27 replies to this topic

[pedro fandango]

Dan A, on 23 January 2012 - 02:34 PM, said:

Pedro - what is your impression of the braces? What does it weigh and how does it affect ground clearance?

they do reduce ground clearance by possibly a couple of inches, all 4 weigh together weigh 12kg

[gdizzle]

NEU, on 18 January 2012 - 12:46 PM, said:

Yes it's only on the vert. They also have the brace that connects the front and back of the subframe (#31). IPD calms that their skid plate will stiffen it up too in a Youtube video @ 5:20.

Judging by the hardware supplied w/ the IPD skid plate and the manner in which it's mounted, that claim is total BS.

pedro fandango, on 23 January 2012 - 05:10 PM, said:

they do reduce ground clearance by possibly a couple of inches, all 4 weigh together weigh 12kg

And a giant waste of money. If you need to stiffen the chassis to the point where you're considering these useless things, put a cage in your car and call it a day.

[NEU]

gdizzle, on 23 January 2012 - 05:34 PM, said:

Judging by the hardware supplied w/ the IPD skid plate and the manner in which it's mounted, that claim is total BS.

Don't shoot the messenger, shoot Lucky...

[pedro fandango]

gdizzle, on 23 January 2012 - 05:34 PM, said:

And a giant waste of money. If you need to stiffen the chassis to the point where you're considering these useless things, put a cage in your car and call it a day.

you know you must be right, after all looking at the diagram in the original post Volvo decided fitting alot thinner bar helps on convertibles. So these thicker bars won't make a difference DOH

[Deimos]

Trust me, those thin bars on the factory one for the convertible are not enough for the convertible. My mother has an '04 C70 and when I drive it it feel like it's about to fall apart compared to my S70.

But, yes, those are basically a poor man's rollcage... although they go on and come off much more easily too and don't require modification of the interior. Of course, if you wanted maximum stiffness ( try saying that with a straight face ), you could do both.

[gdizzle]

NEU, on 23 January 2012 - 05:52 PM, said:

Don't shoot the messenger, shoot Lucky...

You believed it, otherwise you wouldn't have repeated it.

[NEU]

I always believe EVERYTHING Lucky says, don't you?

It did make sense to me that if 2 bars at 3 mounting points (braces 31a) work to stiffen up the subframe, wouldn't a plate held in at 5 mounting points do something? But I ain't no engineer.... I haven't been able to test out IPDs theory since I don't worry about jacking up my car from the oil pan either...

[gdizzle]

NEU, on 24 January 2012 - 02:32 PM, said:

I always believe EVERYTHING Lucky says, don't you?

It did make sense to me that if 2 bars at 3 mounting points (braces 31a) work to stiffen up the subframe, wouldn't a plate held in at 5 mounting points do something? But I ain't no engineer.... I haven't been able to test out IPDs theory since I don't worry about jacking up my car from the oil pan either...

Shit happens to the best of us. Got any other jabs you want to throw my way?