[kneo_ghau]

Soo seeing a strut new strut brace costs £66 delivered from tuning.co.uk, is it worth getting one? I know they're meant to tighten up the suspension but do they actually do anything usefull or not?

And why couldn't i just get a strong bit of steel pipe and some welding done instead, which would be a lot cheaper :Cool2:

I'm assuming fitting the brace is a case of un doing some bolts and bolting on the brace as well, nothing too advanced or time consuming it would be worth taking it to the garage for.
Cheers

 

[Chris McC]

Have a read here..

http://209.85.50.7/~cavweb/showthread.php?t=16195&highlight=brace

cheers.

 

[OPEL_VAUX]

i would

ive sen Chris's (ChrisMcC) car on the road and i can confirm that if you follow his advice you will have a car that grips and handles as well as any modern day performance car if not better, you really need to see it in you mirror on tight twisty welsh bends to appreciate it and on the day i honestly belive it was nowhere near the limit that it could handle.:fauxcul:

 

[Jaybooze]

Chris,how much did you have in reserve on your car's road grip when you were following me out of Bala the other day? I've been reading your comments on strut bracing on another forum which is interesting.

I have never fully explored the limits yet on my V6,but I was going up to my known limits.

Also it would be good to hear your opinions on Auto vs Manual,as I should think we gave that a bloody good comparison.

Dont forget my extra weight and.the dog weighs 33KG ! Jerry.

 

[bigdrifter]

As far as the bolt on Strut Braces that you buy off the shelve are concerned, I found no difference on the front of my old Cav although it does make a difference on my GTE

 

[kneo_ghau]

Looks like i'll add it to my list of things to next buy. Not gonna get one straight away, i'm still waiting for my exhaust manifold to arrive at the moment!

Cheers for the advice though

 

[CavHopper]

can you still get these Lexmaul ones then? Where? how much?

 

[Jason]

The Cavalier chassis is very flexy by modern standards, jack the car up and try opening and shutting the doors. On a previous Cavalier I could feel the steering mech twisting on tight corners, the strut brace cuts this out period, and makes the front so much more positive.

ive sen Chris's (ChrisMcC) car on the road and i can confirm that if you follow his advice you will have a car that grips and handles as well as any modern day performance car if not better, you really need to see it in you mirror on tight twisty welsh bends to appreciate it and on the day i honestly belive it was nowhere near the limit that it could handle.:fauxcul:

I was behind Chris also, we were dropping sometimes a quarter of a mile back behind each other and flooring the car into corners, then slowing after we caught you up, then repeat again. We started doing this in the forest section of road. Strangly on the day we never talking about car mods, but my SRi is modified more then I think you realised.

 

[Chris McC]

ive sen Chris's (ChrisMcC) car on the road and i can confirm that if you follow his advice you will have a car that grips and handles as well as any modern day performance car if not better, you really need to see it in you mirror on tight twisty welsh bends to appreciate it and on the day i honestly belive it was nowhere near the limit that it could handle.:fauxcul:

Cheers:beer:

 

[Chris McC]

Chris,how much did you have in reserve on your car's road grip when you were following me out of Bala the other day? I've been reading your comments on strut bracing on another forum which is interesting.

I have never fully explored the limits yet on my V6,but I was going up to my known limits.

Also it would be good to hear your opinions on Auto vs Manual,as I should think we gave that a bloody good comparison.

Dont forget my extra weight and.the dog weighs 33KG ! Jerry.

Hi Jerry,
To be honest in the corners the car had loads left, I was trying not to push you too hard in the bends incase I looked like a physhco as we had only met an hour previous. I think I would have pulled away pretty quickly if I was leading. It was quick enough though, hehe.

It was brilliant going with you on thse roads. I will remember the day forever. You drove the car very well, I was laughing out loud when I saw your car get out of shape a couple of times braking into the tighter turns, my god you were trying to get away, and going some at points! For a standard V6, all good stuff, and fast enough that I lost sight of jason in my mirrors pretty soon after we set off

Straight line performance of your car, impressive also. if I took it to the redline I was pulling you in ok, otherwise, allowing my car some mechanical sympathy, there wasnt much in it.

I was saying to jason after, I bet the dog was shouting "EASY LEFT, EASY RIGHT!" in the passenger seat, either that or shatting its pants!

If your in Derby the offer stands, come over for a cuppa and well go for a drive etc.

 

[Jaybooze]

Chris,fine. Its hard leading because one does'nt know the performance of the following car and driver on first acquaintance,but it was an excellent run. As I said at the time its holiday season in Wales and there are many drivers who are,understandably, watching the scenery more than the roads and I will never take risks on bends where I can't see the road ahead.
Maybe next time I will bring the Ex-Bill Senny and see how that goes,maybe you leading. Jerry

 

[Jason]

I lost sight of jason in my mirrors pretty soon after we set off

You lost sight of me because you both overtook a Merc doing 50 on the straight, by the time it was my turn I had only blind corners to overtake on. I decided to leave you to it, then risk an accident.

 

[OPEL_VAUX]

Do You Still Have Pics Of The Day As I Have Lost Mine And I Know They Were On Here Somewhere But I Cant Find Them

 

[Bachrun]

And why couldn't i just get a strong bit of steel pipe and some welding done instead, which would be a lot cheaper :Cool2:

I saw a thread on here where someone described how they made their own strut brace.

If you don't want to go to the trouble of making your own, you could search ebay.de - I can't remember the German for "strut brace" but it's easy enough to find the right bit and look through. Remember to search for Opel Vectra A. German ebay tends to be quite cheap, and postage is not unreasonable (in fact, it's sometimes cheaper as German sellers don't seem to bump up their postage costs). This is all from what I've read/seen in the past. Haven't been on their recently, and haven't actually bought anything from Germany.

Edit: Quick Example

http://cgi.ebay.de/GT-Cupline-Sport...ryZ44158QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Budget 40mm drop suspension. Total (including postage to GB) - £120

What would a GMax 40mm suspension kit cost here?

Edit again:

Strut Braces:

http://cgi.ebay.de/Domstrebe-hinten...ryZ70179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Some of the non-ebay-trader auctions will mail to GB (if you don't want to use "buy it now", and would rather try and get a better deal by bidding).