[BlackbeastSS2]

Here’s a good review of a install for ZL1 owners that are thinking of adding the strut tower brace. Not 100% sure if Matt is on board and might not recommend it but who cares what Matt thinks. I don’t.

BMR Suspension STB020 Strut Tower Brace 2016-Up Camaro Front Single Tube Stainle

“Purchase Washers if for a Camaro ZL1
So it showed that this product would fit my 2018 Camaro ZL1, Um not really...... So I installed it and there was about 1/8" from my Supercharger to the bottom of the Strut Bar. So when I accelerated at all the movement of the motor would cause the Supercharger cover to hit the bottom of the Strut Bar (bad rattle, noise and would cause damage to the cover). I bought washers and along with the thick washers that come with the bar had to add about 4 washers per bolt to lift it enough to clear the Supercharger cover when under power or acceleration. The washers are not ideal I would rather have something that looks more like it was made for the bar but they are not too noticeable and they do not cause a problem with the integrity of the Bar. Now the bar is up high enough but not too high that it hits the bottom of my hood, if it did that I would have returned it. So giving it 3 starts as I like the bar but not happy about having to take it off several times to modify the height and then it not looking the way it should with the washers. I posted a picture with it before the washers so you can see how close it sits too the Supercharger.”

[Msquared]

Originally Posted by BlackbeastSS2

Here’s a good review of a install for ZL1 owners that are thinking of adding the strut tower brace. Not 100% sure if Matt is on board and might not recommend it but who cares what Matt thinks. I don’t.

It's okay if you don't. I'm still going to point out that if you have to shim up the brace using washers and spacers, then you just made the attachment point far weaker than the actual strut towers, and maybe even weaker than the brace.* Instead of preventing all this mythical divergent strut tower movement, you're now just bending the bolts that attach the brace to the towers. So I'm not quite sure why you posted that.

*Actually, I never even brought up the fact that a small piece of bowed aluminum can't possibly resist very much force in tension or compression. The idea that this brace is somehow going to add significant stiffness to the front chassis that was designed from the start to be torsionally stiff and to keep its shock towers aligned with each other is laughable. I guarantee if you put the same 200lbs (see my example above) of compression force on that brace it will bend, whereas the shock towers won't.

Again, if you want to believe the GM site's marketing team, you're free to do so. But let's not sit around and pretend that somehow these braces have been proven effective. They haven't. You've been given statements from the lead engineer of the car, who had access to all sorts of relevant data, and I've provided the knowledge from a leading motor sports engineer. Here's a good thread that started 19 years ago discussing this. Note that there are multiple vehicle engineers and at least one professional crew chief in there. Note that multiple people actually tested strut tower deflection on real cars, and the result was either: 1) no measurable deflection on an old BWM old chassis, 2) a few hundredths of an inch on a Merkur designed at least 40 years ago, or 3) one or two thousandths of an inch on a 4th-gen Camaro (which is much flimsier than a 6th-gen). Also note that Jack Hidley, an actual engineer with a well respected aftermarket company (of which there are far too few), mentions that they make strut tower braces for cars that actually benefit from them. Go to their site and you'll see that they are all for Fox and SN95 Mustangs, nothing later (because later cars are much, much stiffer); and they are all designed to actually triangulate to the firewall, which definitely does something. But the brace we're discussing here is on a car with no measurable movement between the towers, whereas cars designed in the 70s (Fox/SN95) and 80s (XR4Ti) did have a little. And this brace doesn't triangulate the towers to the firewall, which is the only real purpose for a tower brace.

If you think this GM brace actually does something on a 6th-gen Camaro, prove it: measure the divergent shock tower movement of a 6th-gen Camaro without a brace (i.e., how close or far from one another they get as forces are applied to the tire contact patches). Then bolt one of these pieces of bent-aluminum on and measure it again. There are plenty of shaker rigs available that can simulate any force you think is relevant. Let us know how it goes.

[Jaxcam02]

Originally Posted by Msquared

It's okay if you don't............

Honestly, what you said in your first post was sufficient. I can agree with all you said. What is not going to work is posting the same thing over and over again to try to get people to change their minds. Not trying to instigate, but I know how the car forum world (and people in reality) are hard wired. Emotions run high and everyone backs themselves further into their own corner on both sides and nothing positive gets added to the conversation. Just a bunch of unnecessary pages added to the thread and the rest of us sit back and read it all for personal entertainment while you all get at the other person.

[BlackbeastSS2]

I am not mad, I think it’s funny he has to keep trying to get his way and change my opinion.

I think he should try the vulcan mind meld on me next. I must resist his power. Scotty hand me the strut tower brace.

