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+--- Thread: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces (/showthread.php?tid=109)
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GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Eeyore - 05-12-2011
Adding a strut brace is one of the easiest things you can do on your car. A strut brace is designed to stop flex in the shell between suspension struts on opposite sides of the car. On a 306 and most other French cars there is little point of adding a rear one as the suspension is delivered by a torsion bar so there are no struts to bridge. One can be added between the two rear arches but they are difficult to come by and will be totally impractical if you ever want to put anything in your boot.
Most people use OMP Strut Braces. The uppers are about £65 and the lowers are about £55. It is widely debated as which one makes more of a difference. With a petrol you should be fine but if you have a diesel then your top mount intercooler (TMIC) will be in the way. A different shaped brace is needed that routes around the TMIC. Make sure you double check it will fit your car before buying.
Upper Strut Brace
Because you will be adding a upper strut brace there will be a few less mm of bolt bolted into the top mount of your suspension strut it is therefore VERY IMPORTANT that you buy the Extended Strut Bolts in order to regain the extra depth.
1) Open up the bonnet and remove the 3 bolts from each of the top mounts. If a bolt keeps spinning then its likely that the thread has gone and somebody has forced the bolt in. Feel the underside of the mount to make sure that someone hasn't put a nut under like they did on mine! Took a few days to work that one out! Last resort youll have to hacksaw or drill the top of the bolt off and either re-tap the top mount or buy new ones.
![[Image: 1z60b.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/1z60b.jpg)
2) Place the strut brace over the fitting location and adjust with a spanner so that the holes line up with the holes in the top mounts.
3) Get your extended bolts in! Be careful not to over tighten them! If your top mounts are old and rusty then you may find that you ruin the thread on the top mount. If the top mount holes have moved from the holes in the chassis its best to jack up the car and move the strut into position. This way there is no weight on the strut so you can easily align them and put the bolts in without damaging the thread and forcing them in.
On a 1.8:
![[Image: IMG_20111021_162711.jpg]](http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/srowell3/IMG_20111021_162711.jpg)
On a HDi:
![[Image: IMG_20121226_152447.jpg]](http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/srowell3/IMG_20121226_152447.jpg)
4) Tighten up the strut brace so that it pushes the struts apart. This is actually fairly difficult to do but as long as its on thats the main thing!
5) Step back and Admire your work!
Lower Strut Brace
If your car is low then YOU WILL catch a lower strut brace on something. Not going to lie. A friend fitted my lower strut for me and I drove ten meters and hit it on a speed bump bending it.
1) Jack the car up and remove the wheels. Use of Axel stands may be best for this! You dont want your car falling off the stands or the jack to fail so we put the wheels under the suspension arm/disks. This means that if it is going to fall... it wont fall far! However if you have nice wheels watch out for catching the paint like i did :roll: . Perhaps it would be best to use some steel wheels.
2) Remove the lower front wishbone bolts.
3) Place the brace and start to put the bolts back in.
![[Image: IMG_20111018_165749.jpg]](http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z327/srowell3/IMG_20111018_165749.jpg)
4) Do the bolts back up but make sure that you do them alternately to be on the safe side.
5) Wheels back on and admire! If you go for a drive and hear some clonking when accelerating or braking then the bolts may still be loose!
NB1: You will catch a lower brace on something no matter how hard you try!
NB2: Top Strut braces are good for show.
NB3: DTurbos need a different shaped brace as they route around the top mount intercooler (TMIC).
Re: Fitting a Strut Brace - Matt - 06-12-2011
anymore pics of fitting the lower?
i want one for mine but dunno if im too low
Re: Fitting a Strut Brace - ginge191 - 06-12-2011
any ideas on where i can get hold of a DT strut brace... cant find one...
Re: Fitting a Strut Brace - Matt - 06-12-2011
ebay? demontweeks?
Re: Fitting a Strut Brace - Eeyore - 06-12-2011
ginge191 Wrote:any ideas on where i can get hold of a DT strut brace... cant find one...
Not too sure mate. Ive done a search on ebay but nothing came up. I couldnt find one here but give it a go anyway and see what fits yours.
Matt Wrote:anymore pics of fitting the lower?
i want one for mine but dunno if im too low
Sorry mate I dont have any more. It was raining at the time. Next time I am under Ill try and get some close ups. If you have more than a 40mm drop I wouldnt bother. What happened with mine was I caught it on a speed bump and pushed it up. When I lay down the power the engine twists and the sump hits the brace. At the time I was told that it could damage my engine mounts however it seems to have sorted itself out over the past 3 months. Ill still be interested to see what the garage say when it is next in though!
