There use to be about three vendors selling the exact same white fender braces. There was one the last time I noticed them and he didn't have a good number in stock so I figured I might as well pick them up as I couldn't have anything made at their price point unless I was doing it myself. And anything I made myself would probably just be welded on car and I'd set the thing on fire.
I was pretty drunk when I caliper'd and installed the first side and didn't look at the pictures prior to posting this. So the measurement photos are rubbish. The numbers are accurate to my normal standard of +/- .5mm. I'm not getting paid for accuracy.
The OD of all the tubing is 26mm save for possibly a change where there is a bend.
The door flanges are much thicker than the flange where they attach in the front by the strut tower. 2mm for the door brackets
Vs 1.5mm for the "strut" flange.
I wonder if this is a cost cutting choice or a manufacturing needs choice. I would of put the thicker single bracket in the front vs the two rears. But I'm a failed mechanical engineer so I'm not the keenest on the subject.
I thought I had some longer bolts for the door to compensate but they were the same size as the ones removed. I'm not TOO concerned about the loss of a few threads on the door bolts but I'm not too excited about it either.
This is made in Malaysia, which means they welds are made by birds pooping more than likely. They cleaned them up fairly well before paint though. And they are magnetic so they're steel(or ferrous pot metal) and not aluminum.
I would imagine the holes are for back gassing. Or to promote internal rusting. I don't know.
If you can't manage to take a fender off don't buy these. I'm not here to help you do things the service manual lines up very well.
Here are some helpful pictures/hints once you get past that point.
Remove the 2lbs of dirt from your fender.
This is now a weight reduction modification.
Carefully outline your door hinges with a scribe or pencil so in the event they move you'll notice.
I used cheap black paint because I'm cheap and black.
Hammer the fended stud pointing towards the front of the car down before you try to test fit anything. It will scrap the **** out of the paint and there is no possible way to run theses bars and use that mounting point. I managed to align my fenders just fine and so can you afterwards.
Don't remove the middle bolt in the top door bracket. If you leave this guy installed and don't open the door your doors should stay aligned to their previous position.(Unless your car is rubbish.)
Crank the door flange bolts down evenly and fully. Then see where you are on the flange on the "frame rail" I'm fairly impressed on how close it was to be honest. My car is very old and these parts are very foreign. I've seen $200 sets on 240s fit worse.
Drill your holes for the "frame rail" flange bolts. I'm not going to tell you the proper ways to drill holes. I will say it was a 9/16 hole you need to drill(probably). I used a stepper bit,because laziness, and bit into the flange a little bit. Put some primer on any fresh metal you now have.
This isn't a visible part, being ugly will not effect trouble shooting later either so It got a lot of effort put into it.
If you have a friend with small hands invite him over for some beer.
I don't have any friends but I have plenty of beer so I was drinking and just jammed my hand in the tiny hole with a wrench.
The included nuts are self locking, and thread fairly well overall. They're either 13 or 14mm.
Don't crank theses guys down until you loose up the door flange bolts.
Throw some paint over any parts your primered.
If you're in a racing class you might want to paint the bars black as well.As they are visible from the cabin slightly.
Not that I condone cheating but these braces aren't going to give an equivalent advantage as someone running $300 a piece cheater tires in Stock classes and are too much of a pain to remove for track/cone days. On an unrelated note there are installed on a friends car. Never mind that I just said I don't have friends.
Here is my fender hood gap, which is nice considering I'm now missing three bolts on this one. The one required for removal to install the brace, One of the under-car ones that's head snapped off on removal and one of the engine bay ones that needs to be re-tapped.
I will get to fixing those soon(tm)
I burned through a tank of gas this weekend putting the car through it's paces. And while I don't have a defined fun run here that I can use as a metric I do know what I feel comfortable with doing and my average speed through a section of road.
I'd say this brace set feels very similar to a front strut bar, but with the added benefit of heavy braking feel benefit. I do a decent amount of 80 to 60 braking on the back-roads and the car just feels better. It doesn't feel 6 pot calipers on a 225+ wide tire better. But I'd have no problem saying it feels $100 better.
Road noise has also altered slightly, speed bumps I've learned the exact suspensions sound to are deeper from the front end. This could be a pro or a con. And I also have a whistling noise on occasion while going fast highway speeds and turning slightly right. I think it would be a good idea to put tape over those ****ing holes. That or my door is slightly off now, but I'm going to blame the holes.
Who I'd recommend this to
People that have done all the other front end bolt-ons, including bushings.
People that can't weld.
People that aren't poor.
People that are capable of realigning doors and fenders.
People that won't try to sue me for drilling through their hand.
Who I'd not recommend this to
People who have factory front bushings.
People who have 14x5in wheels.
