I've been thinking about getting wsp's subframe connectors...from
what everyone has said it seems like the chassis gains significant
stiffness from this upgrade, helping out the handling in a huge way...

my question:

were these sfc's designed after a stress analysis was performed?
If the sfc's stiffen up one section of the car so it doesn't twist,
is there another area of the unibody that is going to take this
stress... Has an analysis been done to see if the sfc's don't have
the negative effect of moving stresses to areas of the car that are
not designed to handle them?

I really want these but don't want to have damage to my unibody
in the long run...

anyone have any data or theories on this?

thanks!

 

vin1024...

Good questions. I would be surprised if the tests you mention were completed. It sounds like one would need big buck$ to have this done, not to mention access to a well-equipped test facility. One hopes the design was not based on an eyeball measurement of "Kentucky Windage" or some such. Catastrophic failure of a suspension element due to improper design of the SFC would not be good, but at least we'd have a chance to see a new flame war between Warpspeed & Cattman!

 

The subframes were designed so that while they stiffen the chassis they still allow some flex. The multiple mounting pads are used so that stress would be distributed along the frame of the car, mainly the frame rails and the frame along and below the sides under the doors etc. Subframes have been around for along time in different configurations, they have been widely used on the Mustangs, Camaro's and Taurus SHO.

The real concern for the Maxima and other imports is watching to make sure whenever you have your car lifted or jacked that they use the factory lifting points. We see many crushed frame rails and floors because someone put a car on a hoist or floor jack improperly.

I was involved in stress analysis design on railcars some years back, we used the same basic principals, it is however a bit more complicated on a 70,000# car carrying a moving product weighing 130,000# at 70 mph rocking from side to side with a high center of gravity.

Dallas

 

Hey, Dallas.

Are you saying that, due to your experience with design and stress analysis, vin1024's concerns about the efficacy of your SFCs on a Maxima are unfounded?

If so, good!

If not, are we to simply use these at our own risk, as with other aftermarket, high-performance parts?

Please kindly advise. Thank you.

 

I'm also concerned about the how the effect this will have on
distribution of energy in an accident. As nearly every car is
designed to crumple and absorb/disperse the energy at impact, I
would think these SFCs are going to drastically change the dynamics
of the car in an accident. Any input on that front?

Thanks!

 

Of course they'd change some of the dynamics involved. But as far as exactly what it would be hard/impossible to say without crashing a bunch of Maxima's so equipped in different scenarios and seeing what happens.

I'd bet that almost no auto aftermarket manufacturer has the ability, money, or desire to do this.

When you modify your car, in any way, you are taking the responsibility for what you do. If we wanted guarantees from small aftermarket companies, some of whom make great products, there wouldn't be any small aftermarket companies. It would be too expensive for them to do business.

I love when people put those huge brushguards on the front of their 4x4's and ***** how the front of the frame got all twisted up in their last fender-bender(cause the guard bolts/welds to the frame)...

Let the buyer beware...

-RMB