UPPER strut brace poll

[Willie]

Get stainless steel if you can, make sure you get a paint stick to touch up the cut.

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

wheres the best place for the m12 nut n bolts then ,

my m8 was going to fetch his riv nut tool home to sort mine out , but not sure to use them or the nut n bolts

 

[lordgibbness]

I've been looking into rivets vs bolts and from what I've read rivets will support stresses parallel to the drilled hole, but are best for stresses perpendicular to the drilled hole. Bolts on the other hand are very good with stresses parallel to the drilled hole.

So it's a case of what is the strut doing - is it working to stop verical movements or sideways movements?

Storm Developments seem to think rivets will work well (and say BMW use them for their struts) but I think the strut is working to reduce vertical movements so I might insist on the bolts option...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strut_bar

 

[Willie]

I would and did go for bolts.
The forces are shear forces, the problem with rivets/drive screws is getting these tight so there is no movement. With bolts this is not a problem

 

[lordgibbness]

So by shear forces you mean the two towers are trying to move away and towards each other... so if they do put rivets in properly it would actually be the optimal solution?

Edit: The wiki article says that when you can access from only one side (in this case the engine bay only) blind rivets are usually used (but then goes on to say they are not very good for structural joints). I'm starting to think to take away any possibility of future problems I will go the same route as you JS.

 

[Willie]

So by shear forces you mean the two towers are trying to move away and towards each other... so if they do put rivets in properly it would actually be the optimal solution?

Edit: The wiki article says that when you can access from only one side (in this case the engine bay only) blind rivets are usually used (but then goes on to say they are not very good for structural joints). I'm starting to think to take away any possibility of future problems I will go the same route as you JS.

Theres not much less hastle in using drivescrews or rivets than bolts.
Bolts can be removed easier aswell.

 

[cordoba lad]

I went for Riv nuts they are perfectly fine to use you just need to make sure that the nut is tight in the hole you drill. There will be quite a bit of force exerted on the bolts but the force is split between however many bolts there are. As long as you use a sensible size bolt you will be fine, I've used m8 which is what the S3 brace is held in with on the Audi (they won't have got it wrong) anything bigger than that you will start to find it hard to colapse the riv nuts. I found the nut and bolt option a real faff so went for the riv nuts because if you need to take the brace off for general maintance then its just a simple case of unbolting.

 

[J0N]

'Riv Nuts' if fitted correctly are exactly the same as standard nuts so far as the stresses they can endure, in fact lateral movement is less likely. Also they can be torqued as normal. The only draw-back is that one'ce they're in, they're in for good rather like captive or welded nuts. I also used 8mm with stainless bolts, flat washers and spring washers.

 

[lordgibbness]

That's a point actually - how is the Audi S3 brace attached at the factory? Anyone had a look?

 

[D.K]

The TT ones are just bolted on.

 

[cordoba lad]

The S3 top mount has three M8 studs which locate the brace and they are held in by M8 nuts

 

[lordgibbness]

So both Audi braces are M8 bolts then...

 

[lordgibbness]

I had to vote on this thread in the end - just had my upper strut fitted and it feels a lot more planted when cornering now. Very happy with it!!

I'm glad I got the garage to do it for me though as it was quite a fiddly job...

Firstly on the o/s there was an additional piece sticking out (that must attach to something on the S3?) but caused a problem as it was rubbing against the water line in my car - this had to be removed and we also put some rubber tubing around the water pipe.

Then on the n/s the brace was rubbing against the bonnet lever so had to remove some here too. I went the bolt route in the end - high tensile steel bolts and nuts (wurth) and large washers.

They did a very good job and it looks good to boot!

 

[Willie]

And next on the mod list is.........

 

[lordgibbness]

LOL. I'm hoping nothing more now!

Any faster and I'll be in jail - got stopped by the rozzers in an unmarked vectra on the way back home during my 'remap' test drive! Luckily he was a good bloke and actually commented on how nice the car looked before letting me carry on... phew!

 

[Willie]

We'll see, let us know when your ready to speak about ARB's and better brakes

 

[lordgibbness]

I could definately see the argument for better front brakes... must resist!

 

[Willie]

Its a huge difference. Initially a bit expensive but once you buy the kit its just as cheap as the OEM Brembo discs to replace