Does the Comptech titanium series strut bar do anything (300 bucks worth) or does it just look cool?

 

After it went on it tightened up my steering considerably. I got it put on with the sways so handling wise i felt a huge difference but that could also be contributed to the other mods.

 

I felt the difference immediately. And it looks cool

 

soon as I put mine on I felt the road much better through the steering wheel. It tightens your chassis so much...I dont know if its directly responsible but since I put the bar on everytime I went to loosen the front tires it was hell ...pre titanium bar it was only slightly hard to get off but post titanium bar I couldnt loosen them with an X lug bar..

like I said it may not be because of the bar but that was the only difference I did after. also Id like to mention you should save the bar for last suspension mod that way you can feel the difference...IMO

 

Has anyone installed it before or without the sways? Do you think the $300 is worth it or are the others just as good at $100 or more less?

 

I put the strut bar on and liked the results. I put the sways on and two weeks later put the stock sways back on. I did not like what the sways did to the ride quality. Personal preference. Try to get a ride in a car with the sways before you make the purchase. If I put struts, sways and springs on my CL-S my wife's IS300 would still disappear into the distance on a twisty road. Enjoy the CL-S for what it is, a very nice, smooth and decent handling automobile. If you want max performance and handling there are better choices out there.
Dan

 

No doubt that the Comptech Titanium strut bar is a very high quality product. However it is a bit expensive. There are other strut braces that costs less and does the job. The Neuspeed strut brace is a quality durable product as well. Quality TIG welds with no hinges . They definitely look much better than the OEM brace. I had it on my 96 Accord coupe and now I have it on my TLS. I installed the Neuspeed brace before I had my Comptech Springs installed. Without the springs, the Neuspeed brace gave only a slight difference. After installing the springs, there was a big noticeable difference in handling. The strut brace complements the other suspension modifications.

 

Neuspeed and much cheaper.

 

Sure it wasn't mostly from the sways? I have sways but not STB and I noticed a huge difference right after I put em on.

I think I would disagree with that .. I am fairly sure that my cls with sways, tokico hp's, CT springs, and 235\40\18's could take a stock is300 on a twisty road. With cls stock rims&tires, definetly not. but aftermarket grippy rubber, dramatic difference in my handling. and throw koni yellows set stiff on my car, and I'm sure I could dust an is300

 

I agree.
The others look pretty, but the Neuspeed is the least expensive and by my opinion has the strongest design.

Shawn S

 

The neuspeed mounts much like the stock one I think .. doesn't the comptech mount in 4 different locations? (stock mounts, then two back by the firewall.)

 

Yea, but the Comptech one requires you to REMOVE the stock bar.
Neuspeed keeps the stock bar (which is pretty strong) and then adds the extra bar.

 

true .. personally I dont like how it looks with two bars there though. I'd rather one nice silver titanium bar

 

Yeah, but some of us don't drive around with the hood up.

 

I got the neuspeed from a board member but I haven't put it on yet. Its better to just add to the stock bar so that you retain all the wire holders that are made into the stock bar. I agree the the comptech bar looks perdy but most people never have anyone look under the hood except for themselves anyway.

 

Hrmm, I always thought that the bars would make a noticeable difference but I now question that. That is for most driving conditions.

As some may have seen, I found the source of the sound with my intercooler. It was hitting the stock strut bar. So to test this out I removed the bar and yes, the sound was gone. I will be putting it back on the car after I make a slight modification to it but for the last couple of days I have been driving without a strut bar.

What I found is surprising. Unless I push it through a turn at near the limits of tire adhesion there is no noticeable difference. Normal to quick paced driving provides no real change in steering response or feedback. This is contrary to what I expected.

Regardless, I will be putting it back on for the peace of mind and for that little extra at the limits. But I will not be looking at an aftermarket unit for multiple reasons; it won't fit with the IC and I don't see a need any longer.

 

Looks like someone is trying to get a group buy going on the CUSCO strut bar. Check it out in the Black Market section.

 

Try running one side of the car up a sidewalk with two adjacent driveways. You can do an experiment and get one side of the car to move up from 6" to 12" depending on the height of your curbs, etc. I removed and replaced the Neuspeed bar and I could hear changes in "dash creak" with the bar in.

I would agree with your comment about pushing the car to feel the difference. The biggest change I could perceive during at-the-limit cornering in some very tight twisty sections.

I think that as the car gets high performance rubber, springs, sways, etc, it just makes a bigger difference (as mentioned before.)

What spring, sways, tires are you running now?

 

Coming down/up my driveway would be a good place to try and notice a difference. I have to take it at an angle or scrape. Also, jacking up a corner and open/closing the hood would probably make a difference too.

I was very suprised that I couldn't tell a difference in normal to moderate aggressive driving. Without a doubt, pushing it or in unusual situations would make a difference. But it is not as extreme as I would have thought.

I have Comptech springs, Comptech sways and am running 235/45/17 ES100's on the stock rims. So this is certainly not of the softer stock variety.

 

Yeah it most likely was from the sways. Its tough to really tell what the STB did considering the mods that went on at the same time.