Just curious if it's worth it. I know on the BMW's they were more for show than anything else...

 

From what I have read / reseached, it's about similar on pcars- I'd probably only consider it for competitive racing as far as usefulness goes. But at that point I'd probably own a coupe with a full cage installed..

Back when I had my 996 I did not recall anyone posting 'wow i just put on this strut brace and now may pcar handles so much better..' - So I never went with it.

JMHO-

 

For the front bar it is useless... the rear is debatable... and you have to cut into the insulation of the carpet.

 

You don't like the stock strut bar? IIRC, it's the same strut bar the Cup cars use...

-td

 

didn't know that...well I guess if stock is good enough for the Cup cars I suppose it'll get me to Target

 

The stock strut braces are "hidden" in the trunk underneath the plastic pieces. A few people have upgraded to EVO or carbon fiber (TRG makes one), but the common consensus is that there is no real improvement in handling using upgraded strut braces for a variety of reasons, the most important being the front is pretty light unless you install a 2nd engine up there

Here are some pics of the stock and aftermarket (TRG, I believe) strut braces:

STOCK




AFTERMARKET (stock shown as well)

 

on my E46 M3, My Z4 M roadster and my E36 M3 a good (non hinged) strut bar made a pretty big difference... My 335i (that came with strut braces like the 996 stock) it made zero noticeable difference. I wouldn't say that the I saw a huge difference in the at the limit behavior but the cars that benefited turned in better and felt less flexy by a pretty significant margin.

I bet the 996 is going to be similar to the 335i in that the stock braces do their job.