mpro71vette

I just put this on my 71 yesterday, took it for a ride and didn't notice anything different. What did you guys notice when you put it on?

ignatz

Nothing. I really wasn't expecting any noticeable difference. I think the kickups on the frame rails stiffen it up pretty well in the first place. Maybe it would help on a 68. I wanted a five-point harness and now I've got it. Unfortunately that combination makes it awkward to get the T-tops in.

mpro71vette

Sorry Guys I meant Spreader bar, I don't see no performance gain!

gkull

It really depends on how much TQ your are making with your tire, bushings, and spring combination which cause bending forces on the A-arm mounts.

someone recently made a good video here zooming in on the amount of frame movement in his upper a-arm connection.

I road raced for years and discovered a frame crack where my lower A-arm mounts. I welded and gusseted the whole front area and installed a VB&P spreader bar so it would not break again. IMO I never noticed a difference, but it was said that 78 & 79 frames were the heaviest made

7t9l82

That's strange, my 79 has less than 15 k miles and I put one on it and I could tell when I left my driveway it helped.whenever I hit a bump in the road it's much more solid feeling.I don't know on a race track or autocross if it would improve track times but it definitely stiffened things up.

cagotzmann

Same here (1978) never noticed a difference. Street or track days.

gdh

I added new suspension components incrementally so that I can tell what if any changes occurred.
1st new front springs (550) replacing original - good upgrade
2nd swapped in Bilsteins, bushings, good upgrade worked very well after installing new front springs
3rd added a Sharkbar, another good addition as it added stiffness to the convertible
4th added 360 or 365 lb fg rear spring from VB, much better than the tired old 7 leaf original
5th added 17" wheel/tires, another good upgrade over 15's
6th added speedirect spreader bar, I felt it had more impact than the 17" wheel/tire alone but they all work together for a firmly planted great riding 44 yr old convertible vette.

By adding each component and driving the vette for awhile I could tell the effect that upgrade had on my car. If I were to do it again I would as each item had a worthwhile positive impact. Adding the C5 seats before all the above was great for comfort. The car is great on twisties, long highway cruises, firmly planted but not a jaring ride. My wife has had 2 spinal fusion surgeries and she loves going for cruises in the vette (really need to add Vintage Air for her during those hot n humid days).

jim-81

I installed one as well and didn't notice any real change, I'm sure it helps but I also put new shocks on and some other things so maybe that's why.

gg521

I do not think that you will notice a change on a street driven car. It is more of a preventatve thing on the shock and A arm mounts to keep it from flexing.

Barry's70LT1

I put one on last year. At that time, I had 45 years of driving the same car. My findings were exactly the same as described above. As soon as I drove it, there was a much more solid feeling.

widowmaker221

I installed one on my 79 and can definitely feel the difference.The front suspension is much more predictable if pushing the car in the twisties.

akdale

Mine is a 1980. I did complete front end rebuild, including springs and shocks, and drove it around for about a week. Installed bar and it does seem that the front end is a bit tighter, especially in quick directional changes, like when dodging the large rock that just came off the uncovered sidedump in front of me...... true story.

theandies

I'm thinking of getting one as well. If/when I do I'll report back. '71 Vert.

Personally I don't see how it can NOT make a difference especially on a 45 year old convertible.

7t9l82

This thread went off the rails. The OP I think referred to a spreader bar as a shark bar and people have been talking about 2diffedent things, I think.

Patro46

The only time you'd see the difference would be during the time the problem rears it's ugly head anyway. This would be under hard cornering, hard braking while cornering, ect. The means 99 44/100 of old C3 Corvette owners aren't living in those conditions. This said, once you understand how kinda flimsy the upper setup is, those bars start to make a lot more sense.

The guy I've known for over 30 years has been in charge of all my alignment needs over the years, and when I purchased my project C3, I added improved power rack setup and a coilover setup on the rear. He took on the task of both front and rear alignment on her, and the first thing he noted (along with a supercharged LS engine) was I had no bar to tie the uppers together, and commented on how it's SO easy to toss an old C3 out of alignment in one afternoon of aggressive driving, easily proven on the alignment rack.

