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Strut Tower Braces

Updated January 19, 2000

A strut tower brace is a metal bar that bolts onto the strut towers and essentially connects them together. This is designed to prevent flexing and torsional twisting of the unibody frame and provides greater rigidity during cornering. A stiffer body means better, more stable cornering.

Aftermarket Braces
You can purchase a beefy front STB and rear STB from TWINDUALCAM.com. The front STB will fit all first-gen W-body cars. The rear STB will only fit Cutlass Supreme, Regal, and Grand Prix. It will not fit 90-94 Lumina due to a clearance problem with the trunk springs. It will not fit 95-99 Lumina due to totally different strut towers.

Front STB is $99.
Rear STB is $139.

GM Factory Braces
There is also a GM factory strut tower brace. It was originally made for the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertibles. The convertible body has no top, so the body flexes much more. To reduce this flexing, the convertible received factory strut tower braces.
There were two types of strut tower braces offered by GM:

1991-92 style, straight tube type brace. GM Part No. 10165774.
1993-95 style, bent square tube type brace. GM Part No. 10220175.

The 91-92 style is preferable if you have anything except the 3.4L DOHC. This is because it has a round tubular bar and is stronger. The 93-95 style is required if you have a 3.4L DOHC V6. It will not fit on cars newer than model year 1996 with the 3.4L DOHC V6 due to the redesigned intake plenum.

Unfortunately, the GM braces have been permanently discontinued and no dealers have it in stock. Some junkyards that have them know they are discontinued and are demanding a premium price.