[tfdmissmatch]

Last night, I installed a front stress bar on my focus sedan (in the dark). I took it for a run up and down the streets and handling felt somewhat stiffer than stock when cornering hard. This morning, I drove to school and was a little hard on the steering around corners (which is normal for me). Just to be sure everything had remained bolted tight, I decided to do a quick check-up. To my dismay, i noticed a larger gap between the hood and the frame on the right side (passenger side) than on the left side. The hood is slightly below the frame on the drivers side and slightly higher than the frame on the passenger side. I am sure about the gap discrepancy between the two sides as I tested the width with my pinky finger. I can stick the end of my pinky finger all the way under the hood on the passenger's side. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!!?!

 

[focusin]

Well you are supposed to install a strut bar on a flat level surface, it should not be permanent if you just loosen the bolts on the strut and retighten them on a lever surface that should fix it.


Other than that I dont know what else could cause it.

 

[SkaAddict]

Did you get the bar flush against both towers? If its sticking up it could be pushing on the hood on one side, making the gap.

 

[focusin]

Any update about your issue?

 

[S2]

Pics? I can't see a strut brace doing this.

 

[cpyder]

Well you are supposed to install a strut bar on a flat level surface, it should not be permanent if you just loosen the bolts on the strut and retighten them on a lever surface that should fix it.


Other than that I dont know what else could cause it.

Exactly...

usually you're supposed to jack the front end of the car up to mount the strut tower bar.

Remove it... drive it for a bit to see if it returns to normal ... then reinstall it correctly. (unless that is how you installed it, then something else might be wrong)

But pics do help.

 

[BigRed03]

when i installed my steeda strut brace, I jacked up one side of the car, got it to pop on, put the nuts on so it doesnt decide to come back off, lowered it, and tightened it up, nothing like this happened to me.....

 

[focusin]

I did not even have to jack my car up, I just drove into my friends garage and installed it. Same with his strut bar, my friends TC's bar and my fiance's eclipse, it just has to be level.

 

[tfdmissmatch]

The update: Well, I think that what caused the hood gap was the applying of too much force to get the strut bar in place by putting it over the focus sport sri. The first time of install was on a near level surface. To fix the problem, I re-installed the strut bar in the street with more weight on the side with the gap which allowed the hood and frame to realign. Its not completely perfect as the hood is now a few mm from being flush with the frame. It is not visible to the eye unless under very close scrutiny, but can be felt by the hand. Ill try and make it perfect, but I'm ok with it for now. Thanks for the help, Focusin!