March 28, 2008
Zenden Aluminum 2 Point Strut Bar
Got my Zended Aluminum 2 Point Strut Bar form Kent about a week ago at KFC. Had late lunch together and did allot of catching up. It’s more then 3 years since he installed the same product for my previous ride, the Perodua Kembara (Old Daihatsu Terios).
This will be the second time i’ve installed a 2 point strut bar onto my Neo. The first time was a UTR non adjustable full steel bar, which i had it sprayed with carbon fiber finish (which cost 2 times the price of the bar itself). I didn’t feel any dramatic changes in the car handling, and it looked pretty ugly at the strut tower mounting points. Furthermore there are questionable design faults such as over sized mounting holes. The holes are not round, and are elongated shaped to have a larger tolerance due to manufacturing shortcomings (there steel struts are hand weld). So i had it removed and waited for the R3 bar. R3 had developed aluminum strut bars for the previous models (Satria, Wira, Gen2, Waja) and i saw one installed onto a R3 Neo Track Car Concept, which suggest production model of Neo strut bars will be made available shortly. That was a year ago.
Tired of waiting, I did some shopping at Eneos, your friendly neighborhood car accessories shop, just a class higher then Brothers. That is when I found out that aluminum strut bars for the neo is available. And looking at the design and built quality, i was sold, momentary. Eneos did not carry cherry red (R3 official color) painted bars. Only blue or dull chrome. I’ve searched both Eneos branches and neither of them carry stock for cherry red satria neo aluminum strut bar. In the end, I called Kent, the guy who originally did my Kembara strut bar installation. Since he gets his stock straight from the manufacturer, it was no trouble getting the cherry red bar which I was so obsessed about.
Unlike the first installation which Kent did all the hard work, I took the liberty to install the bar on my own. Simply for the experience, and for this mini review.
Installing Zenden Aluminum 2 Point Strut Bar
You’ll need (tools):
- 14mm socket wrench (like the type used to lock/unlock wheel nuts)
- 2 X 15mm spanner (preferably ring type which has better grip)
- box cutter (knife sharp enough to slice plastic)
First take the box cutter and cut open the plastic bag to remove the strut bar. On the bar itself has another layer of plastic to protect the paint, remove those too with the box cutter. Be careful with the blade, not to scratch the paint. Don’t forget to cut the cable tie which holds the Zenden Warranty card.
When the strut bar is free from plastic, it’s time to install the bar. The bar (when installed) will block mounting screws for the air box filter, so be sure to change the filter now to save yourself the trouble of having to remove the strut bar again. It will also make opening the brake fluid cover difficult (not that you’ll be doing this on a regular basis anyways).
Fitting the bar into position is some what tricky. The bar has to be tilted and fitted into place first, then only the mounting points. This is because the bar will be under a flap of metal from the wipers.
Now, use both the 15mm spanner to loosen the bar from the mounting
points. Do not remove the screws entirely, just loose enough for the
mounting points to move, unhindered.
Choose a side on which you would want to mount the strut bar into place first. There are no significant difference in choosing which side to start first, but do be warned, no not remove mounting nuts of both suspensions. Do one at a time. when removing nuts from the left pillars, make sure that the right ones are locked properly.
Use the 14mm socket wrench to unlock the mounting nuts. You’ll need to remove all 3 nuts to fit the mounting bracket of the strut bar. When the mounting bracket is in place, lock the nuts as tight as possible. The mounting bracket will bend slightly under force to fit the contour of the suspension pillars, this is normal.
repeat the step above for the other mounting bracket.
Once both mounting bracket are firmly in placed, lock the bar onto the mounting strut with the two 15mm spanner. It should be very tight.
You are done.
This is how it suppose to look like
Note:
If you hear any unfamiliar creek while driving, means that the mounting nuts and bolts that secure the bar are not tighten enough.
Review
I’ve got to say that I have rather mixed feelings with this. Firstly it’s because I had my wheels and rubbers upgraded, so road holding has much improved. And I’m still getting used to the new sets of tires.
The aluminum 2 point strut bar does effect the car handling mildly. The original quick reflex nature is still there, but it looses some of it’s twitchy-ness (which every satria neo is famous for) during high speed corners (at about 110-120km/h). Not to say the sudden oversteer is cured, but it takes much more punishment to provoke the car.
Am I happy with the changes? I don’t know, seriously, I don’t. I was pretty much content or discontent with all the other modifications done to my car, but this product has got me into a limbo. I some how missed the twitchy nature of the car. It’s like having someone nags at your everyday when you get back home. And then when the person is not there, or stops nagging, that empty feeling that sets in. This is what this aluminum 2 point strut bar has accomplished. It silence the nag.
Pros:
Slightly improved cornering
Light weight (aluminum is lighter then steel)
Superior mounting bracket design, compared to non adjustable steel struts
Cheap. Only RM150
Make my engine bay looks nicer
Cons:
I missed the twitchy nature of the car
A little getting used to
