Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension New rear strut tower brace

This comment "..weld on attachment
technique provides 12 square inches of area..." refers to the outer perimeter of the mounting plate. I believe my use of terminology is correct, as noted by mangler.

Yes, I also agree that a solid weld on brace IS superior to any bolt-on arrangement. That's why the brace in my car is done accordingly. However, a quick campus of our customers told me that the prevailing preferred mounting arrangement is by bolt on. Therefore, in the interest of appealing to the largest possible denomination I designed a brace that could be mounted in either fashion.

You (or your compatriots) are clearly talking about area. If you were referring to linear distance, the above example would yield 6 inches.

Question for the engineers: Isn't area relevant? Wouldn't a 3x3 square perform differently than a 12-inch line? Is this governed by something other than area?

As for the tension vs compression argument, this is a good discussion. I'm glad to hear from people who have the tools to examine that article critically. The author does state, though vaguely, that "someone" has measured STB forces with a strain guage and found the forces to be either + or - depending on activity. What do you guys think? Urban myth?

If it's already been answered Sorry, however what's reason for the sperical ends? vs welding the rod directly to the bracket.
I'm not a welder, but will the welds crack with out the sperical?
Thanks
Paul

The reason I used the rod ends is twofold: to allow angularity (the strut towers are not absolute vertical) and due to factory tolerances from car to car. The threaded portion of the rod end allows the bar to be fine tuned, as each and every car is not exactly the same in the distance from tower to tower.

Roger: When you say "You (or your compatriots) are clearly talking about area. If you were referring to linear distance, the above example would yield 6 inches.", what math are you using that gives you 6 when multiplying 3 times 4?

Just for you, I'll change the wording to read "linear periphery", instead of area. I believe that everyone else understands my comparison based on the terminology used. Of course, if I was talking about a circle I could have simply said circumference and you wouldn't disagree with that would you?

Ford 'factory tolerance' on both Contour/Cougar & Mondeo for 'main' body structure is +/- 3mm (re Body Repair manual CG2543/EN...!!

A "stitch weld" of 1" welds with 1" gaps over 12" of available space would yield 6" of weld and 6" of gaps. If you are talking weld length, that is what you would have.

When the weld is solid, then you have a 12" circumference that is all weld with no gaps. "Circumference," IMHO, will work even if the object measured is not round.

I'm not sure how it would be clear to everyone else that you are talking circumference when you say "square inches of area."

As for your comparison, let's talk real attachment area, so we can compare apples to apples. How wide is a weld? I don't know for sure, actually, since I'm not a welder, but let's say it's .25" wide by 12" long. That would mean the actual area of the weld is 3 square inches. OK. What if it's .5" wide all the way around the bracket? That would be 6 square inches. 6 is quite a bit less than 12, but still more than 4.712 (the bolt area), and at least we're making a valid comparison based on the same units. Your comparison inflates the difference by comparing length to area without really saying that that's what you are doing.

Does it matter? Not really. I think most of us understand rather intuitively that a welded joint will flex less than a bolted one. I know there is a technical, scientific explanation for this phenomenon. I'm still looking for it.

I only brought it up to help you, as a friendly jibe from one Contour family member to another. I took a risk I guess and it seems that I've pi$$ed you off. Worse, the two of us are involved in this little pi$$ing contest, and that was really not my intent, especially over such a minor point.

Thanks for giving us more choices, and good luck with the STB.

the little aftermarket you guys have, and you still bash the people making an honest effort to improve it... agreed, using the word "best" you should have expected to raise eyebrows and questions...

You guys have MUCH MORE INTELLIGENT arguements here than on NECO.... I like that

bwa-hahah...