I have an almost finished product now. There will be no disappointments in appearance on these.

The release date is this Saturday 5/10/2008

Please check back then for pictures info a brief statement on effect, as well as prices and a group buy will be initiated.

Thanks for the interest guys lets make this a success!

-Sean Truax

 

 

That is such a tease!!!!

 

How much do these things weigh?

 

Inconsequential; shut up and buy them.

 

They won't weigh much.

Looking forward to the group buy!

 

Group buy is up pics in the morning.

 

But it's the 11th and we're still waiting!

 

My bad. Heres some pics.







-Sean

 

Nice. It looks stronger and better-fitting than the prototype. So the two front holes have to be drilled? What size drill bit? Or maybe I'll have a friend weld the front part on....

 

Nice job on the effective use of several right triangles in the final design. Should be much stiffer than the prototype.

 

Better, but I still recommend adding a couple more braces to that if if there's physical clearance under the fender.
I suggest adding either the two red ones, or the blue and lower red...

 

^^ from an engineering point of view....agreed.

 

I will do your suggestion.

Thanks Matt,

-Sean

 

Now that is gonna be a nice brace...

 

yeah, can't wait to get my hands on a set!

 

Trooper. Awesome.

 

I'm really excited as well! I've just gotten back to getting my Max up and running, and why not get back on the road with a couple of good ole' suspension mods?

It is, however, slightly disappointing to realize how good of a suspension setup my STOCK Miata has, especially because I know how little I paid for the vehicle and how much I've paid for my Maxima to at least be somewhat close to being a sports sedan.

Maxima = NEVER-ENDING MONEY PIT!

 

You know, with all of these exciting suspension mods that I can't not add to my car. I wonder if I'm even making my car handle better or if its just handling better because it's moving so slow with all this extra weight. Either way, I can't wait to rip off my fender and add a set of these to my car.

 

Well heres the finalized design I hope you guys like them.



-Sean

 

*****in! That looks like it's going to do wonders...how long till they go into production?

 

Big improvement over the first design, nice work. Only fourth gen?

 

Sean, I'm impressed with your turnaround adding the two extra braces. Nice job; they look fantastic.

 

nice!

 

Whatever did happen with all of this?

Will there be a set for the 5th gen guys?

 

for 5gen guys

 

what about the 4th gen guys??

 

I've got a set waiting to go on....but I'm waiting to do the install for when I replace my fenders and bumper. Buuuuttt, I have to find a guy to paint the new fenders and bumper first .

 

Sean, Matt, and Irish:

As a Civil Engineer (who only received a C+ in structures....), I've been thinking about this picture for quit some time now, and don't understand where this downward force is coming from. When braking, I would think it would be upward force at the points mentioned; and when turning, I would think it would be lateral force. Please elaborate.


Also, wouldn't it make more sense to construct the brace like shown below for structural integrity? Where it connects to the tab seems to be a weak point IMO. The green dot represents where it would bolt to the existing chassis. If a second bolt is needed, then maybe the tab should be extended to allow for a second bolt. Thoughts?

I think if these changes were made, I'd be ready to purchase a set.

 

Downward force comes with oscillation of the chassis, which we are trying to quench with these braces.

 

downward force comes when the suspension is in compression- on the outside wheel under heavy cornering, under braking, or when hitting bumps.

upward force is when the suspension is in rebound- hard acceleration or on the inside wheel during heavy cornering.


At that point, it's simply a statics problem. Think of the car trying to bend one way and the brace trying to prevent it.

See the quick drawing I made...

 

Well this is force that the brace is exerting on the chassis, not the force that the chassis is exerting on the brace and the brace is resisting. I think he was referring to the latter, and questioning how "rebound bracing" is important seeing as how the most force the chassis gets as a rebound is unloading of the wheel--there will be no serious rebound forces since all that's holding the wheel to the ground is gravity.

I dig the diagram though.

 

Call it what you want to call it... I only had enough statics in skool to get my credits and move on with my EE classes.
I can see the forces and which way they'll go and what they'll do to the brace.. Exactly what they're called isn't important.

 

He was asking when there would be sufficient force to cause the brace to buckle. Nothing is FORCING the wheel down like it is forced up, just unloading that particular part of the chassis.

 

He was asking when there would be sufficient force to cause the brace to buckle. Nothing is FORCING the wheel down like it is forced up, just unloading that particular part of the chassis.

 

Well with all that in mind, let me go back to one of this Wiz's questions...will that upper mounting tab be a weak point? I was thinking it looks like the weakest part of the whole brace. Should it be improved before I install my set?

 

The upper mounting point is weakER than the rest, but I can't say for sure if it's going to break or cause anything to collapse. the big issue is that the welding was done right and the metal is thick enough to withstand the forces.


And yes, there are up and down forces on the frame rail at that point. when you jack up the car along the unibody, the engine is supported by the frame rails right there. there are torsional forces during cornering as well as up/down and fore/aft forces all on the corners of the car. that point in the chassis is the weak point for when the car is in a twisting motion, so these braces will help under just about every circumstance.

 

Has anyone received a fender brace yet? I paid months ago and haven't seen it yet. I just returned from a long vacation so it's possible but unlikely it was returned to sender when I wasn't home.

 

I've got a set in my garage waiting installation. It took them a while, but not several months...contact them and see what's up. Sean was very helpful to me.

 

Just installed these bad boys tonight.

Has anyone else installed these things yet? What ever happened to this? I figured these would have taken off, but they seem to have died...