People who think delirn door bushings are a good use of $70 for a BG
Poor people.
People worried about "muh crash safety"
People who think this would give the rigidity of a roll cage/front tube frame
I was pretty drunk when I caliper'd and installed the first side and didn't look at the pictures prior to posting this. So the measurement photos are rubbish. The numbers are accurate to my normal standard of +/- .5mm. I'm not getting paid for accuracy.
The OD of all the tubing is 26mm save for possibly a change where there is a bend.
The door flanges are much thicker than the flange where they attach in the front by the strut tower. 2mm for the door brackets
Vs 1.5mm for the "strut" flange.
I wonder if this is a cost cutting choice or a manufacturing needs choice. I would of put the thicker single bracket in the front vs the two rears. But I'm a failed mechanical engineer so I'm not the keenest on the subject.
I thought I had some longer bolts for the door to compensate but they were the same size as the ones removed. I'm not TOO concerned about the loss of a few threads on the door bolts but I'm not too excited about it either.
This is made in Malaysia, which means they welds are made by birds pooping more than likely. They cleaned them up fairly well before paint though. And they are magnetic so they're steel(or ferrous pot metal) and not aluminum.
I would imagine the holes are for back gassing. Or to promote internal rusting. I don't know.
If you can't manage to take a fender off don't buy these. I'm not here to help you do things the service manual lines up very well.
Here are some helpful pictures/hints once you get past that point.
Remove the 2lbs of dirt from your fender.
This is now a weight reduction modification.
Carefully outline your door hinges with a scribe or pencil so in the event they move you'll notice.
I used cheap black paint because I'm cheap and black.
Hammer the fended stud pointing towards the front of the car down before you try to test fit anything. It will scrap the **** out of the paint and there is no possible way to run theses bars and use that mounting point. I managed to align my fenders just fine and so can you afterwards.
Don't remove the middle bolt in the top door bracket. If you leave this guy installed and don't open the door your doors should stay aligned to their previous position.(Unless your car is rubbish.)
Crank the door flange bolts down evenly and fully. Then see where you are on the flange on the "frame rail" I'm fairly impressed on how close it was to be honest. My car is very old and these parts are very foreign. I've seen $200 sets on 240s fit worse.
Drill your holes for the "frame rail" flange bolts. I'm not going to tell you the proper ways to drill holes. I will say it was a 9/16 hole you need to drill(probably). I used a stepper bit,because laziness, and bit into the flange a little bit. Put some primer on any fresh metal you now have.
This isn't a visible part, being ugly will not effect trouble shooting later either so It got a lot of effort put into it.
If you have a friend with small hands invite him over for some beer.
I don't have any friends but I have plenty of beer so I was drinking and just jammed my hand in the tiny hole with a wrench.
The included nuts are self locking, and thread fairly well overall. They're either 13 or 14mm.
Don't crank theses guys down until you loose up the door flange bolts.
Throw some paint over any parts your primered.
If you're in a racing class you might want to paint the bars black as well.As they are visible from the cabin slightly.
Not that I condone cheating but these braces aren't going to give an equivalent advantage as someone running $300 a piece cheater tires in Stock classes and are too much of a pain to remove for track/cone days. On an unrelated note there are installed on a friends car. Never mind that I just said I don't have friends.
Here is my fender hood gap, which is nice considering I'm now missing three bolts on this one. The one required for removal to install the brace, One of the under-car ones that's head snapped off on removal and one of the engine bay ones that needs to be re-tapped.
I will get to fixing those soon(tm)
I burned through a tank of gas this weekend putting the car through it's paces. And while I don't have a defined fun run here that I can use as a metric I do know what I feel comfortable with doing and my average speed through a section of road.
I'd say this brace set feels very similar to a front strut bar, but with the added benefit of heavy braking feel benefit. I do a decent amount of 80 to 60 braking on the back-roads and the car just feels better. It doesn't feel 6 pot calipers on a 225+ wide tire better. But I'd have no problem saying it feels $100 better.
Road noise has also altered slightly, speed bumps I've learned the exact suspensions sound to are deeper from the front end. This could be a pro or a con. And I also have a whistling noise on occasion while going fast highway speeds and turning slightly right. I think it would be a good idea to put tape over those ****ing holes. That or my door is slightly off now, but I'm going to blame the holes.
Who I'd recommend this to
People that have done all the other front end bolt-ons, including bushings.
People that can't weld.
People that aren't poor.
People that are capable of realigning doors and fenders.
People that won't try to sue me for drilling through their hand.
Who I'd not recommend this to
People who have factory front bushings.
People who have 14x5in wheels.
People who think delirn door bushings are a good use of $70 for a BG
Poor people.
People worried about "muh crash safety"
People who think this would give the rigidity of a roll cage/front tube frame
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