Front/Rear Upper/Lower Strut Brace Priority

[AntneeUK]

I can't seem to find this answer anywhere so I'll ask what I'm sure has been asked before already:

Am I right to understand that there are 4 possible strut braces that you can fit to an LCR? Front and rear, upper and lower?

Also, I've read some people say that the front-upper one stops the car from under-steering as badly, yet in another thread I read that just having the front brace will cause the front end to be too stiff and causes more under-steer.

So, if I could only get hold of one at a time, which order should I get them? And is there anything else that should be considered in between (ie should an ARB be fitted between fitting a certain pair of struts)? Already looking at replacing the engine mounts etc, where should this fit in to the process, if at all?

Cheers guys

 

[DPJ]

LCR already has front lower.

 

[AntneeUK]

Thought it did. Is it any good?

 

[DPJ]

Thought it did. Is it any good?

Perfectly adequate.

Get an Audi S3 brace for top front (audi dealer)

Hughes Engineering rear (upper) brace.

 

[Ronin225]

I have read for the lower rear strut brace people use an integra front upper brace
Not seen many people with them though

 

[AntneeUK]

So, fitting an upper front brace first is fine? I shouldn't do the rear first?

 

[james walker]

do rear arb before doing any braces... id do rear arb, front upper and then see if it warrents rear upper, id say not.. go for 28mm rear arb and im sure youll be happy enough. combine with uprated bushes

 

[AntneeUK]

Cheers James, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Which bushes are you referring to by the way? I always assumed there was only a couple of bushes in a car but I see now that there are loads all over the place (or are you referring to all of them? ). I'm planning on doing the engine mounts/dog-bone soon, probably in February.

 

[james walker]

id do dogbone, engine and tranny mounts from ths... then look at tt front wishbone bushes, new top mounts(mileage dependant). fairly cheapish mods.

but rear arb, other than remap is best mod for the cash mate.

if you have lcr, then another good upgrade is the r32 front arb. id prefer the front arb upgrade and rear arb upgrade over the strut braces all day long mate.

r32 arb is circa 100 quid dealer part, 23mm iirc, lcr is 18mm so good upgrade.

 

[DPJ]

do rear arb before doing any braces... id do rear arb, front upper and then see if it warrents rear upper, id say not.. go for 28mm rear arb and im sure youll be happy enough. combine with uprated bushes

I'd agree with that.

 

[AntneeUK]

OK, cheers guys, that's pretty much bang on the advice I was hoping for.

So, the plan is...

1. THS mount kit
2. TT front wishbone bushes
3. New top mounts (bushes?) car is 97k miles old ATM
4. Rear ARB
5. R32 front ARB
6. S3 front upper strut brace

Am I right at that?

 

[AntneeUK]

Right, it's taken me some hunting to find this old thread, but I think it's time to dust it off and get myself going again.

A few weeks back I bought J0N's S3 top-front strut brace (not yet fitted) and last week I got my redundancy pay out from my last job (and I'm working again so it's mostly spare cash). Couple of things to pay off but if there's enough left over then I'm going to look at spending on the THS engine mount kit, TT wishbone bushes and the two ARBs. If there's enough left over then I'll give Hughes Engineering a call. Just need to get them all fitted, and I'm clearly not qualified or skilled enough to do so myself.

Thanks for the pointers guys

 

[Slimy]

Sorry to butt in on the thread, but I'm a bit confused about the thinking behind the bushes. I can see the logic behind doing the wishbones bushes, but why are you doing the engine mounts?

And there's also no mention of the rear ones, I thought the rears were particularly prone to weakening and failure on the Golf platforms. Especially at the mileage of your car?

 

[AntneeUK]

The reason I'm doing the engine mounts is because of wheel-hop. I could ease off, sure, or I could change the engine mounts to allow me to do it faster Quite a few people have commented that it made a significant difference and it's a reasonably priced mod.

If you have any feedback please do butt in

 

[gazR]

ive got THS mounts (FR3) and recommend them, mine used to be terrible for wheel hop since i mapped it, anythin over 4k ish would shake the hell out of the car. since fitting, tyres can still spin due to crap tyres but its stopped wheel hop on mine. well worh doing antee

 

[ChrisGTL]

I did both upper struts to my TDI and in all fairness the difference was minimal....

I'm only doing the ARB's on my LCR this time, i've learnt by my mistakes on the TDI..........

 

[Slimy]

Sorry for ignorant question number two, but what is 'wheel hop'? My old Cavalier used to bounce up and down when accelerating (particularly from standstill), it was almost like there wasn't enough force to hold the tyres on the tarmac. Is that the same thing?

 

[ChrisGTL]

Sorry for ignorant question number two, but what is 'wheel hop'? My old Cavalier used to bounce up and down when accelerating (particularly from standstill), it was almost like there wasn't enough force to hold the tyres on the tarmac. Is that the same thing?

Yes. Uprated dog-bone bushes reduces it

 

[Slimy]

Yes. Uprated dog-bone bushes reduces it

Ah, now I understand, thanks.

 

[AntneeUK]

Right, this weekend I'm hoping to track down the bits I want and start ordering. James, thanks for your help via PM, I shall let you know when I get the bits. Still waiting on a quote from J0N's mate.

So, the TODO list:

1. THS FR3 kit: Will get that ordered first
2. TT front wishbone bushes
3. New top mounts (bushes? Can someone confirm? Needed?)
4. Rear ARB: Any particular one to look at first? "Do a search"?
5. Front ARB: R32 item (Mk4 I assume?)

Then get the lot plus the S3 front-upper that I already have fitted