When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I know how well the C7 was designed/built to be stiff and it does a wonderful job but I'm still surprised. Does anyone offer a (front) strut tower brace?
Correct. Strut towers braces can be of some benefit in Macpherson strut or Chapman strut suspension designs where a point load from the springs (and upper suspension control geometry) is introduced into the load carrying frame relatively high in the structure that is difficult to support. The C7's loads are almost in-line with the control arms and fed directly into the chassis rails - actually a very clever design. There would be no benefit from a strut brace, and indeed there are simply no struts to brace in the C7's suspension design. Any bracing, like the Vipers shown above, would benefit body flex (not sure how Vipers are constructed) and could be of some benefit a uni-body type construction, but since the body on a C7 doesn't carry any loads and the whole structure is quite stiff to begin with it really wouldn't serve any purpose. Sometime the bracing can look cool, especially in the JDM scene, but not needed in the case of the C7 chassis. Chevrolet really did their homework as far as torsional rigidity and suspension design that largely goes unappreciated. It's really a world class design!
I know how well the C7 was designed/built to be stiff and it does a wonderful job but I'm still surprised. Does anyone offer a (front) strut tower brace?
I've been thinking on this same thing for a while now. Good question with hopefully some useful feedback.
Typically you see struts tower braces in cars with….struts. Also unibody type frame construction. Corvettes have neither of these things. Not to say it’s impossible. There is a car I can think of that has a space frame construction and doesn’t use struts….
That said, the Viper has higher points on the frame where you could mount this brace. The Corvettes frame is very low, and covered by a bonded on wheelhouse, which would make doing a upper brace very hard to do.
Correct. Strut towers braces can be of some benefit in Macpherson strut or Chapman strut suspension designs where a point load from the springs (and upper suspension control geometry) is introduced into the load carrying frame relatively high in the structure that is difficult to support. The C7's loads are almost in-line with the control arms and fed directly into the chassis rails - actually a very clever design. There would be no benefit from a strut brace, and indeed there are simply no struts to brace in the C7's suspension design. Any bracing, like the Vipers shown above, would benefit body flex (not sure how Vipers are constructed) and could be of some benefit a uni-body type construction, but since the body on a C7 doesn't carry any loads and the whole structure is quite stiff to begin with it really wouldn't serve any purpose. Sometime the bracing can look cool, especially in the JDM scene, but not needed in the case of the C7 chassis. Chevrolet really did their homework as far as torsional rigidity and suspension design that largely goes unappreciated. It's really a world class design!
Correct. Strut towers braces can be of some benefit in Macpherson strut or Chapman strut suspension designs where a point load from the springs (and upper suspension control geometry) is introduced into the load carrying frame relatively high in the structure that is difficult to support. The C7's loads are almost in-line with the control arms and fed directly into the chassis rails - actually a very clever design. There would be no benefit from a strut brace, and indeed there are simply no struts to brace in the C7's suspension design. Any bracing, like the Vipers shown above, would benefit body flex (not sure how Vipers are constructed) and could be of some benefit a uni-body type construction, but since the body on a C7 doesn't carry any loads and the whole structure is quite stiff to begin with it really wouldn't serve any purpose. Sometime the bracing can look cool, especially in the JDM scene, but not needed in the case of the C7 chassis. Chevrolet really did their homework as far as torsional rigidity and suspension design that largely goes unappreciated. It's really a world class design!
As noted the suspension loads are taken low in the chassis and the engine compartment walls /fenders are non structural so there really is no convenient place to attach the traditional strut tower brace.
Strut Tower brace
