get the spoon strut bars

 

Meh, the Spoon bars are overpriced.

A strut bar for the most part, is just a strut bar. No need to spend a huge amount of money on some obscure JDM brand, unless you really get satisfaction from having a "designer" part when a more affordable one will do just as good a job.

 

It's true that most bars will function similarly. However, if I were selecting one, it would be a 3-point (triangulated) bar such as Carbing or Benen. Will the extra point provide a noticeable increase in stiffness? Perhaps not, especially when driven on the street, and especially since such effects are nearly impossible to objectively measure, but the additional cost for either bar isn't really tremendous.

 

As I understand them, the triangulated strut bars kick ass and do add that much more stability, BUT they'll bump you right into SM class in Auto-X.

 

Even if you spray them flat black? :dunno:

 

They're a daft bunch, y'know...

I'd check out the Neuspeed strut bar... 4 point, but since it doesn't triangulate with the firewall, it's Auto-X SP legal

 

Triangulated bars are a no-no for any sort of reasonably modified car in SCCA Solo-II if you want to be in a normal class. But, if you want it for the supposedly uber cool JDM bling, go for it. I find it hard to believe that it's really worth the extra hundred bucks or more over the Neuspeed bar which is totally legal and is only $120 at its most expensive. I'm sure if some Japanese company came out with the same design everyone would be all over its nuts and speaking loads about how the 4-point bar is the absolute best way to go.

Oh, and SP is sort of a diagonal step up/away from STS. If you're on street tires you want to be in STS.

 

There's nothing JDM about Benen, and no one here has mentioned anything about wanting "bling y0" (with the possible of the admittedly overpriced Spoon pieces). If you need to keep the car in a certain auto-x class, then obviously you should select a bar that allows you to do so. However, if you'll be using the car for other forms of racing/tracking (or even on the street), ~$80 for the additional rigidity that a triangulated bar would provide would be a welcome tradeoff for many people. It's one thing to be anti-"JDM-hype", but when a product is designed well and functional, what difference does it make where it was made, even if it is Japanese?

 

No, Benen is not a JDM company. It is a US company that sells overengineered parts that aren't really necessary to folks who think they stand to gain something by purchasing a whole ton of different braces.

I highly doubt anyone is really going to be able to tell the difference between a Neuspeed bar that bolts to all of the front upper control arm mounting holes, and a Benen bar that mounts to the sheet metal and the fire wall. 80 bucks is still 80 bucks.

 

I find it a bit interesting that you complain when a part is underengineered/overpriced (e.g. the Spoon bar, or other "JDM bling"), but then also complain when a part has been, as you put it, "overengineered". I personally like the fact that there are companies that don't subscribe to the philosophy of "good enough" and that offer such "overengineered" parts. In the end, no braces are "necessary", so why purchase one at all?

In addition, if there were no noticible effect/advantage of running a triangulated bar, why would the SCCA bump racers out of their class because of them, as you pointed out?