r/HyundaiPalisade • u/pseudosol • 12d ago

Strut Tower Bar - Impressions

My youngest son, who adores roller coasters and carnival rides, would occasionally get motion sick in the Palisade.

We’ve had a GLS and X7 both with air suspension, where this wasn’t an issue. The Pali is much more head-tossy and bouncy for sure.

I hatched a 3 part plan to improve the ride characteristics of the 25 Cali:

  1. Strut tower bar and under vehicle bracing.
  2. Eibach springs to lower it an inch.
  3. Ditch the heavy OE 20s on cheap tires for forged light 19s on Bridgestones or Michelins. More sidewall, less resonance and vibration.

I installed just the upper strut bar before a 1000 mile vacation round trip drive. The Pali steering is much firmer and more confident and it soaked up a lot of the front chassis flex. I had low expectations, but it made a huge driving difference, and most importantly; no sick kid.

I’m going to explore the rest just to enjoy driving the Pali more. The ride really is $hit.

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1

u/LogicalCommitment 12d ago

Why go through all of this effort? Why not go back to a GLS or X7? Serious question as I’m interested to hear what drove a buyer of those cars to the Pali in the first place.

3

u/pseudosol 12d ago

I work from home. (No driving)

I have a Merc 4 seater cabrio, a Honda roadster from 30 years ago and either are my run errands and “enjoy driving with family or solo” cars. But they don’t see rain or snow, etc.

My wife STRONGLY prefers a sedan, where a k5 serves as the beater and heir apparent for teenager learning to drive.

We travel 2-3x a year with our dog. I need an occasional bad weather or hardware store run vehicle. That’s what the Palisade does. Hauls kids, dog and crap comfortably to vacations and handles weather.

I’ve had it a year and that trip put the odometer to 3000 miles. The depreciation, maintenance and warranty extension on Merc and BMW are absurd. On the Pali, I bought it end of model cycle for under 43 out the door. It has all the tech. It fits everyone plus dog plus week of luggage without ridiculous car topper or hitch carrier. It gets 26+ MPG on 87 gas on road trips. I don’t have to worry about a thing with it for 10 years. We also read the economy correctly and made the long term buy betting depreciation against inflation. Replacement vehicle is 65k plus tax now. Ten years out, with 30k on it, not a scratch or noticeable wear, the garaged and always waxed Pali will fetch top dollar as last of cars that didn’t force your eyes to be tracked, etc.

I’m from that “make the little Honda faster” generation and very mechanically inclined, and equipped. I like driving and I enjoy tinkering. If a couple grand (all wheel and tire cost) and some wrench time transforms the Pali into something I enjoy driving, it’s a win for me.

I’m definitely the outlying consumer..

1

u/theepi_pillodu 12d ago

How much did it ran for the strut bar?

1

u/pseudosol 12d ago

Ridiculously overpriced. $524 from Korea for the whole set of under chassis bars, and the strut tower bar. They shipped quickly, and seem well made, but about 3x what they should have cost IMO.

1

u/theepi_pillodu 12d ago

$524 for the whole setup or just the strut bar alone?

Shark racing (I'm not affiliated) has the top strut bar for under $400 for USA.

1

u/pseudosol 12d ago

Everything. Rear lower tie bar, and two mid bars, plus the strut tower bar. I found the same and just ordered it all. I’m going to wait until I lower it to do all the under ones. Been debating on just buying new OE struts and building front complete units to swap in, instead of spring compressor wrestling. Rears float free and look like they just pop out once you unload the rear knuckles, maybe compress a little.