what effect does strut-tower brace have on '88 80 Quattro? (and other stuff)

[Tessie McMillan]

Hi listers!

All these problems I've had with street (and now competition) tires on my
Quattro at SIR -- where I chunk JUST one tire: the right front -- have
started me thinking about any more things I can do to stiffen the front of
my car to even out tire wear. I have to admit I learned to drive on a
friend's '87 911 Carrera that was totally bulletproof. So these problems I'm
having with the Audi are ... challenging. And sometimes frustrating. No, it
really BUGS the HECK out of me that I ruin specifically one tire and one
tire only in half a day when I run at the track -- elevation change or not.

A friend of mine who is a mechanical engineer claims that adding a
strut-tower brace to my car would not help tie the two sides together. His
opinion is that the firewall already provides this stiffening, and since the
strut towers are so close to the firewall, adding a strut-tower brace would
not be increasing the stiffness beyond what the firewall actually does.

Does anyone have any comments on this? I DO have Blaufergnugen's 22mm
anti-sway bar in the rear (which is AWESOME, I HIGHLY recommend it). If I
added a strut tower brace, would this undermine the improvement I've
achieved in the rear? I've also lowered the car all around, but I have not
stiffened it. Should I try stiffer front struts? Or do I need to go with all
four stiffer struts?

Take care -

Tess
in Seattle, WA, USA