C-ONE Front Strut Tower Bar - Installed & Impressions (Pics to Come)

[bigsky2]

Product: C-ONE Front Strut Tower Bar
Source: C2 AUTO

I just finished installing a C-ONE Front Strut Tower Bar this past weekend and wanted to share my experience.

Installation
Took about 20 minutes from start to finish. About 25-30 minutes with the cigarettes going.

After taking a look at Chris07LB's Tanabe install, and visually inspecting the fender area and the strut towers, I thought I would be able to get away with installing the mounting hardware without removing the front tires. It can be done, with a little patience and persistance.

I jacked up the front of the vehicle and placed it on jack stands for stablility and safety.

The C-ONE Strut bar comes with different mounting hardware than that of the Tanabe. A small mounting plate goes under the strut tower, and the bolts fasten into the mounting plate from the top of the strut tower.

It was a pain in the ass to get the mounting plate in place because there's very little space for your hands to maneuver when you reach into the underside of the strut tower. You have to navigate your hands around the springs which also get in the way.

Once the mounting plate is in place on the bottom, I screwed in the bolts on top of the strut tower. Tightening the bolts took a while because the limited space only allows small turns with the allan key.

After the mounting hardware is in place, connect the strut bar and tighten it accordingly.

Note for those with grounding kits (battery post connection): You might have to reposition your negative battery terminal as it might make contact with the strut bar, making the strut bar "rest" unevenly. You don't want anything pushing or stressing the strut bar in any direction.

Impressions
A quick spin later, and I noticed the following:

- Steering wheel feels "tighter" now
- Steering reaction is much more responsive now during turns and moderate cornering
- During some moderate cornering, the front end of the Yaris doesn't feel as if it's going in a straight line anymore, as it follows the corner better than before

Overall I am pleased with the results. There's less understeer now and the cornering feels more balanced :smile:

Now it's time to consider rear and lower chassis reinforcements..

[hystria]

good to know how it feels with it :thumbup: your impressions are for spirited driving or for normal driving too ?

was there any other suspension setup on your car, springs, rear sway bar ?

[bigsky2]

During normal driving, with light curves and regular right and left turns, the car gives off a better sense of stability.

I also took some longer curves and higher speeds and it felt very comfortable throughout the curve. That's the extent of my experience thus far!

Prior to the strut bar going in, I had a set of Eibach Sport springs instlalled. These are the springs that Toyota offers.

Nothing for the rear yet, no sway bars either, but I'll slowly work my way towards those mods :smile:

[hystria]

nice :smile:

and it looks like the C-One is one of the best strut bars made for Yaris :thumbup:

[eflb55]

how much did that go for?

[bigsky2]

I've been busy during the holidays and have not had time to take pictures.

eflb55: I bought the strut tower bar from C2 Auto - PM him and he'll give you a price.

[Tamago]

i've never seen a strut tower bar decrease understeer but hey, good purchase

[bigsky2]

It was my belief that strut tower bars generally reduce understeer? This was emphasized in all the research that I did.

I don't understand the physics of it in depth (see site below), but when the two strut towers are linked, the chassis is more rigid, and understeer is reduced.

Here's the site I was referring to - It's more specific to the M3:
http://e30m3performance.com/myths/Strutbar_Theory/strut_bar_theory.htm

[Tamago]

stiffen the front, induce understeer
stiffen the rear, induce oversteer

[bigsky2]

:eek:

Time for me to hit the books again.

[cleong]

My understanding of chassis stiffening is that it eliminates the car chassis as a variable that affects suspension tuning, be it spot-welding the monocoque or strut bars across the strut towers. Using strut tower bars would probably sharpen initial steering response, which might be why bigsky2 felt it reduces understeer. It doesn't.

That's because those bars take away chassis flex at the moment of direction change, leaving the car's suspension to work unhindered by a flexing chassis.If the car has soft springs and shocks with little damping, it is still going to wallow in corners regardless of how stiff the chassis is. It may however make a car respond more snappily because the initial turn moment is sharpened as there isn't chassis flex to overcome.

Strut bars *probably* does not have much impact on the under/oversteer characteristics of a car, the car's anti-roll bars, springs, shocks and tire pressure have a greater part to play. Stiffening the chassis is probably more to remove the chassis as an uncontrollable variable affecting a car's handling so that suspension tuning is more meaningful and predictable.

Tamago is right that a flexing front end gives more grip (and hence less understeer) than a stiff front end. Think of the strut tower flex as "give" in the suspension.

Its probably better to read up as much as possible before making an informed purchase, rather than buying and just believing something is working, when all it might be is a placebo effect at work.

Putting the car on a skidpan to see what speed it can sustain in a turn might be a good way of assessing the amount of front grip is available, before and after strut bar installations.

[wushumasterku]

we want pics we want pics

[Biggie™]

A front strut tower bar does nothing more than add weight to a Yaris. The tops of the struts are attached to the firewall, there is no noticeable chassis flex at that point in the unibody. Also, you would need a strut brace that can be preloaded to actually have any real effect. The point is actually moot when you take into account the rubber bushing used by Toyota to make the Yaris enjoyable to ride in for long distance. The amount of distortion those rubber bushings put in to the suspension is far more apparent than the addition of any strut bar could suppress.

[Chris07LB]

Learn something new everyday... I like mine, and its staying on.

[MrMondayNite]

I had a Neuspeed Front Upper Strut bar both on my 01 Civic and 03 Jetta and it definitely improved handling and driving experience.

[Tamago]

apples to oranges... civics have shitty body integrity to begin with.. :)

[bigsky2]

I'll get some pics up soon people..

As for the placebo effect vs. real world benefit, I believe the strut tower bar improved the handling. It's not a night and day difference, and I am not stating that I can perform S-turns and hairpins at unbelievable speeds and stability :laugh:

Overall, the regular driving experience and feel has become better.
Good to hear the various input about this issue, it becomes a primer for those who want to begin suspension mods.

[redglare45]

Nice write-up/feedback. Can't wait to see those pics.

[YarisGuy]

Sounds like a good mod. Pics please :)

[Yaris TTE JWRC]

:needpics:

[Chris07LB]

:needpics:

Search, there are pictures that the vendors have posted in the past.