Unfortunately, with al LS engine in place the bar won't fit or I'd have one, if for no other reason but to insure proper alignment specs hold true no matter how I choose to drive. Eventually, I'll build something that will perform this task, and give me the ability to pull together or push apart the uppers, whatever the need may be.

mrvette

Bought my '72 vert in '95, old show car, frame in good shape, been garaged since new, and damn little to no driven in rain, except ONCE about 20 years ago....then it was 80 mph into a hurry-caine......

In order of improvement.......first off '89 vette wheels/tires/2.5 inch adaptors, same center line, 255/50/17 in front 275 in back......VBP 360 plastic rear spring to smooth out the ride, had KYB shocks at first, but Billy Steins smoothed out the ride a LOT over undulating bridge nearby me.......460 coils in front......winter 01-02 I installed a rack myself with a buddy doing the welding on the mounts.... and that was the second largest handling improvement.....third was that cross support that fits fine behind the rad and Spal fans..... thinner front sway at about an inch, and rear sway at about 1/2 inch......handles rather well, I must say, and the ride is very nice, especially over our crappy Roads built on FLORIDA SAND!!!! more pot holes than a cookware factory.....

jb78L-82

I must say that I am completely shocked by comments from those of us that have added a spreader bar and felt zero improvement. I detected an immediate improvement after adding my spreader bar from the moment the front wheels crossed the depression at the end of my driveway which continued down the bumpy road in my development. The front end feels more connected, creaking was drastically reduced, steering response was more immediate, and handling feels more direct/confident from the front end.

My car does have the following suspension upgrades/improvements but the Spreader bar was added with no other changes at the time about 10 years ago:

Front:

255/45/17 ZE ultra high performance tires
Bilstein HD's with poly bushings
Gary Ramadei custom blueprinted/rebuilt OEM steering box
OEM 1 1/8 factory front sway bar with poly endlinks and mounting bushings
550lb front springs 1 inch shorter than stock
upper and lower poly control arm bushings

Rear:

255/50/17 Summer only ultra high performance tires
360 monospring with poly cushings
3/4 inch factory GM style rear sway bar with poly bushings
Bilstein Sports
competition adjustable strut rods with Heim joints

My guess is if you feel no difference, the spreader bar is not adjusted correctly (it needs to be TIGHT between the front shock towers when installed ) or there is so much slop in the rest of the suspension that the bar cannot be effective.

Karol on this forum installed the speedirect spreader bar recently on his stock base suspension 78 and reported back to me that he could feel the difference immediately as well.

I am perplexed since the spreader bar is one of the cost effective suspension improvements I have made on my 78 over the last 35 years.............

cagotzmann

Until you do a blind test the mind does funny things for us. Because we change something we want to justify the effort. It is part of being human.

Good example, professional race car drivers testing their ability to feel suspension adjustments. When confronted with a blind test where they take the car out on the track for a few laps, then return to the pits to have someone remove / adjust something on the car. Then take the car out on the track again and explain what adjustments the crew made. Most claim big changes and at least noticed something changed, just to find out later nothing was changed to the car.

This is not a un common realization. The human mind / butt sensor is not reliable at all.

On this tv show they did the same test with similar results. Some people are feeling the changes and many get it wrong.

https://vimeo.com/16968395

Torqued Off

You know, you might be right, but you also might be wrong. Some things actually do make a difference, so suggesting perceived improvements are in someone's imagination is B.S. Some people actually have better sensory abilities than others. Others just like pretending they are smarter than others.

7t9l82

Anybody that wants to come by and go for a ride with the strut brace removed and then with it on is welcome to do so.there is a difference. This isn't some made up perception on many people's parts.
the title was shark bar but the op named it wrong,and described the strut brace. I believe a shark bar would be of little value for anything but a seat belt mount.I'm with 78,I'm not into imagining improvements.the strut brace is a worthwhile modification,and in my case it's not due to a weak frame,my car has less than 15k miles was stored in a garage so it's a very solid frame.