Ultra Racing Strut Bar

[Supercharged TRD]

Yes, my nut was stuffed. <- That sounds wrong

Took a mechanic only like 5 min to fix though, but I got billed 30 mins labour.

What was wrong with your nut?

It was so tight that in my efforts to get it off, I damaged the bolt so it couldn't be removed by a normal ratchet. So if you feel you can't get it off, best to bring it to someone before breaking the bolt.

[Supercharged TRD]

I got my strut brace and rear sway bar from Ultra Racing yesterday, so they will be going in this afternoon with some luck!

I will be VERY interested to see your impressions on how much it improves the handling!

[ELEGNT]

I got my strut brace and rear sway bar from Ultra Racing yesterday, so they will be going in this afternoon with some luck!

I will be VERY interested to see your impressions on how much it improves the handling!

or even come and show us at the meet tonight ;)

[apg39]

Someone wanna buy me a thicker rear sway bar for Xmas?

[phonsa]

I got the Front strut brace and the rear sway bar installed on the weekend and i say its made a massive improvement in handling particularly in turn in.

Body roll and under steer are also substantially reduced! It totally transforms the feel of the car i mean you can definitely feel that the car is more planted due to increased grip levels.

I also love the flat neutral balance of the car when cornering so i'm a happy campe and would highly recommend this mod - great bang for buck.

On a downside there is a slight increase in ride firmness due to the increase stiffness of the bars but it is totally acceptable for me (This is my daily ride).

Is it an Ultra Racing rear sway bar? how much was it? and how hard was it to install?

Yep i got the UR front strut and rear sway bar. Its $193 for the front and $293 for the rear i got a $40 bulk discount for purchasing them both at the same time.

Luis from Ultra Racing did say he was expecting a price increase from 14/11/08 so i'm not sure whether the above prices are still valid.

As for install its pretty straight forward theres only three bolts on either side of the rear sway bar that you have to remove/install. It took me just over an hour and i'm not good at this stuff but gave it ago.

Installation Lesson learnt: remove the rear Y exhaust splitter bolts X 2 (both left and right) and loosen/remove both X 2 rear exhaust bracket bolts that affixed to the chassis, if you follow this procedure then it should only take you about 20-30 mins depending how good your are :)

I'll try and take some pics and upload them soon as i can its just a real busy time of the year with Xmas and all.

[phonsa]

Grrr to you guys. Next time you are get some more of these components, let me know. I'll join in as well... unless of course I get to it sooner. I can't be left behind like this. I really need to get back to the drawing board. My Aurion can not be beat like this.

Sorry mate didn't know that there was this much interest ;)

Based on the keen responses i reckon you guys could get a group buy going??

[e240]

Right. You did use the right sized socket did you? Or at least the ring end of the Spanner.

I try never to use the open ends because they do tend slip as they only grip 2 sides of the nut.

Ok, alls well that ends well then.

Yes, my nut was stuffed. <- That sounds wrong

Took a mechanic only like 5 min to fix though, but I got billed 30 mins labour.

What was wrong with your nut?

It was so tight that in my efforts to get it off, I damaged the bolt so it couldn't be removed by a normal ratchet. So if you feel you can't get it off, best to bring it to someone before breaking the bolt.

[David the Viking]

I got my strut brace and rear sway bar from Ultra Racing yesterday, so they will be going in this afternoon with some luck!

I will be VERY interested to see your impressions on how much it improves the handling!

or even come and show us at the meet tonight ;)

I have them both fitted! Took about an hour for both.

Should be out tonight at the loop.

Edited December 18, 2008 by SupaTouring

[Supercharged TRD]

I got my strut brace and rear sway bar from Ultra Racing yesterday, so they will be going in this afternoon with some luck!

I will be VERY interested to see your impressions on how much it improves the handling!

or even come and show us at the meet tonight ;)

I have them both fitted! Took about an hour for both.

Should be out tonight at the loop.

WOOT! I'll be there. But a bit late though.

[e240]

Actually, you all made a good choice with the Ultra Racing bars. Cost effective, looks good and does the job well.

