slotting the strut towers

[Bernie Benz]

Rob,

Your terminology is all wrong! The strut tower is a integral part of  
the chassis. My car has four, L and R, F and R.
There are two common types of upper suspension/ chassis stiffeners.  
The strut brace and the tower brace, their titles being descriptive  
of their basic differences.

The tower brace is a chassis reinforcement, tying the two towers  
together by some means, often just cosmetically.
For any stiffening device to be effective it must be an order of  
magnitude stiffer than is the structure being stiffened.

The strut brace is a suspension reinforcement, tending to equalize  
the top suspension‘s lateral cornering force between the two sides,  
thus reducing, halving this latteral force exerted on each chassis/  
tower side. Further, it can be used to preload the upper vibration  
isolation bushings (which now see only half of their design load and  
resulting defection), for further latteral stiffening and added  
positive camber.

The design problem with adjustable camber plates is the necessity to  
move/ relocate the thrust bearing in order to move the strut rod any  
further out of concentricity with the spring than the stock camber  
adjustment allows.

Bernie



On Aug 1, 2008, at 12:04 PM, robert weinberg wrote:

> Thanks Bernie.
>
> it sounds like your strut tower is the real answer? teach me, does  
> the strut tower basically push the strut towers outward to fix the  
> negative camber? the sheet metal will flex that much?
>
> sounds like the be-all-end-all answer is adjustable camber plates,  
> but the 2bennett ones are like $595. i'll deal with some excess  
> tire wear and rotate the tires a lot for that, eh?
>
> are there any cheaper camber plates?
>
> Robby
>
>
>
> --- On Fri, 8/1/08, Bernie Benz <b.benz at charter.net> wrote:
>
>> From: Bernie Benz <b.benz at charter.net>
>> Subject: Re: slotting the strut towers
>> To: centaurus3200 at yahoo.com
>> Cc: "200q20V mailing list" <200q20v at audifans.com>
>> Date: Friday, August 1, 2008, 11:35 AM
>> Rob,
>>
>> To slot the 3 holes in the tower for the 8mm studs holding
>> the strut
>> top bearing plate one must drop the strut assembly lower in
>> the tower
>> for round file access. The strut assemblies need not be
>> removed from
>> the tower just dropped down for file access. One can only
>> gain about
>> ¼” or 5/16” by this slotting before the upper spring
>> seat hits the
>> tower side wall, but do move the strut until this contact
>> occurs.
>> This is not much of a positive camber addition, ¼” in
>> about 24”, but
>> every little bit helps and a very simple mod. Apply your
>> trig tables.
>>
>> Bernie
>>
>>
>> On Aug 1, 2008, at 10:13 AM, robert weinberg wrote:
>>
>>> hi all,
>>>
>>> UPS finally found the koni/H&R combo i bought from
>> chris at force5.
>>> what an ordeal - lost in indiana.
>>>
>>> anyway, i'm going to drop the car off at my
>> friend's shop this
>>> sunday. does anybody have a decent write-up on the
>> procedure to
>>> slot the strut towers?
>>>
>>> from my research, it seems if i did nothing, the
>> H&R combo would
>>> run about -1.5 degree camber even with the struts
>> adjusted to the
>>> max. not god awful, but -1 or less would be better.
>>>
>>> the 200q is not my daily driver, so when i do hop in
>> the driver's
>>> seat, it will be for something fun, like carving up
>> highway 1 ;-)
>>>
>>> see ya,
>>> Robby
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 200q20v mailing list	
>> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 200q20v mailing list	 http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v