Dale Gribble

I've heard two conflicting opinions on the use of strut bars.

1) The chassis is already uber stiff and not worth the 250$ that they probably cost.

2) The C2 chassis isn't as stiff as the C4 chassis and thus it wouldn't hurt to throw them on.

Your thoughts/comments?

Mr. C4

Save your money!

Dale Gribble

hehe, that's what i thought. its not like these cars are civics with steamship body roll and flex

Chrisp3

"DeAd-EyE" what color is your interior? It looks like it might be Space Grey. That's what color mine is and Iv'e never seen another like it. If the seat deal falls thru...please contact me. Thanks

J.Seven

On my previous car, a 1997 Boxster, I put front and rear strut brace, and it made a noticeble difference, manely the rear strut. Boxster came from factory with front struts, but even so, it made a difference. At time, there were other Boxster owners who made the move with positive feed back. Might be a different story on the 996. Anyway, I can feel the chassi more rigid with the hardtop put on.

J.Seven

Carrera Mike

I'm not sure of the 99s, but the 02s already have factory braces that runs from the strut towers to the center of the firewall(behind the battery). I would think all 996 have it.

Chads996

Carrera Mike - take a snapshot of that. I want to compare. Please...

C.

J.Seven

I must say there were made by Porsche reinforcements in the 1998 Boxster model, and most of them were in the rear suspension and upper part of the engine assembly, so that 98 models could use 18" wheels. 1997 moels were not allowed to have 18".

J.Seven

Carrera Mike

No problem. Give me 2 hours though. I'm still at work, I'll take the pix as soon as I get home.

J.Seven

Those were exactly what Boxster models had. All 996 have them too.

J.Seven

Dale Gribble

i think that might be the flash/lighting. it looks very black in person.

i'm curious as to what space grey looks like. can you pm me pics of ur car?

Carrera Mike

Sorry it took a while but here you go. Its those black tubes running from the tower braces to the center of the firewall, behind the battery. This is much better design than the aftermarket ones(IMHO) which usually attaches to one side of the strut tower only which causes twisting motion/stress to the towers/struts. Like I said, this is a MY02. Hopefully all Model Year of the 996s have them and like J seven said all 986. So, I'd say save your money for some other upgrade.

arenared

The dome struts are the same 996 P/N for both Boxsters and 911s at least circa late 90s. I wouldn't say the Boxster (being a convertible) is uber stiff, but it does already have front strut bracing. IMHO, the construction of the aftermarket ones don't look that beefy.

A while back, I did find a P/N 996.343.042.00 at http://www.lindseyracing.com/986sus1.htm (an old page I bookmarked ages ago) but my inquiring leads me to believe this is either a Motorsports part or doesn't exist. I inquired with Motorsports but got not response. The GT3 guys say they don't have it, and a dealer couldn't find it either.

If it does exist, I would be interested since Porsche probably wouldn't make it for no reason.

Dale Gribble

hmm...i'll check my car for that when i work on it this weekend
if not, i'll have 2 order them and install them.

edit: i'll look up the part # in my PET now.

Dale Gribble

the part number isn't in my PET. i have update 160.

the closest thing i found was 996.343.041.xx (stabilizer bars) and 996.343.043.xx (bilstein struts)

stabilizer bars mean sway bars right? or are those the strut bars? its hard 2 tell because my monitor's resolution is forked.