Purchased one from Ebay for $2.50 + $20 shipping brand new. Came unassembled. The bar, by brute force, seems to have a tiny bit of flex to it. Figured it would do as good of a job as most (especially for the money). I take it that the nuts should be torqued down 29-40 lb-ft. Is this correct? If so, shouldn't that equate to about hand tight + one half turn? I destroyed one of my struts in the past by not torquing. Anyone else purchase one of these? If so, I'd like to hear a few comments. Thanks in advance for any help/info.

Derek

 

The "otto" strut bar is the same as the stillen strut bar.

 

yup..looks exactly the same to me..but tell you the truth, i can't noticed ANY performance...but its just there..so i can say..oh..i have a strut bar..yadi yadi yada

 

well, if it is the same as the stillen strut bar, that is good since people pay 120 plus for the stillen and i paid 22.50. If i notice nothing, it will still be nice looking. If i notice a difference, i'll feel like Trump.

 

I have the otto. When torqued down properly, i can definitely feel the difference on a stock SE suspension. The front end feels a little bit more rigid and flexes less.

 

I have it also, and I believe I torqued to either 28 or 38. no problems, though. Love it, looks good, and yes Stillen replica.

 

i dont have a torque guys, ya think hand tight + 1/2?

 

that sounds about right... i torqued to 35 and it took no effort. being my first time using a torque wrench i wasn't sure what 35 ft lbs would feel like and it turned out to be even less than i figured it would be. the haynes manual recommends 29-40.

my '98 has its stock SE suspension and is in extremely good shape. the bar has no discernable effect at low speed but at 75+ on the mountainous, twisty, poorly paved back roads around here it is obvious.

 

you have any pix of the bar? is it the 4th gen specific or 5th gen "stillen knock off"? The 4th gen otto is ugly as hell, but the 5th gen bar looks OK. i like the straight bars myself.

 

^^^isn't the 4th gen straight? it is straight horizontally, but has a little bit of a rise verticall. but wouldn't any bar have that in order to clear AC lines and such? throttle body? (or is that further forward. sorry, I don't have my car infront of me right now.)