Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension sho shop braces installation

I can't believe that there is a major problem with the strut tower brace...It is one of the best selling SHO shop toys! JMHO

I find it hard to believe too - it's a really nice design with a simple installation - but I was pretty pissed when I had to get my car towed to fix my busted strut. Tough to drive with the strut bouncing around inside the strut tower

I am going to get one that bolts to the strut tower, not the strut itself.

46 N-m is the correct torque per the Ford shop manual.

Interesting, perhaps a bad or old strut? Maybe a bad design on the brace, I don't know. I know I like the way my car handles with the SHO shop brace more. Of course I don't have 100,000 miles on my SVT either...more like 40,000 kilometers. But I drive a lot on the track!
You'd think the forces on the struts would be the same either way since you are either stiffening the struts or the strut towers.
I'd like to know what the failure rate is, I know that there's a lot of SHO shop braces out there.

Well - I checked my records. I installed the ShoShop front brace at 29,100 miles, did an open track event at VIR around 36,000 miles, then the strut broke 45,910 miles. I had (still have ) the stock struts & springs. I don't think it was old age or improper installation.

When installing it, I removed the top nut, the black metal "cup", and the nut underneath the cup, then dropped on the brace and reinstalled 1 nut to hold it to the strut. I originally tried just removing the top nut & cup, but the brace wouldn't clear the hood until I removed the 2nd nut. Any thoughts?

i'm not a mechanic, so this is just my opinion and research. but i have been doing this research now for about 2 years between the OMP and similar strut tower braces, and the SHO-shop front strut brace. i alway thought the the SHO one was a better design, as you don't need to drill into the strut tower and weaken the sheet metal. The design of the SHO is excellent in the fact that they were designed to hold the strut towers parallel to each other and reduce shifting, flexing and movement of the struts, thereby leaving optimal gripping surface area on the ground with tight cornering. However, what was not considered thoroughly was that with bolting them on the strut, the strut mount bushings do give way over time (especially with extreme temp changes over the year like in Alberta with very cold winters and hot summers)this causes the struts to move around again. this time, the movements are in all directions, vertically, horizontally, front to back, and in all combos. the struts even start pusing up and away from the spring at the top seating area. With all this extra movement and flex, the sho brace is taking alot of punishment in trying to keep those struts parallel in tight, fast cornering. the struts want to move with response from the ground to the tire, wheel and up the suspension. but the brace at the top is trying to make it hold together without the help of the strut mount bushing now. this equals way too much strain on the brace and bam! it snaps or something gives. Too many variables in this equation. Now with the OMP or similar tower braces, the purpose is to hold the towers and prevent body flexing. This is a good idea, but you don't achieve as good gripping surface area on the road. becuase the forces are moving the struts inside the tower. again, mount bushings will start to fail over time, but you won't be breaking any bars, because rubber has better give and shock absorbancy than metal does. There was also mention by SHO that OMP and similar strut tower braces weaken the towers when you drill. i don't know if this is true or not. in theory, yes it is true. but you are also adding a brace to strengthen the overall integrity of the towers and body. The strut tower braces work well in cars that already have bolt on the towers to hold body and suspension on. but the tours are spot welded by robotic equipment during manufacturing and thus there are not bolts on our towers unlike pontiacs or GMs. After about 2 years, i still have not decided which ones i will use. i have toured the SHO-shop facility (friendly people, a little unorganized though). after reading this thread and hearing about all the SHO braces breaking, i think i'll stay away from those, even though in theory, they should work better. Maybe welding on the tower brace is better? but that still doesn't eliminate movement from the struts inside the towers. Again, it all comes down to strut tower mount bushing wear. That's my research and my opinion.

Originally posted by vanctour:

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i'm not a mechanic, so this is just my opinion and research. but i have been doing this research now for about 2 years between the OMP and similar strut tower braces, and the SHO-shop front strut brace. i alway thought the the SHO one was a better design, as you don't need to drill into the strut tower and weaken the sheet metal. The design of the SHO is excellent in the fact that they were designed to hold the strut towers parallel to each other and reduce shifting, flexing and movement of the struts, thereby leaving optimal gripping surface area on the ground with tight cornering. However, what was not considered thoroughly was that with bolting them on the strut, the strut mount bushings do give way over time (especially with extreme temp changes over the year like in Alberta with very cold winters and hot summers)this causes the struts to move around again. this time, the movements are in all directions, vertically, horizontally, front to back, and in all combos. the struts even start pusing up and away from the spring at the top seating area. With all this extra movement and flex, the sho brace is taking alot of punishment in trying to keep those struts parallel in tight, fast cornering. the struts want to move with response from the ground to the tire, wheel and up the suspension. but the brace at the top is trying to make it hold together without the help of the strut mount bushing now. this equals way too much strain on the brace and bam! it snaps or something gives. Too many variables in this equation. Now with the OMP or similar tower braces, the purpose is to hold the towers and prevent body flexing. This is a good idea, but you don't achieve as good gripping surface area on the road. becuase the forces are moving the struts inside the tower. again, mount bushings will start to fail over time, but you won't be breaking any bars, because rubber has better give and shock absorbancy than metal does. There was also mention by SHO that OMP and similar strut tower braces weaken the towers when you drill. i don't know if this is true or not. in theory, yes it is true. but you are also adding a brace to strengthen the overall integrity of the towers and body. The strut tower braces work well in cars that already have bolt on the towers to hold body and suspension on. but the tours are spot welded by robotic equipment during manufacturing and thus there are not bolts on our towers unlike pontiacs or GMs. After about 2 years, i still have not decided which ones i will use. i have toured the SHO-shop facility (friendly people, a little unorganized though). after reading this thread and hearing about all the SHO braces breaking, i think i'll stay away from those, even though in theory, they should work better. Maybe welding on the tower brace is better? but that still doesn't eliminate movement from the struts inside the towers. Again, it all comes down to strut tower mount bushing wear. That's my research and my opinion.

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How about if SHO shop, combined the two designs.. I dunno, but how about an OMP style bar that also bolts onto the top of the struts? I'm just tired I guess, and it'd probably be too complicated of a design. You'd be holding the struts parallel, aswell as the towers, so the strain would be spread between to two more evenly. LOL I dunno....

When i installed the front brace: i removed the top nut, the black metal cup then dropped the new cups and installed the bar. I don't believe there was another nut below the black cup (can't remember), but the brace cleared with no problems.

The struts caused some struts to snap on some cars, well what could be done to avoid this in the future. what if the the cups are fitted snuggly inside the towers to minimize movement? this has to take some stress of the struts. Any ideas?

Originally posted by vanctour:

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i alway thought the the SHO one was a better design, as you don't need to drill into the strut tower and weaken the sheet metal.

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Those 3 tiny holes aren't going to weaken those strut towers in the least.