Jaricho

Tom's does not make a Front Upper Suspension Tower Brace for the GS300. So I'll have to go for something else. I'm wondering what your opinions are on other brands that make this part. Who makes the best brace?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

umm..... don't ever use the word best..... imho there is never a best. there is no categories or scores, etc... for it

for gs3, i think you have to take off engine cover for sure. i think rmm will fit, ugo would fit too. trd i think you need to add spacers

PHML

iTrader: (33)

Jaricho....

You got a 2001 GS300...like me. RMM will fit if you remove your engine cover. I put spacers on mines to bump it up a bit to keep my cover.

Maybe someone else can chime in on the Ugo strut bar.

Pete

Neo

iTrader: (3)

The UGO won't fit over the engine cover either. If you want to go full aftermarket though, LXOGOOD used to have his UGO with an IPT CF engine cover. The IPT one seems to sit lower but will only work on 01+ GS cars (which I believe you have).

Jaricho

Yep I got an 01', thanks for all your help guys sorry Rominl for the poor word choosing I just wanted to get some opinions on what others thought worked well.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

nah, no need to apologize. it's just that when i first read it i sat there for 15 secs not knowing what to type coz' i was trying to figure out the definition of best

DetMich1

Rominl,
I take it that you mean that each of the available STB's are different in their feel and characteristics. Therefor what is "best" in one situation or set-up may not be "best" in another. Are there any objective ways of evaluating these suspension/handling upgrades? Is there a "rule-of-thumb" for the order or combination they should be added? i.e. do you upgrade sway bars before adding STB's? What about LCB's should they come only after STB's etc?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

ummm, bunch of very good questions. i will try to post my comments on them. not necessarily 100% right, but it's good discussions i think

is there an objective way of measuring. well, depends on how "broad" or "narrow" you want to make the comparison. if you just want to get pure stiffness. then yes. a bar that's as thick and as solid as you can get, that's the best. so that means bars like trd and toms, they are good. rmm and ugo (i will just use the common ones for comparison sake), they won't be as strong coz' they are not one piece, but 3 pieces instead. no matter how tight you tighten up the bolt, it's still a moving part.

now, is the stiffest the best? imho no. it will add some weight to the car. eventually a bar will get so heavy (just to get stiff) that it will affect both accel and handling of the car. yes this is extreme case, but that means no one can set a limit on what's "stiffest" in that sense. also, the whole idea of this suspension thing, yes, is to make the car stiffer as a box, but to certain extend you still want "some" degree of flexibility to create more grip. it's just like saying you have sway bars to tie the left and right wheels together. then why not just weld them together? no, you want some flex, you still want them to start flexing after a certain point.

see the difficulty now? after that there MIGHT come the factor of shape. different shape has different structural advantage and probably some disadvantage for different environment. what's the best? i dont' know. plus, also keep in mind, most of us are getting these mods for DAILY STREET driving. not for track, not for a 1 hr crazy driving fame. so if you get couple of bars (for example) that fits on the car, you run the track, find the best time. so you say that's the best bar? i don't think so. you drive differently on the road. you actually make 90 degrees turns that are a lot tighter. the roads are not as even as that on the track. etc.... all these you will have to factor in too

last of all, there are so many suspension parts and setup (stb, lcb, sways, coilovers, wheels, brakes, bushings), how can you say a bar is the "best" given that all the other suspensions are also part of the equation. meaning, a bar that works perfect on my car might work aweful on yours coz' you have different wheels and coilovers.

that's why if you go out and look at a race team, there is a WHOLE team of people just on suspension. they create a WHOLE suspension that they think is the BEST for a PARTICULAR track. yes it's THAT specific. it's an art, it's not just formulas and numbers. that's why they are getting high pay.

so bottom line, the way i see it, it's just hard to say what's the best. there are so many choice of wheels, brakes, coilovres, bars, etc... for the GS. you will just have to go out and be guine pigs and see what's the best for you. yes i think ALL of us are guine pigs coz' none of us try everything to see what's the "best" for our daily drive.

about sequence, imho, it's probably more like common sense to first do coilovers and sways. change the wheels next.. then y ou start to add braces and bars here and there. that's the big picture of the sequence i would do it. but if you ask whether you should do stb before lcb? it goes back to line one of this post -- what do you have on your car? when you drive what do you think is loose? if you have a lot of support at the bottom already does it make sense to do something to the top? am i forgetting about the rear coz' i just got something for the front? do i go on uneven road way too much to put on braces which will put too much stress on the body?

sorry for the long post, but it's something we can all think about