Fitting Front Upper Strutbrace

[Chaz]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend somewhere in the Camberley area where I can get a front upper strut brace fitted. I am not to keen on doing the drilling myself. And I want to make sure that its treated properly so it doesn't rust.

Cheers

 

[UncleFester]

Just a thought on this, i used dynamat sandwiched between the brace and the suspension turrets to attempt to minimise water ingress.

 

[Chaz]

hmm,, now theres a thought.. still not sure about letting myself loose with a drill into the turrets tho

 

[UncleFester]

Depending how competent you are with a metal drill you should be ok, i opted out and got someone to fit it for me. Cost me £100 labour at a motorsport firm around here, took them an hour and a half to fit the top and bottom brace.

What i did notice was that the turret metal is MUCH thicker than i'd have imagined, looking down the holes they drilled, it looked about 4mm thick at least! They snapped 3 high tensile stainless steel self tapping bolts whilst fitting it.

Personally i'd take it somewhere and get it done, let someone else skin their fingers and wreck their sense of humour

 

[paul26982]

didnt know it would be that hard

 

[UncleFester]

It's like anything, if that's your line of work it's not hard work - i can build pcs .. i can wire hifi, i can do most basic car work up to changing brakes stuff like that, but when it comes to drilling holes in suspension turrets etc .. i'd rather leave it to someone who can do a better job than me and knows what to do if things don't quite go according to plan.

 

[Chaz]

so nobody knows anyone in the Camberley area then?

 

[cordobabrendy]

chaz if i was you id get better arbs and the s3 lower strut brace before tackling the upper, 2 reasons, the upper doesnt actually do an awful lot for a road car on normal roads and also if you get tapped on the wing by another car the upper strut brace will transmit this shunt to the other side which coul end up wrecking both sides of the car inadvertantly which your insureres wont be too happy about.
I had one one my last 16v and it really didnt make any noticeable difference on the roads, on track it did corner when i chucked it into the bends but that could easily have been down to the pirelli pzeros i was using.

 

[Chaz]

ok, so tell me about arb's then?

I have been meaning to get an S3 brace for ages, just not got round to it yet...

 

[Ruddmeister]

ok, so tell me about arb's then?

Different model same principles
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=91243

Also under guides here
www.leoncupra.co.uk

 

[Chaz]

Cheers for the link - ust had a read. Is it work fitting ARB's to the standard suspension, I have no plans at the moment to change the suspension. Also, is it the same fir on the LC and LCR (I have an LC)

 

[Ruddmeister]

Cheers for the link - ust had a read. Is it work fitting ARB's to the standard suspension, I have no plans at the moment to change the suspension. Also, is it the same fir on the LC and LCR (I have an LC)

Different parts same principles
More choice for the LC (H&R, Eibach, Neuspeed)
Can be fitted by you but unless you are handy on the spanners a Garage is a good idea

 

[daveyonthemove]

If you want to get an Upper strut fitted, get it done by someone who's paid to get it right.
Mine was a bugger to fit as i requested stronger bolts (better safe than sorry) and they had to be drilled in underneath to do a tidy job. Glad someone else was doing it for me.
If they get it wrong, they have to foot the bill to but it right, not YOU!

 

[Chaz]

exactly why I want to pay someone to do it...


Is it worth fitting ARB's to standard suspension?

 

[daveyonthemove]

Depends where you plan to drive it and how hard??
Personally i don't NEED any of my strut braces as i only drive on the roads, but i wanted tham and could afford them, so i bought them.
If your going to tear around a track most weekends, then you would probably benefit from getting them. Your choice at the end of the day mate

 

[UncleFester]

If you spend your time hammering around dual carriageways etc or doing only motorway miles it's probably not worth it. If you live out in the boonies and your daily drive is twisty A and B roads or in my case if you live on the UK largest gokart track .... then it is worth it. Or if you deliberately leave the motorways to go look for twisty A and B roads then it's definitely worth it.