hey guys the past few days ive been working up a rear strut bar design, this is what i have accomplished so far... its bolted in for the most part, and basically tweaked to the way i want it and all i need to do is insert a removeable cross member between the two poles coming down so i have that optional trunk space if i need it i will probably use some kind of clamp welded to the center bar or something like that, that will bolt on and off easily but be strong ...in the end i think this will come out very well and i will have some clear'er pictures in the daylight tommrow.




Ok so it is new years day and I took about 2 hours out to finnish this up. This mroning while still recovering from new years eve, ugh... i pushed my subs back and took the strut bar out. I have gotten this down pretty good. Now keep in mind i made this so that it woudl fit around my subs, im sure i can make a diffrent one that uses up less trunk space for anyone out there without the audi equipment, i mean my trunk space was already just about used up. So anyways, i used 1/2 inch steel, with 1 inch end piece, and steel washers. Also all of the hardware that i used was stainless steel. The only missing piece in these pictures is the removeable center support beam, i havent gotten to the store yet. Overall it took me about 6 hours to cut measure and weld all of this up minus the removal and painting time today. I do have a front strut bar that i made as well and with these two together I sure noticed a diffrence. There is a bonus to cornering and even high speed stability. I had to take my girlfriend to work after i completed this, this morning and its about 15 miles each way, highway and back road..it was a great test.

So this these pictures show where i connected, the overall construction, and hardware i used on the lower two holes to replace the existing bolts, because they were too short. I torqued everythign down pretty hard and made sure it was mighty tight. And hey i bet if i get rear-ended again (totaled my last car) i will probably be alot safer.

( I couldnt get a good overall trunk pic that was'nt blury so oh' well ) and by the way im only 18 hah

I did have to cut away some of the carpeted siding in the trunk, i did a pretty botchy job, so dont mind it, i have to clean it up this week, and it will all look amazing.























please leave some feedback

 

Wow, you definately have some skill, that thing looks amazing!, after you get it perfected and have taken somedetailed install pics, you should definately powdercoat and market!, I really want a rear strut tower and yours is the first I have ever seen for the a4s....definately keep us updated!....


good job!

 

Thats what i was hoping to do. I wanted to make some sort of template, then make some for all you guys on here that wanted them... I know there have been some threads and a demand for them. It's pouring out right now so i wont be able to do much work on it today unless it stops, happy new year huh.. i have to borrow my fr4iends digital camera instead of my camera phone and will post up so detailed pics.

 

looks awesome, cant wait to see the pics when its finalized.

 

So much for your trunk. But hey, i couldnt even begin to do what you have there so nice work!

 

that looks pretty nice. im curious as to how significant the difference is from stock

 

well guys and gals, please enjoy, ill check back to answer any questions.

 

Umm... Thats a cool idea, but are the shock towers where you are bracing? Or are you just supporting the metal trunk area..

Are you sure there is a considerable amount of chassis flex there?
Thats a very nice design on how it fits with your woofer boxes and tucks them out of the way. You really didnt loose a lot of trunk space by putting that in. But im afraid that your work didnt actually do any stiffening. Or if that area is a concern for stiffening... BUT in your case, I think it is fine, if anything for keeping your sub boxes in place.


ps, your welds are very cold, you need to turn up your amps. PM me your settings and what welder your using. Im a welder/fabricator by trade.

 

That looks really good. I would absolutly love you forever if you could poast the specs on it (dimensions, parts...) and even a DIY if you had time. also, your front strut bar, how did that work out? I would do this in a heartbeat if i could see the numbers. it looks really nice. I have been dieing for another excuse to use my wirefeel welder...

 

im using a wirefeed craftsman welder, and i did have it on as high as it goes on range and everything, ive been practicing my welding on a bunch of scraps and its getting there. I mean honestly After putting that in and not knowing how much body flex is actually there, because there isnt really a way to tell i did notice a diffrence when i went test driving. I mean its not a huge diffrence or anythign but it does have a diffrent feel to it. I will also try to get some dimensins up and see what i can do. There was another rear strut bar design on here posted up a week ago, the reason i did not use that one was because it pushed my sub boxes too far up and looked rediclious using up the entire trunk. So this is basically how i worked around that.