Don@STaSIS

Howdy folks! Last chance at group purchase pricing, group purchase ends on Friday July 1st! Contrary to what has been said this a very useful and nice piece for those of you who drive aggressive, track, autox and so forth. We've already had several units out to S4/6 owners, it isn't just gratutious overpriced bling. The quality of the parts used is top notch, 7075 aluminum with formed, not tapped, threads, stainless truss plates to evenly distribute load across the factory brackets, the highest quality spherical ends and seals available and stainless hardware. Plus as you can see below this is a bolt product, no modification, no custom work, no guess work involved!

<b><i>RETAIL PRICE - $299.00 each</i></b>
<b><i>RETAIL PRICE (w/ factory brackets) - $373.55 each</i></b>

<b>Mance Preloading Strut Brace - $259.00 each (Save $40!)</b>
(Adjustable strut brace with spherical ends, truss plates, installation hardware)

<b>Mance Preloading Strut Brace w/ Factory Brackets - $325.55 each (Save $48!)</b>
(Adjustable strut brace with spherical ends, truss plates, installation hardware, factory brackets)

AND for those without a factory strut brace needing the factory weld-on brackets we can also include the proper brake fluid reservoir (Thank you Mr. Caldwell).

<b>urS4/6 Brake Fluid Reservoir (strut brace compatible) - $52.35 each</b>
(ONLY NEEEDED FOR CARS WITHOUT FACTORY BRACE)

<b>Shipping - $12.00 Flat Rate (Lower 48)</b>
<b>Shipping - $24.00 Flat Rate (Canada)</b>

-The bar itself features formed threaded ends versus tapped threads for a more precise fit between the bar and spherical ends.

-The bar also features defined 19mm hex ends for preloading the setup and locking it in place with the 19mm hex jam nuts.

-The spherical ends now feature a dust seal on top to prevent any dirt or water ingress into the teflon lined bearing.

-The bar is shorter than the previous unit, also slimmer by 12.5% but features the same torsional resistance as with the earlier bar due to it being shorter.

-Also the bar includes stainless steel truss plates that will tie the outer and inner bolt bolts holes of the factory strut brace bracket together to properly distribute the load onto the bracket.

<img src="http://www.euro-audi-parts.com/Mance/mancebarura.jpg">

<img src="http://www.euro-audi-parts.com/Mance/mancebarurb.jpg">

<img src="http://www.euro-audi-parts.com/Mance/mancebarurc.jpg">

So if you are interested in participating in this group purchase please email at <a href="mailto:contact@euro-audi-parts.com?subject=Mance Strut Brace Group Purchase">contact@euro-audi-parts.com</a>.

spiralsmurf

its still total overkill. a triangulated brace would do considerably more than this bar. Why would you use teflon sealed bushings on a part that doesn't move and doesn't even see dirt.

Tornado //S6

yeah, i'm still trying to figure out how this is any better than my OEM brace...

Don@STaSIS

and they sure do see dirt, your entire engine bay does. The materials used you may consider overkill, but this is what has been chosen by the manufacturer for strength, lightness and quality. I can attest to the quality of every product that Mance has ever produced for us and this is no exception.

Preloading the front end is the main benefit of this, when you preload the front end you are putting stress on the spherical ends, depending on how far you preload it can be quite a large amount of force. Plenty of dirt, water and other particles make it all over the engine bay.

Again I will reiterate, if you can find the quality of these components and have an exact or functionally exact unit that meets these qualities for less then you've gotten further than I have. I personally searched for these components after your original postings and found there was no way to come close to this quality. I saw no $20-40 bars of even close quality on Ebay; I saw multiple $240-$300 aluminum bars with spherical end links for Porsche's that came close to these specs.

This is a very high quality preloading strut brace that is bolt on to this application, including all stainless hardware, stainless plates to evenly distribute force across the entire bracket and yes it has overkill spherical ends by your standards. I see no inkling that there is anything of this type for the S4/6 from any other manufacturer that is a bolt-on preloading bar.

You are welcome to not purchase this unit if you feel it is overpriced, but unfortunately I see nothing factual to indicate that it is overpriced bling.

Cheers,

urS4guy

There is a great deal of flex where our upper strut bars mount. Although originally developed for the B4(? circa 92-95) sedans, it evidentally will work for our cars. The biggest issue with the stock bar is the terrible mounting engineering or lack thereof. When I mounted my custom bar the difference was stunning. I have talked to Mance at length about his development of this piece and gave him all the information I had on my upper bar. The bushings were a failure point until he came up with this current itteration. My bar does have a provision for a triangulated firewall mount that I just haven't got around to yet.

Hap, wit dakine Mance Bar info from Hanalei

|skolnick

Some people need it, some people want it, some people would never notice it even if they had it.

Don@STaSIS

and is what sets this unit apart from the stock bar. Preloading is done by twisting the bar which can push out or pull in on your strut towers.

As I explained to one customer who is an NEQ track instructor with a heavily prep'd S6:

"The main benefit to this adjustable strut brace is to rid the car of any strut tower deflection while cornering. During hard cornering and braking, energy is transferred from the wheels up to the strut tower. You have upgraded to a stiffer suspension setup thus increasing these forces. Over time fatigue can cause the strut tower to
deflect more than it originally did when the car was new. The stock bar is in place to avoid these issues with the stock suspension and normal daily driving, though with track and spirited driving with upgraded suspension the forces the strut towers sees are increase by a large margin. The stock bar can allow the strut towers to deflect against each other, the preloading bar we are offering avoids this by "pre-loading" the strut towers in towards each other. When cornering forces come into the strut tower it can force the tower in towards the center of the car, you can preload this force into the strut towers so handling is not altered when force is applied, the tower is already in a static loaded position."

The purpose is to rid the front end of any strut tower deflection that effects cornerning adversely. The stock strut brace is put on specifically by Audi to assist in this, but a preloading bar can come close to eliminating it entirely. This is especially important with stiffer suspension and aggressive driving.

Hopefully this explains more about the purpose of this upgrade.

If you have any questions just let me know, that goes for everyone!

Cheers,

spiralsmurf

why do they need to be protected from dust and what not? you can get a carbon fiber and titanium bar for a subaru for about the same price as your aluminum piece. all i'm saying is that adding more elements to a system does not mean the system will better. just because the porsche guys buy expensive things doesn't mean they're better.

spiralsmurf

but it doesn't mean you need everything he has to create the same affect. are any of you guys measuring the torsional strength on these bars? I agree the stock steel bar is weak compared to something that would be made of solid metal, but it doesn't need to cost that much. honestly neither does your swaybar, but since you're the only guy you get to charge what you want.

spiralsmurf

your "explanation" can be applied to any strut bar on the market