Did you get it back? Do you have other suspension mods? I was really wanting one, and thought it would be ready by now since gtspec announced them for our cars back in feb.

 

There's also the Tanabe Sustec under-car brace. $98 MSRP and available. Tanabe Link.

https://g35driver.com/forums/v36-general-tech-questions/220239-tanabe-front-sustec-under-brace.html

 

The brackets are steel, the bar is aluminum. Of the many cars I've owned and the many different types of strut tower braces I've seen, this rule holds true except when a manufacturer comes along and wants to differentiate themselves with titanium, or stainless, or carbon fiber. They all fit well due to the simple tolerance. Make the holes a bit bigger and leave a little room to adjust with manufacturing imperfections.

As far as trying it out, I did and they all fit wonderfully, performed great and I couldn't have been happier despite being ebay knockoffs. Some parts are so simple in their design and manufacturing, it's hard to screw up or get an inferior performing product.

R&D is not what drives an aluminum and steel front strut tower brace to 215 dollars, monopoly does. Exit the engineering world and enter the economy world and you'll see there can be a fairer price for such a simple part.

But if you're persistent in your satisfaction with paying such costs, by all means, I'm not going to tell you not to. I'll just take a different path and await the reproduction pieces to show up at a fairer cost to consumers.

 

I think you're taking my statement a little overboard. We're not talking about the research and development of an aftermarket camshaft. I took many engineering classes back in the day and can appreciate the time and effort into complex aftermarket parts but there are some that just don't require much and the costs reflect that.

Part quality is many times perception. That perception is played on by aftermarket companies, especially to vehicle owners that would typically hold perception in high regard. Price is a tool of perception and quality. In this case I'd guess price has been successfully used to convince some consumers that their product is superior to the soon-to-follow imitations. Time will tell.

 

Our cars are very rigid, only a hingless strut bar (like the 350Z one) might make a difference. The gtspec looks like a pure cosmetic addition, the more
adjustment you can make the less effective the bar is. I hope I'm wrong.

The lower Tanabe bar looks good, no hinges...

 

I am an Ebay lover and I totally agree with Scooby on strut bars. The products that they are selling on Ebay are copies of what big companies offer. They sell the copies for cheap because there is no cost of design, stocking, advertising, tax....etc. I'm not saying products on Ebay have 100% quality as brand name products but 80-90% is given for 20-30% priced.
People hate Ebay because they got hit by bad sellers. I myself before making any purchase, I look around for the best reliable seller. My rule for Ebay products is something that is "non-moving" and doesn't have rocket technology is good to buy on Ebay and save big buck.

 

the under-car brace looks nice and is probably strong but is it a place where the car needs reinforcement? I would think the top of the strut would be a more effective bracing point as it's directly in line / connected with the movement of the roll and flex, whereas underneath might not be as critical of a point. I could see using the under car brace in combination with a strut brace but how much difference can the under car brace alone make?

 

I hear ya, I thought you meant that no research at all went into the product....form of miscommunication on my part. Yeah I think BMW has the perception thing down pretty pact where they use price and prestige to their advantage...I think the main reason why this strut bar is pretty expensive is because it's really the only company that makes it. Hopefully another company like cusco will come out with a strut bar soon enough.

 

Funny you say this. Coming from an IS300, I had experience with two different STBs. The first one, by JIC, would rub against the hood around cornering and hard acceleration. This tells me that fitment wasn't perfect and it flexed too much under stress. The second, by PLP, was noticeably more rigid, and had no issues whatsoever. Today, the company JIC is still around, and PLP isn't.

 

Here's what the JIC bar looks like:



And here's the PLP:



Unfortunately, the GTSPEC bar looks more like the JIC than the PLP..

 

JIC bar is hinged, for show only.

 

You may want to read this thread - It's long but a very good read:

https://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-suspension/85320-g35-front-strut-tower-brace.html

Lou

 

Would you care to summarize the points in that 20 page, 2 year old thread about the VRT STB for the previous generation G35 that you feel are relevant to this discussion ?

I've read the first 11 pages so far, but everything there has been the general "here are the pics", "how can I order", "it works great", "lets have a group buy", relating to the VRT STB.