Anyone have one? Worth it? What aspects of the suspension did it clean up, and what, if any, were the downsides? Im weighing a purchase in the future and want to know if my money will be well spent.

 

50 bucks for front and rear off ebay

stiffens the whole car up.
less body role
great mod After rear sway and springs

 

Less body roll? Never experienced that benefit from strut bars...maybe less body flex

But yes, get the eBay cheapies -- they're worth it!

 

Would you say the rear sway would eliminate body roll more than either of the STBs? Thats what Im looking to get rid of most

 

I would say that a rear anti-roll bar would reduce body roll far more than a tower bar since tower bars won't do jack for body roll.

I'd save the tower bars for last as they don't really offer the performance increase that mods like anti-roll bars, springs, and bushings offer. Of course though, as mentioned above, ebay sometimes has some cheap braces for sale which can be hard to pass up.

 

sorry i ment flex... but i saw an improvment in handling over all. but i got the stut braces after
F&R sways
springs
every bushing known to man

 

STBs do wonders for stiffening up older body Subarus, and I'm sure that they would help accurately locate your suspension on the newer bodies somewhat, even though Subaru increased rigidity more than 100% from the GC8 to GDA redesign. If you just tool around on the street then don't bother, but if you drive the car hard they are an absolute must IMO.

I would say that STBs (and soon after, bushings) should come before suspension, sway bars, etc. Great shocks and stiff sway bars won't operate anywhere near their full potential if the frame that they are mounted allows flexing. I bought a Cusco rear floor brace for BF Legacy wagon off of Ebay for $35 ($165 MSRP), modified it to fit my BG wagon as a rear strut tower brace and it made an absolutely HUGE difference - before the brace the body would load up like a spring during a drift (I could even hear the adhesive on the rear window seals slightly seperating) and often cause me to spin when it sprung back, but now it sits super flat and even teeters on 2 wheels when I jack it up!!

If you are going to bother buying STBs, try to find some that have a preload option like the Primitive "Cam-Lock" bar and some Cusco styles. Although my bar was cheap, I had modified it so that I had to preload it even just to make it fit, which eliminates the latency in unsprung movement and activation of the bar. I think that a lot of people feel that STBs are useless because they don't install them properly by preloading them, and therefore waste the potential of the modification (I used a pole and a jack from strut tower to strut tower to preload my non-adjustable bar).

To sum up the long explaination: Yes they are absolutely worth the inexpensive price, but they are only worth anything if you install them properly.

 

Preloading = put the bar on, jack up car, adjust and tighten bolts, lower car?

 

Yes...the Rear Sway Bar will do more for eliminating body roll.

 

I bought my front and rear off ebay for liek 75.00... I say go for it... They made teh car feel more neutral. Wasnt this biggest diffrence but for 75.00 it was worth it.

- Mike