On my old RSX, I had every chassis brace known to man. Carbing, Mugen, Comptech, Do-Luck, Spoon, Tanabe, J's Racing etc, etc. Front, rear, lower, upper, middle, pillar, etc, etc.

Many similar parts are popping up for the TSX, so I thought I give my opinions on how they were on the RSX:

J's Racing Fender braces: small but noticeable difference...apparent when autocrossing the car, and generally made the car feel more solid over bumps on the street. I really liked how they were basically invisible.

Do-Luck rear cross bar (the one that goes near the floor in front of the rear seats): noticeable difference, doors operated more smoothly when car jacked up. Looked stupid. Embarassing when people sat in the back of the car. Coverered with black roll-bar padding and looked better, but always felt ricey. Maybe more effective on the RSX than the TSX, because it was a coupe/hatch/no rear hump, etc.

Do-Luck floor support bars (go length-wise under the car, just like the carbing ones): I had the aluminum version, could not feel any difference at all. Several of the points on the car where they mounted did not seem strong at all. Even it they were, these offer practically no triangulation, so I'm not sure what difference they could make.

Front subframe braces, lower X-bars, etc: All made a small difference, all suprisingly similar, from spoon simple tie bar, to 6-pt carbing, to 4-pt tanabe and neuspeed. Actually, for some reason, the 6-pt carbing seemed to dull steering response. No idea why, maybe it was the very heavy weight.

Trunk bracing: subtle difference, but there. Not sure if they'd be as noticable on the TSX because it isn't a hatchback

Front Strut Bars: never really felt a difference, but they look cool!

Anyway, on the TSX right now, I've only got a Comptech front strut bar and Cusco Type-1 front lower tie bar. I just order the J's fender braces and have the Kunimitsu trunk brace on order. I think after that, I'm going to call it a day on TSX chassis bracing.

Anyone else have any thoughts on these things?

 

jeffbatt, can you do a DIY on how to install w/ pictures on the J's racing fender braces?

 

I'll try. They should be showing up later this week or next week. Hopefully, I won't have to re-align the doors. Blech, that was the worst part about doing them on the RSX. However, the TSX versions only bolt to 3 of the 4 door hinge bolts, so I might not have to. Here's hoping...

 

well according to this picture I would think if you put the top single bolt on first then you should be fine.

 

If you are truely into performance, you should consider replacing the lower subframe rubber mounts with solid metal mounts to stiffen the chassis first. Otherwise, all these braces won't be very affective when the subframe is flexing.

Take #3, 4, 7, and 8 and have them custom made into solid mounts.

 

any chance they make stiffer rubber ones as apposed to metal ones cause metal ones for a street driven car that is occasionally autox and tracked would suck as the bumps from everyday driving I think would be very rough.

 

The fender braces attach directly to the frame of the car. They are not attached through any sort of bushing. These braces are fairly effective because they add triangulation to the fender/wheelhouse/firewall area of the unibody. Did you every see the SCC article on Opera performace? They weld similar braces into this area on the cars they build. JDM Subaru also offered these types of braces for the STI.

Just because parts of the car are attached by rubber bushings does not mean that siffening the unibody will not stiffen the chassis. I'm after a more solid car, not the most responsive possible.

Anyway, I think there is a 2/3 chance I'll need to re-align the front doors after doing this. The doors are pretty heavy and will probably droop/pivot when only the top bolt is attached.

 

Just did an auto X today, ran fairly good times;

Cusco Front Strut, Comptech Rear Sway, Tein Flex, BF Goodrich tires, hawk hps, lightweight wheels and a few other things, car feels fantastic running with max damper, but I feel like there could still be something hiding from me... I was running a Cusco subframe, but the damn thing rattled like crazy... so im thinking these Fender braces sound like a pretty good thing right now... let me know how bad the install is, if its fairly easy, and the doors dont need to be alighned ill pick it up later this week

 

I don't think anyone is making aftermarket subframe bushings for the TSX yet. It doesn't hurt to contact Energy Suspension to spark their interest. Btw, you are correct that full metal bushings can make daily driving unbearable, not to mention the vibration from the engine being transferred to the cabin. However, solid mounts are the way to go for a race setup.

 

I'm sure adding braces would strengthen the chassis somewhat, much like adding braces to a section of a fence with a weak fence post. Wouldn't it be better to address the weakness at the source by correcting the flex section first? All the suspension upgrade, wide tires and hard cornering can do a number to the subframe mounting points as the suspenion is attached to the lower subframe. Once the flex is taken out, more solid feeling and better responsiveness are the results.

 

The entire body of the car flexes and twists...it is a spring, just like the springs in the suspension. The entire car is a flex section. The benefit to responsiveness of a stiffer body may not be as great as having a car with solid bushings, but the result is more livable.

If stiffening the body was not useful, why would Honda have strengthened the unibody of the DC2R? Why do 2005+ RSX's have thicker wheelhouse steel, and a thicker steel beam running between the rear shock mounts in the trunk area? Why are cars made stiffer year after year? Why do even 4-cylinder Accords now come with shock-tower-to-firewall braces?

Old British sports cars used to have high spring rates to make up for the fact their bodies flexed...a lot. The stiffer the body, the lower the spring rates you can run and still have decent handling.

I guess it is the difference between an all-out race car and a sporty street car.

 

jeffbat. what it you made some kind of shim for the door to stick between them so they dont shift while doing the installation. re-aligning the doors would be a real pain as it would never be as perfect as stock in my opinion.

 

O Damn, Those two bolts are also connected to the TSX front doors!?! Thats going to be a pain in the butt, I swear if I do it myself the BLOODY door better not fall of on me! Can you just cloe the door while you install the the brace's bolts?

 

Yes, re-aligning the doors really, really sucks. The doors will be closed when I do it, but they may droop anyway. I did this on my RSX, I got the doors re-aligned as good as stock, it just takes time. The TSX's doors are much smaller, so they would probably be easier to align.

I'm going to leave the fenders on when I do this, so hopefully, there will be enough room to do the top bolt semi-tight with the brace rotated out of position. Then, I can undo the bottom two bolts and rotate it down. We'll see.

 

Crap, I'm having second thoughts on this.

 

How come no rear sway?

 

That is a different type of mod. It doesn't stiffen the body of the car. It is in the same category of springs and shocks.

 

You are going to get a much, much more noticeable benefit upgrading springs, shocks, and the rear sway bar though, so that's where I'd recommend spending your money first. Some chassis braces look cool and some tri-mount designs are effective, but for the most part, the benefit is going to be in your head.