A few people questioned whether my subframe brace actually did anything useful for the front end. Quite a lot of people reported a tauter front end with it fitted, but to my knowledge, nobody has ever reported how it feels when it has been removed.

I had my front subframe welded a while ago, but I re-fitted the subframe brace. Annoyingly, the downpipe has been touching the brace, making quite a bit of noise, so today, I took the brace off, had the tracking done and then went out for a "spirited" drive down one of my favourite roads (B5013 from Abbots Bromley to Uttoxeter, for those in the know.....)

What an absolute horror - understeer everywhere and all the front-end precision I've enjoyed for years was gone. The only way to get round a corner quickly was to get all the braking done in a straight line, then get round hard on the power, using the Quaife to overcome the understeer, worked fine on a clear corner, but lifting off part-way round felt more like I'd steered for the hedge - horrible.

So, the brace will be going back on, but I need to get it to clear the downpipe. The obvious solution is to grind a bit of the subframe so that it clears the pipe, but I would rather not weaken the brace if I can help it.

Does anyone have a pair of the dedicated spacers that I shipped with the braces?

What was specific about the spacers? Could you use standoffs?

Check out ebay item:231900275487

good find szkom , just what I need .

There was nothing special about them - they just happened to be the same diameter as the "tower" ends of the brace

I seem to remember there were two different thickness of spacer's supplied.

yes - 5mm and 10mm

Alright Nigel, I'll bite

Any chance of seeing more of these lower braces any time soon?

My downpipe is a bit beefy now too so I'd expect to have the same issue with rubbing, though if the spacers fix it...

About time too....




Not a chance - sorry. To produce them at a reasonable cost, I need to have about a dozen made, and there simply isn't the demand any more.

You'll probably have more joy posting in Parts Wanted

I'm using Coupe/Alfa156's front subframe on the rear axle of my mid-engined 156, and braced it as well - yes, it makes difference.....worth to note that 156's chassis is more stiff than Coupe.....

Any pictures for the curious ?

I welded 2 brackets on the both ends of subframe and bolted one stainless pipe between......i was able to "brace" the subframe to the chassis as well using same place as you may see on the picture...

well, you don't see that every day...