I talked to Epstine last week about fender braces and i made one.

Today, my dad yelled at me about how un-useful they are, and what a waste of time for me to fabricate one.
I posted a thread about them in the General area, but people are stupid in there, so im asking people in here since people in here have brains.

Do fender bracing work?
The ones that are in trianglar in shape that hooks up on the door hinges.


http://www.sr20forum.com/showthread.php?t=138721
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/277830/11

 

yeah they are useful to reduce cowl shake but holy god that looks heavy!!

 

I have the Nagisa Auto ones and they're maybe 2 pounds at the most.

Is it safe to assume that your Dad has little to no experience with unibody or macpherson strut cars? The entire front of the car is suspended by the strut tops. When you take a turn, the strut tries to force the strut tower inwards and back. The strut tower takes care of the inward motion, but the fender brace works against the backwards force. Also in the 3rd dimension, weight suspended in the middle of the car will try to fold the car in half by the firewall. The fender brace will help here too, but the frame will absorb most of this force vector.

The S13 isn't exactly a BMW 5-series. You could brace just about anything and make a difference if you have stiff suspension.

 

I still can't see how this thing is helpful. It doesn't appear to be attached to the strut tower at all. I looks like it's bolted on to the door hinges and then to the door. I don't see how there could be any chassis flex there.

 

Check out the ones at splparts.com they look super nice.

They actually bolt to the door hinges which is one of the strongest parts of the car and then to the top of the fender well aka where the strut mounts.
I have heard they make a huge difference. 1000 times more effective than a strut bar. If you take your fender off that part of the 240 looks like swiss cheese. I am sure its supper flimsy. The S chassis flexes so much it cracked my dash when i got coilovers.

 

He thinks that if the car is capable of lasting 10 years w/o much problem, its a perfectly engineered car.
My dad is pretty old-fashion thinking hard headed cocky person.
Im completly opposite of him, hence why he doesnt like me as a son.

^ Thats the thing, it DOESNT appear attached to the strut tower. Just imagine, when the car goes over a hill at high speed, goes airborn, the 1st thing to hit the ground is the front wheels. The line right in front of the firewall is flexed. Think of a folder with binders. Even though that the car has a chassis to keep it stiff, it doesnt do a good job at it.
Ever wonder why 240s are so light? look under the car; almost everything is flat, and the frame isnt much of a frame at all.

 

It seems like with a quality strut tower bar/brace you wouldn't really need those. The bar pictured below (not my car) is welded together making it one solid piece, and much stiffer than a hinged bar. It also bolts to the tops and insides to the srut towers making it even stiffer. I am not sure if a bar like this esist for nissians though...

 

Strut bars arent what im talking about. I have them on my car, and they do work as i stated.

Think of your body. The body is the firewall, the arm is the fender. Now, strut bars would stiffen the elbow. Is there anymore movement? Sure there is, the shoulders. Fender braces keep the "shoulders" stiff.
Alot of cars/trucks dont have this issue like the 240 do.

 

So the purpose of the fender braces is to prevent fore/aft and up/down movement?

 

i figure if they dont weigh a ton, its not going to hurt anything. so why not.
but it would be last on my list, after sway bars, strut bars, coilovers, cage, and everything else.