Ks320

That's what I feel -- keep in mind I do not have any real technical background in mechanical engineering though.

chuhsi

This is the main reason why I would want an X-brace, but I don't know if it'll really work for this application.

Another question that comes from this is if the X-brace puts more stress on other parts of the car that weren't designed for the additional stress.

mic_crispy

dmz

The structure itself will no loose the ridgidity with time. However, other parts like suspension, body panels, interior panels does get loose with time and hence it make the car feel looser. But the handling should remain like new as long as you are running fresh suspension.

Smoothieboy

Men lose structural rigidity as they age. At least there are prescriptions for that.

RED MX5

Looking at the high X-bone frame I have a hard time seeing how an X brace is going to make a difference in rigidity.

jelliotlevy

Oh, goodness, loss of rigidity with aging is not a subject this 67 year old guy likes to approach. I would bet that what is perceived as loss of rigidity in an S2000 is most likely wear and tear on bushings, shocks and other suspension components. The frame is steel, and absent serious rusting or traumatic damage, I would be inclined to think that its characteristics are essentially permanent, i.e., various bending moments and resonant frequencies should be absolutely constant.

Ks320

I was just thinking the X-brace would "tie things up" better in the front, since there isn't really anything that goes around the X-brace area except for the bar that sits in the front-most area of the frame in the image in your link. I would imagine that the front-most bar would be one of the factors that make ordinary strut bars useless in the S2000.

There is nothing that truly runs diagnally in the frame. Please bear with my lack of technical vocab here; the car does not only flex in the front/back or right left direction. When a car takes a hard corner, I would imagine that the frame of the car flexes in the manner that's similar to that of a paper, when you hold the top right corner and bottom left corner and twist the corners in opposite directions. Imagine building a square frame out of chopsticks, and then put two more chopsticks diagnally, you'd feel that the latter feels harder to "twist" per se (of course, provided that you are gluing the corners together).

Anyway, again, my lack of technical background may not help in the subject matter, and may point to the wrong conclusion. I actally am curious to find out about this myself as well. Every time I drive over crappy roads I wish that I had the X-brace to keep things in one piece (not putting it on so I can take the baby to AutoX). If the X-brace doesn't help ... then I guess it'd make me feel better

Ks320

Hmm ... I was thinking that the X-brace would hold things tighter together, which increases the threadshold of where the metal would start to "bend." For example, when you wiggle a paper clip, it weakens and eventually snaps. However, if the threadshold, or the force needed to make the paper clip to start wiggle, is higher, then the paper clip would not wiggle as easily, and would therefore last longer?

RED MX5

[QUOTE=Ks320,Jul 3 2006, 04:41 PM]I was just thinking the X-brace would "tie things up" better in the front, since there isn't really anything that goes around the X-brace area except for the bar that sits in the front-most area of the frame in the image in your link.