DC5 Rear Strut Brace

[AdrianK]

I saw this pic from clerics for sale post

Are these mugen rears? They seem to fit without cutting any of the boot trim...

Are there any others that will fit without cutting plastic, i.e. spoon and does anyone have any pictures of them?

On second look it looks as tho you would need to cut some plastic even to fit these, but it looks very tidy. Does anyone have any pictures of any other rear braces, as i cant find anywhere to buy the mugen ones.

 

[Duncs]

i have an upper one that looks same as that one but mine is a J's Racing,
no cutting fits to the seat belt mounts

 

[AdrianK]

Have you got a picture of it?

I saw the j's racing on Unit 8 looks good.

 

[sh33n]

i have an upper one that looks same as that one but mine is a J's Racing,
no cutting fits to the seat belt mounts

Does that make rear seatbelts unusable?

Does it affect your rear view in the mirror?

 

[andyd]

Thats a Megan one....

$71.00 new as far as i know.

well the top one... The bottom is a Mugen, if you look at my profile i have one installed.

Andy

 

[Evs]

i have an upper one that looks same as that one but mine is a J's Racing,
no cutting fits to the seat belt mounts

Does that make rear seatbelts unusable?

Does it affect your rear view in the mirror?

I've got a K-One C-pillar bar in mine which is much the same. Answer to both these questions is 'no' - I can see it in the mirror but it's very close to the top of the seats and doesn't occlude any of the rear window.

 

[Evs]

Btw I've also got a Spoon lower one, but that sits across the floor underneath the carpet behind the seats, replacing a steel OEM one. It fits without cutting anything.

Here's a pic of Mike's (hope he doesn't mind ) showing Spoon rear lower and (I think) the Mugen rear one:

 

[AdrianK]

Hmmm that spoon one looks good if it goes under the carpet thatd be great, do you have a part number for it?

No worries i found it on unit 8 around £120, will it make much difference over the OE one?

On unit 8 the description says:

Spoon Rear Upper Strut Brace DC5
As per the front strut brace rear stiffness is also increased, improving handling, reducing flex and creaking noises within the chassis.

This sounds good to me as i have noticed some creaking from the back on speed bumps and slopes.

 

[Evs]

Part number? It's a Spoon rear strut brace :? They also do a lower one that sits across the rear wishbone mounts underneath the car btw

Tbh it makes very little difference at all imho - there's a steel one fitted there as standard and all the Spoon one does is replace this with a bling piece of alloy. And you can't actually see it unless you've stripped the rear out. Yes it's a much better design (and yes I've got one :lol: ) but whether you'd feel the difference is very debatable.

The C-pillar bar is a much better mod because it actually provides some bracing where there is none as standard. I fitted that after the Spoon one and thought it made the rear end feel more solid. The Mugen brace across the back looks like it would be a better mod than the Spoon one, because again it puts something in that isn't already there, but it would affect practicality much more than the others.

 

[JiB]

there's a steel one fitted there as standard.

Anyone got a pic of this? Mine looks a bit funny...got holes and whatnot in it..

Also have one under the rear seats...is this stock? Looks a bit aftermarket..

Also for performance wise I would've thought X braces and things under the car would do more?

 

[mikegsi]

the standard steel one isnt very pretty but obv does the job, i replaced mine with the spoon one, no cutting required, but have the main part of it sitting above the carpet so its visible.

wouldnt mind one of the higher ones but as they go at the upper seatbelt mounting point i think it would mean that the rear seatbelts would have to come out, which is no good for me as the young'uns recaro seat is secured by the seatbelt

 

[Evs]

wouldnt mind one of the higher ones but as they go at the upper seatbelt mounting point i think it would mean that the rear seatbelts would have to come out

That's not the case :roll:

Does that make rear seatbelts unusable?

Does it affect your rear view in the mirror?

I've got a K-One C-pillar bar in mine which is much the same. Answer to both these questions is 'no'

 

[CleRICK]

Does anyone have any pictures of any other rear braces, as i cant find anywhere to buy the mugen ones.

Here you go - Clicky

 

[mikegsi]

wouldnt mind one of the higher ones but as they go at the upper seatbelt mounting point i think it would mean that the rear seatbelts would have to come out

That's not the case :roll:

Does that make rear seatbelts unusable?

Does it affect your rear view in the mirror?

I've got a K-One C-pillar bar in mine which is much the same. Answer to both these questions is 'no'

doh!! :wink:

 

[Evs]

doh!! :wink:

Do you ever actually read other people's posts, or do you only have a 'transmit' mode :?: :roll:

 

[mikegsi]

i do read them, just sometimes not properly it seems!!

 

[AdrianK]

Would the spoon lower brace replacement be lighter than the OEM steel bar...

I need a reason to buy some more spoon goodness !

 

[Evs]

Lower brace? The lower brace goes underneath the car and is an additional part ie it doesn't replace an existing part, so you're just adding weight with that.

From memory the tower brace that sits at the bottom of the boot (shown in the pic) didn't feel much different to the OEM one - or at least the weight difference is not substantial enough to be worth £100 or so.

Do you mean you need something to spend your money on? Surely you can find something more useful to do with it than spending it on a part that you can't see and makes no discernable difference to the feel of the car... :idea: :lol:

 

[AdrianK]

Sorry i do mean upper as such, but i said lower as it was the lower one of the 2 on the picture!

There probably are better things, i just noticed a creaking at the back of the car and the 'bumf' for the spoon strut bar mentions that it removes chassis creak at the back.

Its probably rubbish then and not worth it, its just an easy part to get hold of and fit, and if it was going to make any useful difference id of bought it! I think you have cleared it up tho, no diff = not worth buying.

 

[Evs]

Hmm well mine didn't creak to start with so I didn't have a 'problem' to 'fix'. I just didn't notice any difference. It might be worth a shot if you've got a creak, although the OEM one is bolted together so I'd check that everything is tight before going any further?

I think you'd be better off with one of those Mugen braces (the middle one in the pics) or a C-pillar bar, as they add bracing where there isn't any as standard.

Not meaning to slag off the Spoon part, just my opinion based on what I found.