camber brace: waste of money?

[boonie]

theres a opinion floating around here that the purchase of a camber brace is a major waste of money! dose anyone have a qualified opinion on the usefulness of installing a camber brace? wheres a good place to buy a camber brace + how diffcult are they to install on a 94-96 C4 Auto.
thanks boonie

 

[Vettart]

Brace

Boonie, braces are used on unibody cars to reenforce the front end so that the struts don't damage the towers. They share the load. It does help on the compacts. My opinion is that it would have minimal if any benefit. Thicker sway bars and harder shocks serve that purpose.

 

[Vettelt193]

I think there are other things to put on first, like the cross brace under the body. I am sure the camber brace works well under high speed cornering, but i think there are other places to spend money on first, that would be more effective. Basically, that isn't the weakest link in the C4's chassis.

 

[Gary04Z06]

I got the Camber Brace about a year ago. It really helps in the turns. It ties the upper arms together from their web site: "By effectively boxing the front end this way, we have removed any flexing of the control arm mounting horns. By doing this, the front end angles that you set during alignments will stay at those angles when corning the car and help maintain a more constant contact patch of the tire to the ground. With the end result being higher speed into the corner, faster out of it, with quicker lap times and more security on the open road."

I used it at an autox, I had run another before it at the same place with the track set up pretty close to each other. I was able to get faster times with the brace. They had a circle set up at both and I could go around it faster and tighter with the C/B.

Install was pretty easy, took about 30 minutes.

Best place to get it is www.r-dracing.com. I think he might have a group purchase deal going on now with another forum.

 

[81LT4]

The truth is, the bar's are really only good for salom racing.
even the company you buy from will tell you that.
for street and freeway driving,your good with what you got.

 

[WhalePirot]

what is in the rest of your suspension?

The first question I'd ask.

If you're running rubber instead of poly, start eliminating suspension movement there. Analogy: why put a dead bolt lock on a screen door? Analyze the total sytem you have and address the weak area.

Having Guldstrand's suspenion on my car years ago (Heim joints everywhere), I was amazed at the impovement (control) due to how little the car's geometry changed in corners, even in street driving. A stock ZR-1 is very loose by comparison. While a lot of work to self install, I am glad I did it, for my style of driving.

Seems the C-4 is better known for frame twisting, which the X brace will help. (vettelt193) I have seen little on the cross brace and had read their literature. Whether actual practice supports the general theory is likely best answered by what the racers did with these cars, like Rippie. I am leery of literature spouting general theory and no proof based upon reality.

I don't dispute Gary's comments but wonder if everything else on the cars was identical.

 

[Gary04Z06]

Re: what is in the rest of your suspension?

The first question I'd ask.

I don't dispute Gary's comments but wonder if everything else on the cars was identical.

Depending on what you want to with the car depends on what mods you want to start with.

The two autox's I mention were within a week of each other and no other changes were made to the car, well ok, I can't say how much gas was in the car at each time.

 

[vader86]

Everyone who Ive seen has installed a Camber Brace and autox'ed with it, has bragged on it.

That says enough for me.

But you only should do it if everything else in the suspension is up to par, like new poly bushings/shocks/tie rods. Then I think youll really get your money's worth by keeping the car in correct alignment.