I saw a vendor that was offering a front strut bar.
It says it stiffens up the chassis.

1) What does stiffening up the chassis do in terms of performance?
2) The stock one is a 3 point strut bar b/c it connects with the car at 3 points (both strut points and a center point connection to the chassis). This other strut bar just connects the two struts... wouldn't that make it less stiff?

 

The stock strut bar is pretty well constructed. If I was going to do some suspension work to stiffen up the response a little, it would be a sway bar.

 

=less flex/roll when cornering turns

 

3 points makes a triangle, that's going to be stiffer than a straight line. I don't think I'd ever bother upgrading the stock bar, I had it off the car to sandblast and you can stand on the middle of it and it doesn't flex at all

 

I recently change my factory bar to a single bar. The new bar is much stiffer my wife noticed a difference while riding passenger. I drove it pretty hard earlier today and it felt as if a good amount of understeer went away. The factroy bars are made of cheap stamped ends and standard pipe, it may have 3 points yet the stamped ends are the weak point with flex. The bar i bought from work was not an expensive one piece bar either, it was solid aluminum cross section with threaded ends and solid plate steel strut mounting. I would strongly recomend buying a RRM bar if you want the ultimate one piece bar. Simple yet stiff materials no amount of serious flex with them. I just got a good deal on mine so it worked for me and i do plan to upgrade to an RRM Bar.

 

Doesnt stiffening up the front end increase understeer? that was always my impression. Stiffen the back for oversteer, stiffen the front for understeer.....

 

Lot's of things contribute to under/oversteer. RWD VS FWD is a large part, as is the weight distribution. It would make sense that a stiff front end (ie front end that hardly rolls in turns) would cause a lot of understeer. Don't forget about the all season tires though, putting some good tires on it would make the car take turns a lot better.
I wouldn't upgrade the strut bar, it is good that it HAS a strut bar. I don't think most of the competitors have a strut bar.

 

The stock strut bar is great, I took it off to repaint it earlier this month, and the difference without if is very noticable, as mentioned, you can stand on it, and it won't flex at all (I'm 160lbs) A triangle is a lot more secure than a bar from an architectural point of view