A strut tower bar, also known as a strut brace or strut tower brace, is a pretty common upgrade on many cars and many cars come with one from the factory. However, the question keeps coming up of what a strut bar actually does, is it worth it, and how does it work? Strut bars are designed to tie the tops of your struts together, to reduce chassis flex which improves handling, acceleration and braking. Strut bars are available in many different configurations – front upper, front lower, rear upper and rear lower.
Jason over at EngineeringExplained created an excellent in depth video to show how a strut bar really works, and how it does the most for vehicles with a MacPherson strut suspension setup.
What is the difference between a one piece strut bar and the one in your video? The one in your video has the bar bolted to the plate that attaches to the top of the strut tower. The one in the video seems like it would have a lot of movement where the bar attaches to the plate almost like a hinge. Whereas the one piece bar that directly attaches one strut to the other. Please explain.