welcome it. Besides the sharper handling, less flex/roll, the chassis has become more solid and moves more as one solid piece. So going over uneven surfaces before I'd have the springs/shocks handling bumps and the chassis would flex as well along different surfaces. Now imagine eliminating a lot of that chassis flex that conformed to the roads and having that handled mostly by the springs/shocks. You feel much more of the road but it isn't uncomfortable, possibly better if you're paying attention to your driving and being able to feel what the road is doing underneath you. There is less floating type comfort and a more connected sporty feel.
That looks awesome. How much did everything cost? I briefly looked into getting ultra racing braces but ultimately didn't commit. Was it difficult to source all the parts? Can you recommend which braces are most important and least important?
Thank you!! Roughly 2,500 for all the bracing/bushing stuff not including install.. add 2,000 for the coilovers. If you love driving in that kind of way, it's really worth it. I'm in CA and ordered directly from the UR site, everything was simple. Don't order from any sketchy ebay or unauthorized vendors. Someone on here did that and was able to easily bend the strut tower brace by hand, directly in half! Clearly a dangerous fake.
I added these either piece by piece or 2-3 at a time so I felt each one effect different things. My advice is whatever you do in the front, match it with a brace in the rear. Bracing the front only will make the steering feel good but it will actually increase understeer. A great start would be the front and rear upper strut tower bars. The little Toms tunnel brace that looks like a dog bone really surprised me with how much flex it eliminated, that one is located about in the center of the car. That piece is only $165. The rear sway bar was absolutely a game changer but the install was pricey and they had to cut the outer most adjustment hole off of the bar because it didn't seem to be designed to fit with aftermarket coilovers, the bar was touching the shock. It ended up being installed on the stiffest setting and I was worried it may create oversteer but it came out feeling amazing, no oversteer, only confident cornering.
Thank you!!! I didnt know it was gonna be so difficult to find a good wheel at the right diameter, width, and offset! I had to pass up so many choices on the way. Those finally checked every box I needed and I'm super happy they are the ones I got.
Theoretically, a stiffer chassis should force the coil springs and roll bar to deform more, therefore giving a more compliant ride - flattening the bumps more, as opposed to riding over the bumps.
Also, because the chassis is stiffer, the body structure should flex less, leading to fewer creaks and rattles.
When coil springs are too stiff relative to the chassis, the coil springs don’t deform to give a smooth ride, but the chassis flexes instead, leading to creaks and rattles.
Yeah the chassis feels like more of one solid piece with way less flex and the coilovers seem to be doing the work while the body moves as one. I really like the feel. It feels much more sporty and connected. I can tell more of whats going on with the car. Definitely wouldn't recommend it to a comfort minded driver though. It's still great to daily with ease, no discomfort, noise, or anything weird.
That looks awesome. How much did everything cost? I briefly looked into getting ultra racing braces but ultimately didn't commit. Was it difficult to source all the parts? Can you recommend which braces are most important and least important?
Id say the least important would be the triangular subframe brace and the two rear lateral braces because they replace factory parts. They are beefier and stronger but I'd get the ones that brace new parts of the car that weren't supported before.
I suspect the front and rear strut tower braces are most important because the large and wide removable hood & trunk openings really compromises the rigidity of the monocoque.
The other braces are smaller with much shorter spans, hence they won’t bolster the rigidity by as much.
The upper strut towers were my first ones and did make a big difference. The rear sway bar had an enormously huge positive effect. Two weeks ago I put that little dog bone looking tunnel brace on and wasn't expecting much but it honestly did a lot! Much more than expected. At $165 thats a big bang for the buck.
I thought I recognized that car on dyansen's Instagram. Awesome build. I would love to stiffen my chassis at some point down the road; unfortunately some parts are not available for AWD and I am not willing to cut into my trunk to install a rear strut tower brace, even though what I want most is to decrease understeer and increase steering feel.
Have you considered subframe lockout collars/bushings?
Update on car, more suspension mods.
