Damian in NJ

It arrived yesterday, pretty good-they drop shipped it from BK, which is an hour or so away. The picture is a tad misleading, there are two interfacing brackets that will need to be connected-the image makes it look like it's a direct bolt on without any additional parts. As seen on the other thread, Raj will be doing a photo essay on the install for the new 968 specific how-to site, and I'll give comments on (any) improvements on chassis reaction.

Jason Judd

Damian,

I, too, am very interested in your impression of this piece. Please let us know what your impressions are. I appreciate you're being the leader on the first purchase from this group!

Raj, thanks for agreeing to do the photo essay on the install...

Happy holidays to you both.

Jason

SpeedBump

Did you find any other Cross Braces out there besides the BK?

Damian in NJ

Mark, I know of no other 'under car' braces except for the BK. As you know, KLA and Cargraphic sell strut tower braces that do not require removal of the Porsche vanity cover-other stb's available will need to have this removed.

And always be careful fitting stb's, each car is different and plenty of us have dented hoods . . .

Dynatech is working on a couple of different stb's, I don't think they have any ready yet.

SpeedBump

Thanks Damian that's what I thought. From past experience on other cars I would rather try the lower cross brace before the STB but hadn't heard of anyone using it.

Mark

Damian in NJ

As the car requires an alignment after installation I'm having the brace installed by Eurotire, noted tire and suspension/cornerbalancing gurus in my area, on Wednesday morning.

Damian in NJ

Brace installed, car is now more tight-this thing works. I also had them move the sway bar to full soft, since adding the strut tower brace and lsd the car has been oversteering a bit too much for my taste. Lots of fun, you lose a bit of ground clearance, but because it's behind the front wheels it shouldn't affect much at all.

RajDatta

Damian, making the rear swaybar soft would add oversteer. What essentially is happening is that the rear is even softer now and will give in more than before. If you didn't like oversteer before (rear giving in compared to front), it will only add to it. Have you tried pushing it a bit? How do you like the setup now as far as understeer/oversteer.
Maybe Bruce or someone else can correct me on this but wouldn't going soft on the rear swaybar add oversteer? That is why they go full soft when its raining, no? Or sometimes even remove rear swaybar.
Raj

Damian in NJ

I told them to make it oversteer less, which it is. Those were my words, not theirs. I'm going to go drive over my 'test route' which should let me push it even more.

flash968

softening the rear swaybar should decrease oversteer

there is a nice little chart on the paragon site that tells you what things do what in handling - definitely very basic, but it is good at pointing you in the direction you want (pardon the pun)

have you tried going over driveways and such yet? have you bottomed out yet? how much ground clearance did you lose?

Jason Judd

Flash,

I think Damian was talking about getting his front sway bar adjusted, not the rear.

Jason

SpeedBump

I wouldn't think softening the front one would make as much sense as softening the rear.
Damien thanks for beta testing this thing. I am very interested in hearing about your test drive.

Mark

Damian in NJ

Handles great, Mark-and having dialed in some more negative camber stopped the rub I'd get from the right front at one bump on my 'test route'. Jason, the MO30's don't have an adjustable front, softening the rear is the only way I could easily dial out some oversteer-Raj, I think you confused front and rear somehow.

I'm upgrading to a new front strut brace soon too-details to follow, a new more substantial bar than the KLA I have on now, that will retain using the vanity cover.

RajDatta

Damian, with the new strut tower brace, the car is going to look as nice in the engine bay as the outside. I can't wait to get one myself. I should be ordering them tomorrow. I just could never get myself to buy one of those KLA deals.
Raj

pieball

Damien, a little OT, who did your lsd? What did you go with? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks, Lincoln

P.S. I didn't know there were fitment issues with different stb's? Explain.