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

[passat TS]

Tessie,

Have you thought about the current geometry of your car?

I would start by checking it very carefully.
Another lister suggested checking the suspension components, and he might be 
right. A bad strut bearing can cause a variation on the geometry under track 
stress while might not show anything wrong at the alignment rack.

Another thing that comes to my mind. How is the ruined tire? Was it wearing 
on the inside, outside, all. It can tell you a lot about the camber, tire 
pressure, and other components to look at.
You might want to do the shoe polish thing or better yet check the tire 
temps.

Brakes can also ruin a tire. Are you locking that wheel?

It is tough to give you an opinion without seeing it, so this is just food 
for the mind.

Carlos.


>From: "Tessie McMillan" <tessmc at drizzle.com>
>To: "Quattro at Audifans. Com" <quattro at audifans.com>
>Subject: what effect does strut-tower brace have on '88 80 Quattro? (and 
>other stuff)
>Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 11:18:59 -0700
>
>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
>

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