EBay for around $120 each. Takes close to a month from Malaysia or sometime the California vendors will have them in stock. The only drawback is it has to be moved to remove DIC and sparkplugs. Alignment stays the same.
not sure how effective a brace is hanging off the tiny bolts that hold the strut mount in place, apart from the obvious pointed out already, that the struts are close to the firewall.
Useful for decal display.
It is true that the car's structure starts wearing out the moment you drive it off the lot, but I am not a fan of strut bars given the way this car is built... and the method of attachment.
The following is a review I sent to State of Nine after installing their strut brace:
Hi Dan.
I am so very impressed by you taking on the task of designing, fabricating, prototyping, testing, and putting into production this brace.
It does, in fact, improve my 9-5's handling. With the oversize SAS sway bars front (25mm) & rear (22mm), heavy duty sway bar endlinks, Koni FSD shocks, new Aero springs, and a Quaife LSD--I was not sure what to expect when adding the brace.
That said, the result is not subtle and brings a sharpness and directness to the steering. Body roll is reduced in slalom like turns and there is significantly improved road holding in high speed sweeping curves. I do not notice any negative side effects, but was prepared for a potentially more jarring ride--which did not happen.
I am very pleased with the performance of the strut brace.
As for the install: I was concerned about repositioning the hood release switch, but this, too, turned out to be a non-issue. I was able to gently twist the metal holder for the switch and position it closer to the rear of the engine bay. And I will glue in a piece of mass loaded vinyl to cover the area where the latch striker was located.
Thank you "Dan and clan" for stepping up to the plate on this one. I sincerely hope all 9-5 owners interested in experiencing the handling potential of their car will be contacting you for this brace.
The following is a review I sent to State of Nine after installing their strut brace:
Hi Dan.
I am so very impressed by you taking on the task of designing, fabricating, prototyping, testing, and putting into production this brace.
It does, in fact, improve my 9-5's handling. With the oversize SAS sway bars front (25mm) & rear (22mm), heavy duty sway bar endlinks, Koni FSD shocks, new Aero springs, and a Quaife LSD--I was not sure what to expect when adding the brace.
That said, the result is not subtle and brings a sharpness and directness to the steering. Body roll is reduced in slalom like turns and there is significantly improved road holding in high speed sweeping curves. I do not notice any negative side effects, but was prepared for a potentially more jarring ride--which did not happen.
I am very pleased with the performance of the strut brace.
As for the install: I was concerned about repositioning the hood release switch, but this, too, turned out to be a non-issue. I was able to gently twist the metal holder for the switch and position it closer to the rear of the engine bay. And I will glue in a piece of mass loaded vinyl to cover the area where the latch striker was located.
Thank you "Dan and clan" for stepping up to the plate on this one. I sincerely hope all 9-5 owners interested in experiencing the handling potential of their car will be contacting you for this brace.
In the Netherlands we did a group buy for the strut brace from speedparts.
It was installed on all three generation of 9-5s and with great succes. The body roll is noticeably less and on older cars it even fixed noisy dashboards.
Install is very easy and the bolts hold the brace very well. The fitting is near perfect, sometimes the cap on the hood for the alarm switch is touching the brace. This can eaily be solved by slightly twisting the cap or file a small portion of the brace.
In the Netherlands we did a group buy for the strut brace from .
It was installed on all three generation of 9-5s and with great succes. The body roll is noticeably less and on older cars it even fixed noisy dashboards.
Install is very easy and the bolts hold the brace very well. The fitting is near perfect, sometimes the cap on the hood for the alarm switch is touching the brace. This can eaily be solved by slightly twisting the cap or file a small portion of the brace.
that thing looks solid. I saw that a while back, pretty expensive especially the shipping. Wonder if we could get a group by going on this product and get a discount.
Gentlemen, not once did anyone mention the HP increase from the bar, 10hp, for painted (add cool stickers, and who knows what!), 30hp for chrome.
All kidding aside I got the ebay (Malaysia) one and on a 208k wagon it did tighten things up a bit. But a pia to change the plugs. Overall I'm happy with it for the price. Too much $ for their anti roll bars though.
No problems whatsoever with the Speedparts brace, you can still access everything. And thanx to the bolts, it will always fit your car. In time the body will slightly change and a static brace will not always fit.
Probably an exclusive distributor arrangement; such is business! I have seen the bar itself; its quite a nice piece, very well designed.
You can always do what I did and grab a Weichers (same as Spd Prts I believe) strut bar in Germany and bring it back over to the states in your snowboard bag with your snowboard. Heh.
Improved handling for the money is far more efficiently produced with SAS bars and poly bushings. The strut brace is just like going with poly radiator hoses. They may work better, they may not. Someone will swear, under oath, to both sides of the story. The only guarantee we have is that it creates a more provocative bit of car porn under the bonnet with those nice bits in there, and we all know how much we love a beautiful bit of work under the bonnet.
The problem is that everyone saying it won't/doesn't work are all using theory. Not one of them in this thread have said "I tried it and it doesn't work."
A guy in Australia posted that he tried one and it didn't make any difference. Posted on the weekend. For whatever difference it makes folks will use or not use as is their desire.
I have got the one from MapTun since 2010. http://www.garaget.org/?car=115669&image=2044789
Functional design & it looks like OEM. And there was no need of repositioning the hood switch. Perfect fit.
For my 2004, you had to remove the bell housing that went over the hood alarm switch, otherwise the same Maptun strut bar would not allow the hood to close.
I have had front and rear strut braces on a lot of VW's and they felt great in the twisties. Not on a Saab yet but I don't see why it won't have the same effect.
although these bars do tighten things up, you wont really notice it untill there are other suspencion upgrades to go with it. For example, id bet there is more flex in the average 9-5s subframe bushings, than between the strut towers.
i got the State of Nine Strut Bar. Very disapointed in the fit, but the benefits in the corners are very noticeable. traction is also improved in wet, and snowy days...
For me.. well worth the upgrade.. for others.. maybe not..
Installed on 2002 9-5 sedan. 16in wheels. Stage 2 tune. But my 180k wagon feels more stable than the sedan, except the sedan corners high speeds way easier and flat.
When I slam on the breaks in the wagon. It slides. When I do it with the sedan the front keeps grip and stears right on through
The whole deal on strut bars is interesting. Bolted joints are weak anyway. Strut tower close to Firewall is ideal for structure. Strut brace bolted by 8 mm fine thread bolts self tapped into a weak strut mount? Sad deal. And " wow car handles so much better with the strut tower brace" Really?
Proof is in the pudding. Once you try it let us know.
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