Those who have Tanabe Strut tower bar, does the bar touch the engine cover?

 

no it does not, but it will if u take the black spacer cover thats factory it will touch.

 

I did not put the spacer back on. Is it suppose to? Or doesn't really matter?

 

Yes u have to and thats the reason it wont touch the cover.

 

I was thinking about adding the Tanabe Strut Tower Bar but it appears you have to remove the AVS metal covers? I've seen that thread where a custom cover was 3D printed but it wasn't price effective to sell. Are you guys with the Tanabe STB just running without the metal covers on? I'm afraid the front AVS motors might fail one day due to them being exposed.

 

My STB does not touch the under hood insulation or the engine cover.

 

In my opinion, the hood on our cars seal very well. I don't think the actuator will fail prematurely and that the cover is there for aesthetic reasons. The actuators aren't very expensive either and are easy to replace even if they do fail.

 

Did adding the bar make a noticeable improvement in the handling?

 

I would rather do sway bars but I can't find anything

 

Tanabe has a front sway bar replacement for our car

 

some pics for stabilizers . scroll down past the exhaust.


http://www.tanabe-usa.com/rnd/category/Lexus-GS350.aspx

 

I just installed the Tanabe STB and it touches the engine cover...just barely though. I left the black spacers in too.

 

Can anyone tell me after installing the bar, was there noticeable diff in an F-Sport?

 

No I took my stock covers off, I dont see the need for them. And you just have to adjust the strut so it won't touch the cover. Mine is adjusted perfectly without touching.

 

I checked with Meraki Motorworks and Tanabe doesn't sell sway bars for the GS-350. They experimented with it, but did not go into production, for whatever reason...