I know of one way to install them, was told to do so in another method by a friend...need advice here.

my way;
seat the car on the ground...meaning no jacking up of car or anything, then loosen the strut tower nuts, slap on tower braces and tighten nuts back on....then enjoy!

friend's way who said this is "preloading"
jack car up till wheels are off the ground and shocks / struts are extended...then loosen strut tower nuts and slap on the brace...tighten nuts as much as possible with the car still on the ground then lower it and tighten it even more!

so which is which...whose right / wrong, what is the correct way to install and preload strut tower braces?

thanks for all help

 

jacked up, the allignment will not be correct, and then you will be "fixing" the car in a non-correct allignment. I would think it would be best to do it with the car packed on a level surface.

 

Install it with the car sitting on the ground. "Preloading" I donno actually does anything.

-Shing

 

nm

 

instructs to install on the ground.

 

Is put way too much stress on the studs that hold your upper strut mount to the strut tower. They are meant to be withhold tension (the tightening of the bolts to the tower) not shear strength (the <--- --->) force. You are asking for trouble by putting horizontal force against these relatively weak studs. If you torque them to approx. 80 ft. lbs they will snap. Think about it.
Otherwise, what good will it do by putting force on them and then tightening them down? The entire idea behind the strut tower brace is to Triangulate the front suspension. Eliminating the strut towers from moving (flexing) in relation to the suspension. If you eliminate all flexing, you will break something, more than likely the studs or the strut mount. Do it your way, tell your friend he's wrong.

 

Jim:
I agree with your recc for installation, but aren't the studs going to be under shear loads during normal function of the bar? I thought that was how they worked.

I suppose these could be insignificant in comparison to what's applied after he lets his car down.

Just a thought.....