BavAuto Strut bar Fitment

[sampayne]

I acquired a bavauto strut brace a little while ago and I'm having some issues getting it to fit. The bar is about 3/4" off from fitting. I've tried jacking up the subframe to let the shock towers settle but, that didn't seem to give much, although I did not let it settle for too long. I've read other threads about troubles with strut braces, but none that I've seen have given any real advice besides using a big hammer to persuade it haha. This brace is pretty stiff with the double bars going across, so it really doesn't have too much flex. Not sure if anyone else with a bavauto brace like this has had issues, but any tips or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

[ba114]

i dont know if its just me, but that looks like its off by a VERY long way

[ak-]

IE notes this before buying a bar - something to research I suppose

[SkiFree]

^I wrote that, and have proven it first hand on many occasions. Makes for some entertainment at meets. (how different each car in a row really is). Also used to make for great entertainment on the phone.

"Yeah, your bar doesn't fit. You suck, you should really check the brace before sending it out. I'm sending it back and buying a uuc/sparco/garagfantastic/etc."

"Dearest gentleman, did you read the complete listing prior to ordering?"

....fast forward two weeks later, either a thread complaining about the second bar pops up, or it quietly sells on ebay.
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If the car is just too off to make the bar fit, then you are left with two choices.

1) Return the bar (politely explaining the problem)
2) Break out the hack-saw and welder, section the bar, weld, and slap it on.

[sampayne]

i dont know if its just me, but that looks like its off by a VERY long way

Yeah, its pretty bad, but the pictures definitely makes it look more dramatic. If its properly aligned with the bolt holes it looks way better.

^I wrote that, and have proven it first hand on many occasions. Makes for some entertainment at meets. (how different each car in a row really is). Also used to make for great entertainment on the phone.

"Yeah, your bar doesn't fit. You suck, you should really check the brace before sending it out. I'm sending it back and buying a uuc/sparco/garagfantastic/etc."

"Dearest gentleman, did you read the complete listing prior to ordering?"

....fast forward two weeks later, either a thread complaining about the second bar pops up, or it quietly sells on ebay.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


If the car is just too off to make the bar fit, then you are left with two choices.

1) Return the bar (politely explaining the problem)
2) Break out the hack-saw and welder, section the bar, weld, and slap it on.

I got the bar second hand, so returning it is not an option. However, I picked it up for pretty cheap so I'm not afraid to chop it up and weld it. I'll probably give that a try if nothing else works.

Thanks for the responses!

[AndrewBird]

Someone should make a bar with a bolt together flange in the middle and a set of shims to space the bar apart to accommodate different widths. Then just make it a bit undersized the factory spec and use shims accordingly. Problem solved.

[SkiFree]

Someone should make a bar with a bolt together flange in the middle and a set of shims to space the bar apart to accommodate different widths. Then just make it a bit undersized the factory spec and use shims accordingly. Problem solved.

Absolutely.

[sampayne]

Someone should make a bar with a bolt together flange in the middle and a set of shims to space the bar apart to accommodate different widths. Then just make it a bit undersized the factory spec and use shims accordingly. Problem solved.

Brilliant

[Kershaw]

Someone should make a bar with a bolt together flange in the middle and a set of shims to space the bar apart to accommodate different widths. Then just make it a bit undersized the factory spec and use shims accordingly. Problem solved.

Several companies do.

http://www.jt-performance.nl/en/webshop/search-by-car/c-suspension/bmw-3-series-e30-ultraracing-front-upper-strutbar-adjustable.html

http://www.jom.de/products/gb/Special-Offers/Strut-Tower-Braces-Alu-BMW-E30-all-models-incl-M3.html

[ak-]

Someone should make a bar with a bolt together flange in the middle and a set of shims to space the bar apart to accommodate different widths. Then just make it a bit undersized the factory spec and use shims accordingly. Problem solved.

The strut bar I'm using (can't remember the maker), has an eccentric bolt on each end of the tower that you can tighten/loosen to make the 3-bolt plates "push" the towers out.
Thought it was neat

[Todd Black 88]

I took an RD bar, removed the bolts mounting the bar to the plates, mounted the plates, slid the bar into place on the plates and red riled the holes.
I then removed the entire thing and cut away the old holes and shaped the plates like it was. Looks factory and fits my chassis perfect.


Here you can see the bolt holes added.




And here after trimming.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Someone should make a bar with a bolt together flange in the middle and a set of shims to space the bar apart to accommodate different widths. Then just make it a bit undersized the factory spec and use shims accordingly. Problem solved.

Problem I see with bolt together strut bars is wouldn't you lose the stiffness your trying to gain by adding the bolts? Would it not allow the bar to flex at those points therefore loosing any rigidity you just tried to gain. Id want a solid bar so that there can be zero flex.

[jpod999]

Problem I see with bolt together strut bars is wouldn't you lose the stiffness your trying to gain by adding the bolts? Would it not allow the bar to flex at those points therefore loosing any rigidity you just tried to gain. Id want a solid bar so that there can be zero flex.

I built a strut tower bar with a friend who is in residential fabrication a number of years ago. He told me exactly what you just said, adding hardware decreases the rigidity- so we built a solid bar. Unfortunately it doesn't work with the BC camber plates so I had to pull it off.

[SkiFree]

Yes, it'll lose a bit of rigidity. However, what percent is determined by the bar's design. Could be %5 or %15.

Don't lose site the fact that even at a reduced rigidity, it is far better than not running anything (because the solid bar won't fit).

[M3Eater]

Sampayne - We (BavAuto) have historically had problems with E30 stressbar fitment, due to chassis tweaking. At one point, I took a bar out and test fit it to 6 different E30s that we had on the lot. Of these, only one was a perfect fit. Two could be persuaded to go on. Of the other three, one might have been persuaded if the car was lifted and allowed to hang (as you described), but we didn't bother with it in this test. One was 3/4" off and one was a full inch off.