Re: Fitting a Strut Brace - Matt - 06-12-2011
damn well im down 60 currently but will be going to 90 shortly so i wont bother then
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Eeyore - 09-01-2013
updated a little!
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Just Sean - 10-01-2013
Matt. I got a picture of mine. I'll whatsapp it now...
(06-12-2011, 12:08 AM)ginge191 Wrote: any ideas on where i can get hold of a DT strut brace... cant find one...
Message rippthrough. Think he makes them or is making them
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Rippthrough - 10-01-2013
Put the wheels under the sills, NOT the discs/lower arms. If it falls off the stands you don't want 6 inches of suspension travel to be used whilst you're under the car as well....
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Matt - 10-01-2013
(10-01-2013, 12:27 AM)Just Sean Wrote: Matt. I got a picture of mine. I'll whatsapp it now...
(06-12-2011, 12:08 AM)ginge191 Wrote: any ideas on where i can get hold of a DT strut brace... cant find one...
Message rippthrough. Think he makes them or is making them
Ahhhh this is why you sent me the picture haha.
Tbh I wrote that when I had the excesspie now I have the Rallye it'll be fine
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - 4WayDiablo - 10-01-2013
Your step one says to refer to NB1. NB1 doesn't bear any relevance to step one lol
RE: Fitting a Strut Brace - puglove - 10-01-2013
(06-12-2011, 12:16 AM)Matt Wrote: damn well im down 60 currently but will be going to 90 shortly so i wont bother then
MTFU i had one on my old 6 it eventually gets a nice flat spot
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Eeyore - 10-01-2013
(10-01-2013, 05:35 PM)4WayDiablo Wrote: Your step one says to refer to NB1. NB1 doesn't bear any relevance to step one lol
edited! no idea how that worked!
Re: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - rocker8742 - 23-03-2013
Got anymore lower brace fitting pics? I take it it fits over the 2 front wishbone bolts
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Eeyore - 23-03-2013
(23-03-2013, 01:02 PM)rocker8742 Wrote: Got anymore lower brace fitting pics? I take it it fits over the 2 front wishbone bolts
yep that's all it is Tom. Ill be fitting it to the estate soon so Ill get some better ones then!
Re: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - rocker8742 - 23-03-2013
Took a couple doing mine if you want me to stick them up mate
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Eeyore - 23-03-2013
yeh sure.
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - no2lurch - 29-03-2013
This is giving me ideas for my car!!!
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Lolben91 - 03-05-2013
![[Image: 59381_10152304201350062_1148516802_n.jpg]](http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/59381_10152304201350062_1148516802_n.jpg)
lolwut?
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - tigerstyle - 04-08-2013
Will a lower brace fit a hdi with the plastic under tray attached?
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Eeyore - 17-09-2013
No idea. Who runs an undertray anyway? You mean the dropped tool collector right?
Re: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - rocker8742 - 17-09-2013
Lol if the hdi one is the same as the gti i don't think it will
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - tigerstyle - 19-09-2013
(17-09-2013, 05:17 PM)SRowell Wrote: No idea. Who runs an undertray anyway? You mean the dropped tool collector right?
For the MPGeeeeeZ man!
It's certainly caught a few bolts for me before when I've been under the car as well!
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Eeyore - 20-09-2013
Just so everyone knows... on a HDi it makes access to the oil filler and the sump plug difficult!
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - c.gerrard - 31-03-2014
Where does one get extended top mount bolts from?
Struggling to find some!
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Piggy - 31-03-2014
There was someone on here selling them, I got mine about a year ago.
Although I now need a new custom inlet coz the 2.1 jnlet fouls the strut brace
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - bigcheez2k3 - 28-05-2014
Cheers for this, fitting mine this weekend and was wondering whether I needed to jack it up or not.
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - tigerstyle - 29-05-2014
(28-05-2014, 06:31 PM)bigcheez2k3 Wrote: Cheers for this, fitting mine this weekend and was wondering whether I needed to jack it up or not.
Just bumping two wheels up the kerb is enough room to slide it under and fit it.
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - C2K - 29-05-2014
(31-03-2014, 10:27 AM)c.gerrard Wrote: Where does one get extended top mount bolts from?
Struggling to find some!
Seriousl, there must be a fasteners suppliers, decent motor factor etc in your town. They are not hard to find and cost pence not pounds.
RE: GUIDE: Fitting Upper & Lower Strut Braces - Toms306 - 29-05-2014
(28-05-2014, 06:31 PM)bigcheez2k3 Wrote: Cheers for this, fitting mine this weekend and was wondering whether I needed to jack it up or not.
For a top brace? Nope....just don't move the car with the top mount bolts out lol.