I just finished installing the brace, and as you can see there is some level of commitment associated with it. I initially tried just removing the interior trunk quarter panels and realized that the subwoofer really needs the carpet that it Velcro's to on the bottom. Install was "fairly" easy. I say "fairly" because it did take some patience to get both sides to slide over the lips at "exactly" the same time. I do plan on cleaning it up a bit in the trunk and creating windows to be able to adjust the dampening adjustments. Initial driving thoughts: Just like any of the suspension mods it hard to quantify. Do I notice a difference, ABSOLUTELY! I thought she felt flat in turns before. Now, she is really predictable. It has stiffened up the chassis quite a bit. Whenever I used to get a little loose (oversteer) the car had a slight roll or lean feel to the rear end. Tonight on some "really" twisting (15mph) roads, the rear end broke loose but felt extremely controlled and predictable. It had a true go kart feel to it. Ricks Opinion: well worth the $230...if you can hack up your show car a bit!! :viking: Additional Pics: Taken from the rear passenger door looking in. You can't see the other half of where it attaches because I couldn't/wouldn't drop the seat where the baby seat is sitting. My semi-homemade KW adjustment knob. I heated up a cut up allen wrench and melted into the adjustment knob. I had to cut away the knob before melting into it. I did this because the KW's I received were mistakenly from a much earlier year....hope the technology didn't change...I know the ride height did! lol Taken from the center back seat looking down. You can't see the other half because of the baby seat! lol
hmm, thats pretty damn interesting rick. like an upper sway to reduce body roll. just off hand, i would think its too high to really do much for body roll seeing all your weight is mostly below where you have the brace. interesting for sure though. you did all the work yourself?
It really just stiffens up the rear chassis. I sure as hell wouldn't pay someone to hack my carpet up like that! LOL
I'm glad you're happy with it. I just wish you would have called me before hacking up your carpet like that!
What else could I have done??? I sure bet they'll sell a lot more if there is a visually compatible method to install it.
haha, did you trace an outline first? and did you use a hack saw, or your survival knife? :shok: Looks great functionally though. DRKNESS, it's to reduce body/chassis flex Since we don't have real frames the body tends to twist and flex a good bit which effects handling. These (and the front strut tower braces) make it more rigid.
I used a carpet knife and a hack saw. YOU know how I feel about how good it look under my hood...I care even less how it looks in the trunk.
We could have cut a straight line from the rear-most pipe to the back of the seat creating top and bottom flaps. Then you cut out a half-circle on each flap where the pipe goes. Slide it back over the pipes and then put the 2 flaps back where they belong. You could do the same thing with a cut from the pipes down to the trunk deck too (vertically instead of horizontally). The only thing visibly different would be the cut line...
Pretty much unavoidable in any unibody car without a real frame. Naturally the biggest improvement comes from bracing the tops of the struts/shocks.
Adam, I completely agree with you and thought of that. The problem was that I already had the "Meister" mod installed so I could adjust the rear dampings. For those who don't know, the Meister mod is a large three sided cut square that allows you access to the rear coilovers.
I understand now. Well, if you ever want or get new trunk carpet let me know. We'll set it up nice and clean.
Thanks brother...I will DEFINITELY take you up on that. Maybe we can Velcro some windows for the adjustment knobs?!! :thanks:
It looks nice, handling advantage should be worth it. Does look like you may have removed a tad too much carport though. What did you need a hacksaw for?
I used a hack saw for the floor board. I had to cut about two inches front to back, and about a foot side to side. I did cut too much. But, I already had a couple of large windows there in order to adjust the coilover damping settings.
The place I got my carpet for my tunes matches our trunk almost exactly. We can make some removable covers pretty easily, or maybe even something with hidden doors so you can still get to the rear adjustments.
