Thought a $40 eBay strut brace was snake oil, then I ran it at Summit Point

I bought a cheap aluminum strut brace for my 2013 Focus ST off eBay for $38 shipped, mostly because I was bored and figured it was shiny junk. Threw it on in my driveway in about 20 minutes with a ratchet and some blue loctite. Did a track day at Summit Point last month and the front end actually felt tighter going into turn 3, less of that vague wandering I always had. I know butt dyno stuff is sketchy, so has anyone actually measured chassis flex before and after one of these, or is it all just placebo?

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faithj104h ago

Check the bolts on that thing after every track day because cheap aluminum flexes differently than steel and the mounting points take a beating. Most people don't think about what happens at the shock tower itself, since these braces transfer load instead of just stiffening things. If the bar is bolted to sheet metal that was never meant to carry that kind of stress, you can crack the tower over time and that's way worse than some body flex. The front end feeling tighter could be the brace, or it could be that you just got more seat time and learned the line better. Summit Point turn 3 is tricky and confidence there comes fast once you know the track. Take a good look at the welds and the tower metal every oil change just to be safe.

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