ive been wondering this for weeks now...


the coil over conversion on the front moves the weight of the car off the spring under the front "frame" and puts all the weight of the car at the top of the fenderwell where the strut mounts...

now i know when stock, thoes fenderwells flex like crazy when turning, i kinow my vert's moves upto a inch. and i know they are really just thin sheetmetal..





cant you notice the flex up there when you move it? thats alot more stress on the thin sheetmetal of the fender... anyone else worried about fatuge? anyone using additional bracing? and how much weight do you really save?

 

This has been an ongoing debate for a long time. One side of the debate is that the body can handle it and the people who doubt it are worried about nothing. The other side is that the body is weak in that area and there is not enough strength to stay steady under turning stress. For the most part, the first opinion is shared by all the drag racers, and the second opinion is shared by the road racers. What is pretty much comes down to is that nobody has any actual facts about how coilovers affect the strength in that area. Most people make their decesion on how they personally feel.

For me, I agree with the second opinion. I dont think our cars were designed to use coilovers in the front. I'm sticking with the stock spring/strut setup. Like you said, all of the stress is put on the fenderwells where the strut mounts and that area is very weak. If you parked a 4th gen next to a 3rd gen and opened both hoods, you will see how differently the two strut areas are built. 4th gens are built to use coilovers. In my opinion, 3rd gens aren't. But that does not mean it cant be done. It is possible to weld the body together in that area and make it stronger. If you look, that whole area only has a few tack welds. We have a member from Germany (I think?) that welded that area together top and bottom and he runs coilovers in a roadracing situation. It seems to be working out for him. But he wont show us pictures of his engine bay (only from underneath) so we dont know the extent of the strengthening mods he did. The rest of the guys I've seen with coilovers use them for dragracing or street use. For drag racing I dont see a problem since you pretty much go in a straight line. Street use is questionable for me, but the guys who are doing it say its working good with no problems. So I guess it really comes down to how you feel. I dont think the benifits are worth the possible risks. I know I wouldnt trust it on a road course. But thats just me.

 

I Think that if you weld that fender area where the shock is mounted and add strut tower brace it could handle the stress caused by coil overs. To make sure that it can handle the stress i would still add some extra sheet metal here and there to enhance that area. Should do it. Is it worth it? Don't know, I never tried it.
But i don't consider myself as a reliable source since my lack of racing car build up experience. I am just a regular guy, don't kill me if i am wrong about this.