BTW Matt I stopped reading your replies about two posts ago. They are too long to read and hard to take mentioning the same statements over and over. I get it your pro non strut tower brace.

[Jaxcam02]

Originally Posted by BlackbeastSS2

I am not mad, I think it’s funny he has to keep trying to get his way and change my opinion.

I think he should try the vulcan mind meld on me next. I must resist his power. Scotty hand me the strut tower brace.

BTW Matt I stopped reading your replies about two posts ago. They are too long to read and hard to take mentioning the same statements over and over. I get it your pro non strut tower brace.

oh lord haha.

[Msquared]

Originally Posted by Jaxcam02

Honestly, what you said in your first post was sufficient. I can agree with all you said. What is not going to work is posting the same thing over and over again to try to get people to change their minds.

Nothing I posted in the last post was the same as the info in the prior one. I provided additional info because someone said that the assertions that these braces do nothing are "based on absolutely nothing." Then someone else mistakenly said that the ad copy for the GM part was based on input from an engineer, which proves it "works" (whatever "works" means). Ergo, it made sense for me to "bring the tech," as they say. Nobody has to read it if they don't want to.

I don't have any emotions about this: I'm just trying to provide actual info so people can make up their own minds. I am well aware that BlackbeastSS2 isn't going to change his opinion: he's dug in and refuses to read or comprehend what I wrote. That's fine. I'm providing info to those who actually come to this thread to help them decide whether to spend their hard-earned cash on this brace or not. That was the original question from the OP:

Originally Posted by jimbumbee

Does a 19 or 20 stock 1LE benefit from a shock tower brace. Thanks.

Some here are incorrectly saying or implying that it helps with performance or "feel," and so I'm providing the evidence and reasoning that it does, in fact, not. The info is there for those who want it, and especially for the OP.

[BlackbeastSS2]

Matt is so full of shit. Take a look at this article and pay particular attention to the picture below.

“General Motors employees formed the GM Performance Driving Team, the group set its sights on dominating CAM-C with a new Camaro SS 1LE.“ So these guys no what they are doing, Matt take a look at the strut tower on the 4 cylinder 1LE. I am sure it’s not there for the hood up car show. It actually helps and you spew that it doesn’t.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/ar...r-cylinder-ca/

[Matos1LE]

Originally Posted by BlackbeastSS2

Man U sound butt hurt.

My point was directed at the guy that said a strut tower brace would not fit under the hood of a ZL1. Besides they have all stated a minimum gain and I said I would take that gain no matter how small.

But nice long winded reply.

Quoted you by mistake and my response was intended for Robbybeefcake... I see you have an aversion to reading though, interesting...

Originally Posted by BlackbeastSS2

I am not mad, I think it’s funny he has to keep trying to get his way and change my opinion.

I think he should try the vulcan mind meld on me next. I must resist his power. Scotty hand me the strut tower brace.

BTW Matt I stopped reading your replies about two posts ago. They are too long to read and hard to take mentioning the same statements over and over. I get it your pro non strut tower brace.

Translation "Derp, I don't read good, stay away from me with all these facts and science! Here's an excerpt from a marketing department person trying to sell me a strut bar and I think it justifies my love for the strut bar! I just want bright blingy things to keep my mind engaged."

We get it, you're pro strut tower brace and no one cares to change your opinion. We just have to point out it's WRONG so that others who don't know better don't get led astray. Same as debating antivaxxers so they don't win any more converts...

[Msquared]

Originally Posted by BlackbeastSS2

Matt is so full of shit.

I thought you weren't paying attention to anything I posted anymore?

Take a look at this article and pay particular attention to the picture below.

Yeah, I've met those guys and I've seen the car in person. They had several goals in mind for that car (and the ATS-V that followed it). One was to gather info on the car and its calibrations. Another is to use it as advertisement for GM and some of their aftermarket parts. But you do realize they work FOR the engineer who told all of us that the camber brace does nothing for this car, right? Again, this stuff is easy to test, especially when you're GM and have access to all the FEA models they used to develop the chassis. Why don't you ask them how much measurable difference they found when they tested the car with and without the brace? Go ahead, I dare you. We want the numbers that prove this Wonderbar does what you claim.

[BlackbeastSS2]

Oh Matt dares me. Lol. Psst Matt it’s a Strut tower brace not a wonder bar. You are confused, there’s a difference between these bars.

I am actually thinking Matt is taking this seriously. Your turn Matt

[2004YZFR1]

I added one just for looks and I had some free GMC money to use from the car purchase. Everyone likes a little eye candy.

[Boost Creep]

[NeverDie]

It's like reading an early 2000s Honda message board in here

[Boost Creep]

We aim to please!