Hopefully the redesigned X-brace will be out on time, waiting to order one.

 

Any kind of update?

 

I have tried the trunk without the x and I would say that you get a moderate upgrade in handling from the trunk. It is very inexpensive and definitely worth it. The X and the trunk
make a HUGE difference. the first time I took it on a windy road I threw it into a corner and the car stayed flat, it was night and day. This combo of the two is still less than a CUSCO front strut bar and this is almost purely cosmetic as there is a ton of support already across the firewall, and people were buying those like hot cakes so everyone without Danny's products should get em ASAP. I got the Trunk and X and the Mid is in the mail, cant wait.

One last thing, took it on a freeway clover (on, off, on, off) last night and had probably the most fun in my life in a car, all four tires were squealing and the car never broke loose and stayed quite flat.

Thanks again Danny.

 

We are glad to hear it
We have decided to discontinue the current x brace due to some unforseen complications but have plans for a new brace thats above the rear strut brace...should be soon and look pretty wicked.

 

I cant wait :D

 

Those "complications" weren't the weld on the top mount breaking due to having all of the stress on it, would it? fairly poor design, in my opinion.

Plus, is the lower part of the bar bolted to the shock mount? Is that not rubber, thus allowing it to flex?

 

^^^no... not the complication, the welds hold just fine...

and the lower mount attaches to the center bolt of the shock...


Have you tried to use one of these or just pulling crap out of your ___?

 

For the record, I have not used this product. I am looking at the pictures and posting what I think of it.

Welds are not designed to withstand load in that direction (shear). They are meant to join the metal parts. The tubes should be butted together and welded around the joint to endure stress.

As for the lower mount, is the shock mounted solid to the metal chassis of the car, or is there a rubber donut between the shock and the metal? I'd be very surprised if the shock was solidly mounted to the body of the car. What would the benefit be of mounted a "brace" to a component that is isolated from the car by a rubber mount?

Have you ever been in a car with solid (metal on metal) engine mounts? Notice all of the vibration through the car? That's what the rubber prevents.

Now, if someone were to post up a photo of the lower mount attached solidly to the body instead of to the shock, I'll take back the last point I've made. My concern of the upper mount still stands.

 

You would install a brace to make it so the shock was solidly mounted to the chassis... eliminating the rubber mounts intention of softening the vibrations... I dont think I quite understand what your asking... by adding this brace you are no longer isolated...

Yes, I own a 240sx with solid motor mounts.... but the vibrations from the motor is different than the (nonexistant) vibration of the shock...

 

Why would you want to solidly mount a shock to the chassis? The shock does not endure the load, the spring does. The TC2 uses a separate shock and spring in the rear, no? If that is the case, there is no load on the shock ever. It just controls the motion of the control arm. Have you ever seen a roll cage mount to a shock? No, it is attached to the spring mount, or strut mount if the car uses a coil-over design.

My engine mount analogy was to show how much a rubber mount eliminates the transfer of energy, be it vibration or weight.

I think my general opinion is that this is not an effective place to mount a brace to. An easy one, yes. But not nearly as effective as it could be if you were to attach it to the actual body of the car. Is that not the idea here, to stiffen the body of the car, preventing flex.

 

Well, you are missing that its connecting 4 points of the car, not just 2. So it is functioning as designed, to reduce flex...

 

I have removed my post in the other thread to eliminate the impression that I am "trolling".

Anyways, back to the discussion.

How is it eliminating flex if two of the mounting points are flexible? And what type of metal structure is the upper mounting point(s) attached to? Are they mounts for car seats, seat belts, or just plastic trim? Are they just weld nuts on thin sheet metal (which I'm pretty sure they are)?

Again, my point is not to start arguments, but to question how things are designed and think about what they are doing instead of just buying it.

If you want a pretty red bar to sit in your trunk, great. Money well spent. But from a structural integrity standpoint, this design (and the "trunk brace", which doesn't even touch the trunk) has a few major flaws that cannot be ignored. No engineer will ethically claim that this significantly strengthens the body of the car with these design decisions.

 

I personally like the braces be it looks and they do make a little difference. This guy is getting his start with what he has and for a good price. It may not be perfected or state of the art and full big company r&d but it still works. If you like it go ahead and get it if not then dont no need criticize each other designs can get better and better but for now this works for me.

 

Erik, I understand your point for the trunk brace. That design will only keep the struts from moving around independantly, by tieing them together you are just forcing the same flex on both sides. Which is why I pushed for the X-brace, as this added piece will keep the struts from moving around at all. The piece they attach to is sheet metel on the inside of the car, but again the tie in here is to reduce the flex in the rubber that you keep talking about. Keeping them tied together and reducing movement will add better handling to the car. Albiet a better design would be to attach the brace to the strut towers, but thats simply not possible unless you want to drill holes into the towers... and TB Perfomance's whole thing is to not force customers to modify the chassis, plastic interior, etc. with thier parts...


Either way, wait for the new design. I will be test fitting in a week or so when it gets shipped to me.

 

Thank you guys for standing behind our products...I will come out and be honest aout our complication because my jig was innacurate and the upper mounts werent fitting propperly. We handled all issues with the customers and now that thats over we feel that the community desrves to know why it was discontinued. Im not a guy to lie and keep people from knowing how we work here. I always pride myself on honesty and honestly they didnt fit right. I didnt like how everything flowed either...I am proud to say I havent ever had a weld break lol...BUTTTT with that said we are releasing a NEW product that has an adjuster built in much like the mazda 3 trunk brace and This will be a great brace that I will make damn sure fits lol. With that said please respect our work and dont come in thread bashing a vendor as it is a bannable offense on most forums. I appreciate open discussion but would rather keep speculation on products not tested by the poster to be kept to a minimum. Please remember this is my full time job and is how I get my bills paid.

Much love to our fans! You keep me going each day!
Danny Check-TB Performance

 

In the interest of keeping things civil and not sounding too much like a d*ck, I'm going to leave this thread as it is.

Good luck with your updated brace, and thanks for putting the effort into getting domestic products made with reasonable pricing.

 

Danny, shoot me a text when your ready to ship the new piece.

 

I have the mid chassis brace you make and let me tell you for the car being my dd im very happy with this product. Cant wait for this new product.

 

Please somebody do a review on the mid chassis under brace....i may buy it then!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErikO

Welds are not designed to withstand load in that direction (shear).

Oh yes they are! That is how the good aviation weld joints are designed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErikO

They are meant to join the metal parts.

Agreed…yes. That is the whole purpose of welding multiple pieces together.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErikO

The tubes should be butted together and welded around the joint to endure stress.

Exactly wrong! See reply above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErikO

That's what the rubber prevents.

The rubber is called an isolator…but correct idea and valid concerns.