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.
