strut tower brace question

[Spln_Hrd]

me(96 tsi awd) or my brother(95 gst) were thinking of getting some strut tower braces after seeing how cheap they are on ebay. i was wondering what i need to look for to make sure i don't get a pos. i am not a fan of the look, i just wanted it because a friend put one on the front on his laser awd and said it got rid of alot of roll, i am not sure of the brand he got.

what do i need to look for in a strut tower brace as in for perfromance inhancement? i don't want an ugly one but the looks other than that mean nothing. are the ebay ones any good?

 

[Wildman95GS-T]

I had both upper and lower rear bars. The upper bar tightned things up too much, i had to be careful going around curves to fast (heavy oversteer). The lower bar did nothing.

 

[crimsondragon]

A strut bar is a strut bar. They all work the same regardless of brand or price. Some are of higher quality than others, but they all perform equally. Most people use the eBay ones.

I personally don't like them. I don't notice any difference with using them and it makes it more of a PITA to get to some parts of the motor. I was constantly removing mine to work under the hood. To me, it was more of a nuisance than a performance part. Just my .02.

Not true. There was a thread before somewhere in the Tech about certain ebay ones. My rear strut bar is a POS because the welded braces that hold the bar are perpendicular to the bar. Unless there's a reinforcement that is parallel to the bar, it is not rigid at all and will flex. And this bar is 3 years old.