I use them in my Supersprint Car and they contribute alot to the handling. We currently hold the CAMS NSW Supersprint Class 3B record for Eastern Creek, Wakefield Park and Oran Park GP. If it didn't work, it wouldn't be in the car. :-p

Edited December 18, 2008 by e240

[DJKOR]

Bit of a thread revival, but this seemed to be the best one to put this in.

Word is out that Ultra Racing (not yet available from Ultra Racing Australia yet), now have an upgraded rear sway bar. This one is now 23mm instead of the previous 19mm.

I must say... I really want one now.

http://www.ultraracing.com.my/Bars.asp?ID=3616

They also now have side bars for chassis stiffening... but I'm not overly concerned with that yet.

[1stKill]

Bit of a thread revival, but this seemed to be the best one to put this in.

Word is out that Ultra Racing (not yet available from Ultra Racing Australia yet), now have an upgraded rear sway bar. This one is now 23mm instead of the previous 19mm.

I must say... I really want one now.

http://www.ultraracing.com.my/Bars.asp?ID=3616

They also now have side bars for chassis stiffening... but I'm not overly concerned with that yet.

I always thought it was a bit on the thin side 19mm...23mm now that sounds a bit more beefy,might just have to add one of these to my ever growing list. :D

[DJKOR]

I was actually quite satisfied with the 3mm increase to 19mm. It added just the right amount of over steer to keep things well composed.

Now a 4mm step up from the 19mm would definitely be something. I think I might need to find an upgraded front sway bar to balance things out afterwards. That way my body roll will be reduced even further while still maintaining a good balance of under and over steer. Otherwise I'd imagine myself getting this thing sideways as much as I can for that added fun factor.

[Adamsy]

Ok so this is probably going to sound like a stupid ***** question... I’m interested in the rear lower bar member brace to stop that slight flex there is in the Camry/Aurion chassis but i just had a look under my car and couldn’t work out where it goes in relation to the anti-roll bar? Help me out somebody?

Also whilst were on the topic of anti-roll bars, I was a little hesitant in also buying the bigger roll bar when I got the strut brace, was worried that it might mess up the over/under steer balance of the car. So you guys that have both how have you found the change in the car balance now it's been on your cars for a while now?

[DJKOR]

Ok so this is probably going to sound like a stupid ***** question... I’m interested in the rear lower bar member brace to stop that slight flex there is in the Camry/Aurion chassis but i just had a look under my car and couldn’t work out where it goes in relation to the anti-roll bar? Help me out somebody?

I'm trying to figure that out as well. I' get under my car to look right now, but it's too hot, plus I'm all clean and ready for my drive. I have a feeling it's probably like an upgraded suspension connecting rod/arm or something.

Also whilst were on the topic of anti-roll bars, I was a little hesitant in also buying the bigger roll bar when I got the strut brace, was worried that it might mess up the over/under steer balance of the car. So you guys that have both how have you found the change in the car balance now it's been on your cars for a while now?

The 19mm bar is definitely worth the upgrade. It doesn't adversely affect the under/over steer characteristics despite adding more bias to over steer. You will find that when pushed to the extremity, it will over steer, but you have to push quite a bit for this to happen. Under everyday spirited driving though... and on the track, te feeling is more neutral in that you get less of the feeling of under steering into a wall or something.

[David the Viking]

The Sportivos already have an extra brace from the chassis rail to the trailing arm pivot as the UR is a brace from the sub frame to the trailing arm pivot. The Sportivo braces can be fitted to an ATX/Prodigy/Presara as the stud and bolt holes needed to fit them are already on the body.

The front strut brace and 19mm rear sway bar is a combination that takes the rear roll out without making it a wild oversteerer and the brace sharpening the steering turn in.

[Adamsy]

yeah it's got me stumped, ive saved the pics so i could look at them side by side and there is some obvious differences in regards to the mounts? it looks like the this brace runs straight through the area that the anti-roll bar would normally be.. also the there doesnt seem to be anywhere for the D rubbers to mount up too... almost seems to replace it somehow... i'm going to print the pics out and have a look at an aurion up on the hoist tomorrow, see if i can make some sense of it all.

