has anyone installed a strut tower brace?

[r1mcnally]

Greetings from Tennessee. I did a search and didn't find any hits, so I wanted to ask - has anyone installed a strut tower brace on their 1st gen? The Okuyama strut tower brace (https://www.blackhawkjapan.com/en-us/products/okuyama-611-157-0) is listed as being applicable for both the ZE0 and AZE0.

I ask because when I look under the hood of my 2017 I can't really tell whether the bar will clear the windshield wiper components that appear to occupy the same area where the brace would go, namely in the tunnel-like structure beneath the base of the windshield.

Strut tower braces have greatly improved the drivability of my previous vehicles, and I think one would help the LEAF as well. Since I don't want to spend a bunch of $$$ on a part that won't fit, I wanted to see if anyone else has tried this, and what level of success they've had, if any.

Related: online I've seen LEAFs get the 19mm rear sway bar designed for the Juke and that appears to be 100% truly bolt-on with no issues. I imagine such a sway bar would also help firm things up in the LEAF.

Many thanks for reading and any input on strut tower braces - how they've worked for you, clearance issues, etc.

 

[Drew21]

I don't have any personal experience to answer your question, but will note that the link your provided says that the strut tower brace fits the ZEO Leaf. I've had good luck directly contacting manufacturers with fitment concerns, so you could give that a try as well for confirmation.

Finally, it wouldn't be a waste of time to do some CAD (cardboard-aided design) to assess fitment in your car. Looking at the picture in the link you provided, you can use the distance between the mounting holes to estimate the height/rise of the brace above the mounting plate. Unfortunately the angle of the picture makes it difficult to figure out if or how far the brace is offset from the rear mounting hole, but if it is it doesn't look like a lot.

So, do you have clearance along a line between the mounting points at the top of the strut towers? Do you have a couple inches of space above and slightly behind that line? If so, it should fit.

 

[Olsonist]

Dala had a video on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBjMKKQE-Ws

 

[r1mcnally]

Dala had a video on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBjMKKQE-Ws

Many thanks!