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

[Fred Munro]

Hi Tess;

The strut brace thread did the rounds a couple of years or so ago, so there
may be something in the archives. From what I recall, the general consensus
was that it did stiffen up the front end and help to maintain the geometry
under cornering loads. Some listers who installed strut braces on their Type
44s and 80's & 90s claimed improved handling. It's a factory installed item
on the UrS4.

Fred Munro
'94 S4

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tessie McMillan" <tessmc at drizzle.com>
To: "Quattro at Audifans. Com" <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2001 2:18 PM
Subject: what effect does strut-tower brace have on '88 80 Quattro? (and
other stuff)


> 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
>
>