Upper Strut Bars. Which is the best material? Steel vs Aluminium.

[kaanage]

It is a common misonception that an upper strut brace is under compression during cornering. They are actually under tension. This being the case your above argument is actually not valid.

Its mostly above my head but this article may explain it for you a little better.
Isn't a strut tower bar under compression?

Interesting - my perspective of the effect of strut bars when used in competition has mainly been with rally cars where side loadings aren't quite so high and bump loadings are far worse. Still, the fact that most strut braces don't connect in a straight line from tower to tower (they usually need a couple of bends to clear engine components) makes me dubious of most alloy strut braces.

Thanks though - always good to have something pointed out.

[ByronRichesMk1]

If you havent done the lower bar then that is the one that makes a nice difference on a mk1 I think especially given they have no traditional subframe. If its steel youre after then TPR Engineering sell them

Okay thanks!
I'll go and have a look.. The one I was looking at was a Weichers one off VWHeritage because I need to put an order in.. Figured i'd throw it in the cart too.. I'll go look though!

[SMOK3Y]

the older & the more worn the car is the more itll bennefit. on my old VN commodore cheap strut brace made a stunning difference (they had shocking movement in their towers)

[gldgti]

in terms of the original question, I think the most accurate answer is this:

If you plot density against material stiffness, you will find that you can almost always make a more efficient structure out of steel than from aluminium. However, the nature of the component has a large part to play in the design compromises that always need to be made.

Nonetheless, for an essentially basic component like a strut brace, you will have far more success with little effort with steel than you could with aluminium. Sure, you could make a good one out of aluminium, but not without an aweful lot more work.

[hiho]

Yank physics.