Rear strutbrace - what fits?

[P3rks 11]

I've had a really good search but I can't find a definitive answer.

 

What upper rear strut braces fits the Corrado? Will a MK2 or MK3 item fit?

 

I know MK2's fit up front, I'm unsure about the rear.

 

Thanks

[dragon green 5]

BBM do one,mines a quick release one,

And here it is with the one I bought in a group buy on here

[P3rks 11]

Yeah, ideally it's the trimsport/trimsport copy I'm after.

 

There are always MK2 and MK3 ones popping up for sale; but I'm unsure which one will fit.

[sexybourbon 0]

Is the thinner of them two ally or stainless , iv been thinking of making one up, iv got a tig welder bud not sure if ally is strong enough , and iv got a normal welder for mild steel but im sure it would weigh a ton out if mild

[davidwort 0]

I think some of these aftermarket braces are very over-engineered, if you look at strut tower braces on cars like the S3 they're not massive as all they do is stop the towers bending towards or away from each other so just take a bit of compression or tension. There seems to be a trend to make braces look like heavy duty roll cage sections, attracts the punters more than a small bar I guess.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Is the thinner of them two ally or stainless , iv been thinking of making one up, iv got a tig welder bud not sure if ally is strong enough , and iv got a normal welder for mild steel but im sure it would weigh a ton out if mild

 

You're not talking enough weight to affect the car's performance :D

 

If you can weld, do it! Make a triangulated one. The single bars that span the two turrets do virtually nothing. The objective is to replicate the front bulkhead, which is what saloon cars have and a triangulated bar is the closest thing to that.

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[Stonejag 10]

Surely it depends what you're bracing? If you're bolting onto the towers then you'd need quite a lot of metal to brace it, but if you have one of the ones that fits over the top of the struts (held down by the same nut that holds the strut into the spring plate and top mount) then it'd be taking some of the radial load out of the top mount bearing by preventing the strut from tilting inward.

 

When I was at the garage the other day I got handed a nice steel OMP one out of the bits box that looks like it'll fit nicely so I'll have to give it a go when the weather holds off for a bit :)

 

Stone

[jscVR6 0]

There's a Trimsport one on ebay at the moment: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380704607061?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649. It looks like a proper Trimsport one but it's not listed as such, so may be a bargain for someone.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Surely it depends what you're bracing? If you're bolting onto the towers then you'd need quite a lot of metal to brace it, but if you have one of the ones that fits over the top of the struts (held down by the same nut that holds the strut into the spring plate and top mount) then it'd be taking some of the radial load out of the top mount bearing by preventing the strut from tilting inward.

 

When I was at the garage the other day I got handed a nice steel OMP one out of the bits box that looks like it'll fit nicely so I'll have to give it a go when the weather holds off for a bit :)

 

Stone

 

Eh? Bearing? Tilting inwards? Are we still talking about the rear turrets?! :)

 

What a rear brace should to is reduce lateral body twist. Because hatchbacks have no metal behind the seats, they're like a big cardboard box that flexes easily. A bar that simply goes across the two towers doesn't do anything. Ideally you want a triangulated one that bolts to the floor as well, or just a great big steel sheet to fill the gap, but that's impractical.

 

Or a roll cage, the ultimate chassis strengthener!

[G60 CS 0]

The Mk2 one fits perfectly I have one I used in my mk2 golf that now sits in my G60 , the one mentioned in this post on ebay is right for you

[sexybourbon 0]

I like the look of the kev i rekon i could quite easily fab up something like that , maybe put fixing points on the turrets , and to the back of the boot floor , would it help stiffen it up if , off that wats described above i made two more feet to reach out diagonally from the top of the turrets to the boot floor with fixking points near the rear lights kind of like a half cage ! For the boot , would a reasonably sturdy ally be ok to use or would i need stainless

[davidwort 0]

anyone else notice how much the corrado body distorts when you jack it up, on both my cars the doors don't shut as well if you jack the car up at one corner, my mk4 golf has a much stiffer shell and the doors don't seem to be affected by jacking up.

I'm assuming it's mainly the rear that twists as the front has the big bulkhead and bonded screen to stiffen everything up.

what I'm not sure about is whether a X brace would cause any problems making the shell too stiff at the rear and a simple straight bar with pivoting mounts that allows up/down movement would be better, vibration/noise for example

I'm guessing the X bar that Kev suggests would probably be better all round as the Jettas I've had were definitely much better bodies than the golf equivalents and the saloon structure effectively gives the X bracing.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah Corrado shells are soggy. You can hear the door frames moving when you drive slowly over adverse cambers, reverse down drop kerbs at an angle etc. MK4s were a huge leap forward but VW reckon the MK5 is 120% stiffer than the MK4! Just a shame it rusts :D

 

Probably why the MK5 handles so well. The shell is super rigid so that the springs and dampers can actually do their job. Driving into a pot hole with a MK5 doesn't feel / sound like the whole car is about to collapse like it does in the Corrado, lol!

 

I think an X brace is best on the Corrado. Neuspeed used to do a really good rear brace for the Corrado but it's sadly no longer made. It was almost like a rear cage!

[MarkFoster 0]

.... Hmmm, are we saying saloons are better sports chassis'? I can't think of many ultra high performance cars that are saloons though; Ferrari, R8, Lotus, GT3s, they all have a hatchback configuration albeit with an engine under it rather than the boot?

 

Interesting thread this...

 

M.

[MarkFoster 0]

....or are they using the engine as a stressed member a la sports bikes?

 

M.

[P3rks 11]

Very interesting.

 

So to confirm, MK2 Golf braces for all around?

 

The rear brace, such as the Trimsport style or the drilled/welded - pretty much a straight bars don't really do anything? Surely they must stop lateral role of the body shell from side to side? I must at least hold the two corners together and stop some flex?

 

Whilst we are on the subject whats people's opinions on the front lower braces? I've fitted them to Polo's before with huge gains; but they didn't have a subframe.

[Dox 23]

.... Hmmm, are we saying saloons are better sports chassis'? I can't think of many ultra high performance cars that are saloons though; Ferrari, R8, Lotus, GT3s, they all have a hatchback configuration albeit with an engine under it rather than the boot?

 

Interesting thread this...

 

M.

 

They'll all have a firewall (bulkhead) between the engine and passenger compartment.

 

Take the plywood back out of a bookcase and you can destroy it with little effort by pushing on one of the top corners towards its diagonally opposite lower corner

[davidwort 0]

how about this sketch, my attempt to show the difference in cross section structure of a saloon with a pressed metal rear bulkhead up to rear window base height, a hatchback and a hatchback with an X brace, which do you think will distort when it hits a bump on one rear wheel :)

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[Kevin Bacon 5]

Take the plywood back out of a bookcase and you can destroy it with little effort by pushing on one of the top corners towards its diagonally opposite lower corner

 

Exactly this /\.

 

So analysing / theorising a bit more, a straight bar spanning the struts still gives you just a virtual box with no support. If one wheel hits a bump and tries to bend the floor (as David's diagram so neatly demonstrates!), a plain bar will just move up on that side instead of spreading the force over a larger area, like a steel sheet or X brace would.

 

The only advantage of a plain bar is when a giant pair of hands tries to pull the struts apart laterally. How many driving scenarios can you think of where that would happen? :D

 

It's probably why VW Motorsport used the Vento as for it's Cup Challenge car instead of the Golf, because it has the nice sheet of steel spanning the struts :)