Howdy,
I thought I was done fixing up my suspension, then I learned about front and rear strut tower bars. I've read that they reduce chassis flex and make cornering tighter, but I've also read that depending on the rigidity of the car, they could make little difference. Has anyone installed these on a neon and noticed any difference in handling? They look cool and are pretty affordable, but I don't want to spend the money if I'm not going to feel a difference.
Thanks

 

I'm sure they'll help on a Neon. It's not like these things were built to do any sort of aggressive cornering to begin with.

 

Sweet, I'll start working on that then. What's your opinion on DIY tower bars? I've read about guys fabing them out of electrician's conduit.

 

You can find them for like $30 on eBay, or you can spend a bit more for a better one. Ii imagine the eBay ones get the job done because tons of people buy them.

If you think the supplies and your time to make it will be worth less than $30, go for it I guess.

 

If your car didn't come with an aftermarket rear sway bar that should help reduce your body roll too.

 

Yeah, I already put on a rear sway bar. That was a nice upgrade. I'm just leary about the cheap tower bars on Ebay and Amazon because they're aluminum. I'll either save up for a DC which I think was like $120, or if I do a DIY and it turns out good I'll do a write up.

 

It's not like they're a thin piece of aluminum...

 

-Yeah, there is a pretty decent looking front strut brace I just looked up for $27.99 and free shipping in the US. Kind of hard to beat that deal unless you just like messing around and making things, which I totally understand.

L8R,
Matt

 

Yeah, I like making stuff =]
If the weather holds up, I'm going to dig through some old junk piles on my dad's property and see if I can find some material. If not, I might try using conduit. I don't like the idea of using aluminum in an application where it'll be stressed and compressed on a regular basis. I can just see it warping. I'll see if I can dig up some reviews. If they're good I might just go that route. Thanks for the input guys.

 

-I'm pretty sure the aluminum tower braces are thicker than regular ol' conduit. If it's heavy walled or even solid aluminum bar stock, I really think it will out-perform conduit braces. Or what you could do is make a set from conduit and use that as a pattern to build a stronger set.

L8R,
Matt