I thought it would be a good idea to have a poll to see what people thought of the x-brace. Note, I'm not talking about any one particular BRAND, just in general, I would like your take on this modificaton.

I would love to have honest appraisals about the differences, or lack thereof, before and after whatever brace you put on your car. Get as specific as possible. If you can think of a situation that you really feel some kind of difference, post it. I'm very curious about this...I'm looking forward to your responses.

 

Any tricks or problems installing the Digrappa X-brace?

Install time?


Mine's on the way. Thanks in advance...

 

Driving conditions dictate how much of a difference you're going to feel. If you're dropping a kid off a soccer practice, you're not going to notice too much. If you're autocrossing, you'll notice a huge difference.

I have a DiGrappa X-Brace, which is very well engineered (probably over-engineered) and is a great price/performance impact.

Now, that said, I haven't installed the DiGrappa X-Brace, but have had them on many other cars - a stiffer chassis is always a good thing!

Regarding installation issues with the DiGrappa, I screwed mine up, but its not the brace or bolts its the dump user factor. I'm not a mechanic, I'm not technical and should never consider approaching a car with any tool - I'm a driver. So, I monkeyed up one of my chassis bolts. The afternoon that I did it, I also got a call from Mark DiGrappa, who was very concerned about my predicament. The other plus to the DiGrappa is that you can't beat the customer service - from anyone!

 

S2KXLR8N, yes, I understand the concepts of a stiffer car, how that handles better. What I am driving at is if this modification does that.

I want to know specifics. How is turn in effected? Is there an impact in oversteer/understeer? What EXACTLY is this brace doing and how does it communicate those things to the driver?

That's what I am looking for...

I don't want to talk theory, I want real world, practical, results-oriented descriptions of the changes this brace makes and the degree to which it makes them.

I have the Spoon brace...FYI.



BTW, I was raised in Friendswood. We lived in Quaker Estates on Earlham St. Where are you?

 

It feels like to me that the car now corrects itself on turns alot more and feels more sturdy on turns. I have the Spoon xbrace, rear brace, and strut bar, no springs or suspension.

 

Greg
So that you can find out the comparison for youself, on your car, I would suggest asking Luder if you can use his when he gets it later this week. Then you can test against the Spoon, mine and none at all on the same car, with the same driver. All of this would be seat of the pants, but it may be noticeable enough to come to some conclusion. BTW the car DOES flex that much, because unless you jack the car up completely level from side to side (within .5 inch or so), the braces will not fit, well at least mine will not.
Let me know what you think?
Mark

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mdigrappa
[B]Greg
So that you can find out the comparison for youself, on your car,

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gregstevens
[B]I want to know specifics.

 

Greg
I would love to give my input, but I feel that most of the board would think that my opinion is biased, which it very well may be. So I will leave the opinions up to those that have one, or in some cases even two of the three braces that are offered.
I am sure you can understand, as well as relate.
Mark

 

The theory behind the operation of any of these braces is to reduce chassis flex. Therefore, the stiffer the brace, the better it works to keep the chassis from flexing. If the Digrappa brace is the stiffest, then I'd say it's the most effective. However, the only scientific way to verify this is to measure the torsional rigidity of each brace and compare the results. The brace with the most resistance to flex will provide the most noticeable improvement.

How do car makers measure rigidity when they claim a that a new car has a "xx% improvement over last the last generation"? Is it only done with a computer simulation?