Does anyone know if any of the chassis stiffening components (strut tower bars and the like) are actually necessary? Does the fit have any weak spots that would benefit noticeably from installing those parts?

 

Supposedly the GE chassis is pretty stiff. I would venture to say that the best improvement would be made in the hatch area. A three point bar that bolts to the floor or a full cross bar setup would be best, I have little faith in the merits of bars that bolt only to two points. I have noticed improvements with two point bars but this is with 25 year old chassis that flex when you pull up a driveway

Also, necessary for what? What are you doing with the car?

 

GE is 155% stiffer than the GD

 

I've seen a lot of posts about a new brace or bar and people have gotten all excited about them and say it made a huge improvement but it doesn't quite make sense to me unless they are road racing their car. Unless I'm missing something, I've never found a need for my car's chassis to be any stiffer than it is, especially since it's brand new

 

honda gave the ge8 a factory 2 point underbrace in my 2013, dont know how far back it goes, as ive seen a couple 2009s without it.

Perhaps honda decided a little stiffening was needed for future chassis durability (age, road use, etc..)

 

You must drive like an old lady if you can't see the need.

 

The rear seems plenty stiff, the only part i think that might be beneficial is the fender brace like this: the other under bars Ive seen seems redundant or non flexy area IMO.

 

A box will always be more flimsy if two ends are open, you have to close one end to keep it square (front end, firewall), close both ends to make it even tougher. The hatch doesn't do much in this regard, IMO chassis stiffening in the hatch area of all hatchbacks by either cage or bars is a good idea if you don't mind sacrificing the utility.

Fender braces are cool, I hope that that picture was just taken without the rear bolt installed near the door (a bolt does go there I hope?)

 

unless one's doing autox or tracking, the GE's pretty solid imo.

 

That's what I was thinking. It would take a lot of track time to really notice the weak spots on the fit because it was designed so well.