littlebear
Member
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- 2017 Mazda CX5
I've seen a front tower strut brace on a CX5. What do they do ?
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Tower braces offer extra support when the vehicle is used for extreme side stresses in activity such as racing. This is my take and they offer nothing for an CX5 used as a daily driver. Ed
Could you post photos? I don't know which bolts you mean.True. As a matter of fact, the CX-5 comes with a lightweight strut tower brace. It's located under a shroud just aft of the strut towers. Perhaps with racing rubber mounted and on a grippy surface this lightweight brace could be over-whelmed but for normal use it's more than adequate and it has been crash tested. A stronger aftermarket brace could conceivably compromise the frontal impact performance.
I had a medium clicking noise on hard cornering. It only happened occasionally but sounded like a "tick" or "tock" sound that happened sometimes shortly after initiating a sharp turn at slower speeds. I traced it down to the bolts holding the OEM brace to the strut towers. Tightening them up made the sound go away (and it hasn't returned in a years time). I suspect these bolts were too loose as the brace is bolted on after the car has been painted.
They reduce flexing between the tower struts in cornering, which can help keep wheel alignment in check while doing a hard corner. Over time the little stresses can cause mm of movement in the shock tower (and if you keep your car long or drive it hard, could actually affect alignment). If you put a stb on a car, cut it down the middle and jack one side, on most cars the bar will become uneven; basically this is an illustration of what a rigid (not hinged) stb does, on a much smaller scale. It's not something you put on your car and notice a huge difference like say a stiffer sway bar (on a worn out old car probably but not a new one). They (braces) also become an absorber in an impact. Potentially preventing/lessening chassis damage depending on the bar location/hit.I've seen a front tower strut brace on a CX5. What do they do ?
... It's not something you put on your car and notice a huge difference like say a stiffer sway bar (on a worn out old car probably but not a new one)....
Could you post photos? I don't know which bolts you mean.
he is talking about the black bar. It doesn't connect with the strut itself though, just the welded tab on the inside of the tower. It seems to be more for supporting the cowling.
he is talking about the black bar. It doesn't connect with the strut itself though, just the welded tab on the inside of the tower. It seems to be more for supporting the cowling.
Bolting a strut brace to the strut tower is the same as bolting it to the top of the strut because the strut tower is very stout and integrated into the rest of the chassis.
In the other application (OEM) the force is expected to follow a load path from the strut to the tower through the tabs into the "OEM brace" and vice versa on the opposite side. The OEM brace is not centered on that load or the load path, neither are the connection points. All of which create eccentric loads in those members. That is not optimal for this application, and can create problems with fatigue over time.
A direct strut brace would be MUCH better.
* I said possible fatigue of the members (the brace is a member, as are the towers).It's pretty obvious to me you don't have a good idea of the forces involved or the strength of the components at hand. If you did have a grasp of what's involved here, you might take issue with the rigidity of the OEM brace itself. But to suggest that the mounting location is at risk for metal fatigue is just absurd.
By your reasoning, the strut brace Chris installed has a worse issue with eccentric loads on the centers of the strut towers. If you compare the photos above you will notice that the OEM brace transfers the load directly in line with the center of the strut while Chris's brace does not. But this matters not one whit due to the rigidity of the entire area at the top of the strut towers.
And I think these differences make it clear that the OEM and aftermarket braces are clearly NOT the same, although they perform the same function to a point.
Considering you still have the stock brace in place, and added another steel brace, I'd bet you likely never have to worry about those towers moving (unless there's a catastrophic failure).Well my bar is steel, so it's heavier (not that it's "heavy") but in comparison an aluminum bar of the same thickness will be about half as strong.
And who cares about the strength of the brace once forces get so high that other parts of the vehicle are being destroyed?
Considering you still have the stock brace in place, and added another steel brace, I'd bet you likely never have to worry about those towers moving (unless there's a catastrophic failure).
Hopefully things like that never come flying off, if they do then all bet's are off for sure.
I have to say, that since I'm not planning on racing my CX-5 (autocross or rally lite are possibilities for this car I think), or doing any "serious" off roading (some light duty trails are definitely on order though) then the stock brace would be just fine for me. But if I was going to partake of those activities, I'd certainly add a good heavy duty brace to keep things square. At the very least it's very good peace of mind.
....I have to say, that since I'm not planning on racing my CX-5 (autocross or rally lite are possibilities for this car I think), or doing any "serious" off roading (some light duty trails are definitely on order though) then the stock brace would be just fine for me....
Before anyone plans real off-roading they surely don't want to increase rigidity and stiffness. Off road you want flexy, compliant suspensions to which another STB would add nothing. If anything you'd want to take off roll bars, lengthen shocks and springs to increase travel and lift for ground clearance, air down tires that are hugely plus-sized to stock CX-5 low-profile rubber.
Maybe your 'off-road' idea is different from mine, but I can't see a CX-5 ever seriously considered for off-roading. In the New Mexico national forests and desert mountains I used to roam there's a lot more to do to make a CX-5 even adequate... but never good or likely to go where I liked to because swapping the entire power train to a 4x4 with proper lo-range xfer case and rear diffie that takes over 50% of the torque is kind of not practical.
I'd totally limit any the CX-5 to 'lite off roading'... short trips across a level pasture to a picnic spot and excursions onto sandy beaches. The problem with most any off-road trekking adventure is you start off OK but things go south really quick, especially due to weather changes and trail conditions since your last trip. You have to be able to trust your vehicle to get you out, so you can't start off with a fair-weather 4-wheeler. It has to be up to the worst even if you don't plan on it. And oh yeah, your trail buddies are not going to enjoy pulling your sorry ass out of every mud puddle. They wanna trek, that's what they came for!
I'd want my suspension to flex, not the frame.