hey guys i just got one from richie and it went on kinda hard and the hood does not close right anyone else have a prob with it and how did u fix it

 

i thought i was the only one!!! i have a coupe though but i purchased Richies Strutbar V.2..and the install was cake but when i tried to close the hood it wouldnt close..it was to high but i put the bar the lowest it could go..so my friends dad had to cut 1 inch off the brackets and wahlah it worked my hood closes lol...i think richie said its b/c my car was in an accident so it messed with my struttowers?? i duno richie chime in

 

I just removed the hood liner

 

veeg, you should be able to get the strut bar real low....almost touching your engine cover.

do you have the bar at the lowest setting?

In pgh's case, I've found that G's that have been in some sort of front end collision had more than the typical hood liner rubbing...I measured from strut tower to strut tower and the distance was shorter than normal.

 

I have one (V1) and it fits fine.

It's on the lowest setting.

I wrapped it in carbon fiber and painted it. (also have a bored and polished throttle body now so no comments on the ugly TB LOL)

 

I have the V2 on my 05 sedan, along with the AAM spacer install AND the engine cover on, my hood closes fine. Not sure why some are having issues.

 

ehh... i hadda remove the hood liner.

 

I modified my V2.
It was also not letting the hood close right.

Drilled it down a bit and on one side drilled it away from center

 

I have a V2 bar and I can close. It's kind of tight but not an issue. Use a box end wrench to leverage each side of the bar to the lowest point.

 

I have Richie's V2 bar. Originally, I too felt the hood closed alittle too tight. What I did was elongated the holes, with a round file, another 1/4". That 1/4" made a world of difference. The way I can tell besides the hood closing easier is that the bar has been eliminated of any marks left by the hood liner. My car has no plenum nor cover.

Now for a quick review. Bar installed very smoothly. No rubbing of ABS lines, etc. I did change out the bolts to Grade 8's from Lowe's. Overall the car does respond more quickly while making abrupt lane changes, while pitching it into turns, etc.

By the way Richie, talk about customer service, ordered the bar on Saturday, and it was "delivered" on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks guys for chiming in...!

VEEG, still having trouble? Any updates?

 

I have a very hard time believing that the strut tower alignment could be so bad after a collision that the bar couldn't fit. If that was truly the case, the car wouldn't track right, steering would be wildly jacked up, panels would be misaligned, etc, etc. To me it sound like most every aftermarket manufacturer in that they don't have the QA/QC like OEM. I'd assume the bars are mostly made by hand with a jig. If that's the case, then the chances are very likely that the maker is to blame. When you're building stuff by hand and clearances are very tight, the chances are very high that there can be some fitment problems. Seeing that VEEG35 isn't the only one with fitment issues, I'd have to say the manufacturer is to blame

 

^it's a close tolerance but my hood closes with the liner on and clears a 5/16 spacer. It also cleared the OEM engine cover with the spacer when I had it on. As mentinoned, I use a box end wrench between the strut bar and tower mounts to leverage the bar to it's lowest point. I have some small marks on the hood liner but no problem closing it.

 

I have no problems and i have a 5/16 spacer and had the engine cover with no problems. i have since removed the engine cover.

 

I have the same clearance problem...plan on elongating the holes so it will sit a little lower on each side...about 1/4" like others have done should work.

To get the bar to sit at its lowest part on the brackets...I took a screw driver wrapped in a cloth (so as not to scratch anything) and placed it inbetween the bar and the bracket and pushed it towards the bar..pushing the bar down all the way. Hope that makes sense lol