Well i might just had to put one of the bigger bars on my car then, Surely 23mm would cause a huge over steer problem though? anyway it'd be awesome if this brace could also be fitted up just to toughen the rear of the car up :D

[Guni]

I found this which might help everyone make some form of decision of whether to upgrade their rear sway bar further being a FWD.

No doubt Toyota tends to be quite conservative in its R&D but thinking not to go overboard with this "upgrade" speaking from personal experience.

[DJKOR]

Good find Guni.

I've said something like this over at Toyota Nation where I found out about this new RSB:

Personally, if you were getting a 23mm rear sway bar, it would be idea to pair it up with a larger than stock front sway bar to maintain handling dynamics. Unfortunately though, there currently is no upgraded front sway bar available, so if you upgrade to the 23mm rear sway bar, just bear in mind that your Camry may become a little 'tail happy'.

My point of my post was that the 19mm RSB in combination with the stock front sway bar reduces the understeer of a stock Camry and introduces more oversteer for a more balanced feel. Putting on the 23mm RSB and keeping the stock front sway bar will introduce even more bias to oversteer, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just requires more effort to correct than understeer. If you aren't well aware of how to handle your car in understeer/oversteer situations, then understeer is always safer to have then oversteer in a FWD.

[Guni]

Agreed Daryl.

The purpose of upgrading the RSB is to "balance" the understeer with some oversteer which you can easily overdo as everyone knows that should you oversteer in a FWD ....... :help: :help: :help: :help:

I guess just do it in moderation or do what SD does and gets a few to fine tune his setup .... nothing beats that IMO .....

P.S. In that article, there's a link to a Hyundai Coupe test drive and that was a fun read .... :clap: :clap:

[Adamsy]

So did anybody have much luck in sussing out where this body brace goes?

[David the Viking]

So did anybody have much luck in sussing out where this body brace goes?

I will quote myself from an earlier post on this page

The Sportivos already have an extra brace from the chassis rail to the trailing arm pivot as the UR is a brace from the sub frame to the trailing arm pivot. The Sportivo braces can be fitted to an ATX/Prodigy/Presara as the stud and bolt holes needed to fit them are already on the body.

[Tash]

Very interesting reading overall - this is probably one of the next things on my list, getting the front strut and rear sway. I don't mind a bit of spirited cornering heheh, especially on our cruises!

Seems like the best combo for the Camry would be to stick to the 19mm rear sway then, just looking on the Ultra Racing website now and it's the only choice available anyway. Definitely a price increase though, $218 now for the front strut and $323 for the rear sway, plus $17 postage for each item.

Seeings the thread has been revived could we maybe get a group buy going? Try and get a bit of a discount heheh

[VF-X]

Very interesting reading overall - this is probably one of the next things on my list, getting the front strut and rear sway. I don't mind a bit of spirited cornering heheh, especially on our cruises!

Seems like the best combo for the Camry would be to stick to the 19mm rear sway then, just looking on the Ultra Racing website now and it's the only choice available anyway. Definitely a price increase though, $218 now for the front strut and $323 for the rear sway, plus $17 postage for each item.

Seeings the thread has been revived could we maybe get a group buy going? Try and get a bit of a discount heheh

I woulnd't mind a set if it cost cheaper... Talking about cheaper, I saw the malay web, it's half the price, thinkin of gettin it off em!! :o And talkin about Ultra racing, where's the web link for them?

[Tofuboi]

Very interesting reading overall - this is probably one of the next things on my list, getting the front strut and rear sway. I don't mind a bit of spirited cornering heheh, especially on our cruises!

Seems like the best combo for the Camry would be to stick to the 19mm rear sway then, just looking on the Ultra Racing website now and it's the only choice available anyway. Definitely a price increase though, $218 now for the front strut and $323 for the rear sway, plus $17 postage for each item.

Seeings the thread has been revived could we maybe get a group buy going? Try and get a bit of a discount heheh

You can have my old rear sway bar. I'll get the new one and everyone will see my epic oversteer and then i'll be a member of the Guni 'Oversteer is Bad mmkay?' Club. :P

Okay jokes aside. I am interested in the upgraded rear sway bar. However right now the car seems to have an....okay balance. But I don't drive near as hard as Daryl does, so he might need it more than I would. :P