Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension Aussie Bar ripped off continued

Well,

I just read through the instructions of removing the rear crossmember and it is not something I want to attempt.

Remove exhaust, remove gas tank, remove rear springs, etc. I will look at it again tomorrow.

Two options: Remove the Bar permanately, or try to weld a new bracket with crossmember in situ.

Terry-
What torque setting should I tighten the
End link to front lower arm:
Stabilizer bar to end link:
Prothane Bracket to cross member:

Thanks

Terry, I think the hangers are just too light weight to handle aftermarket bars. I have the SP Motorsports bar (sorry Aussie) and sheared off both hangers while driving to work after a major snowstorm and lousy job of road clearing. Major ice ruts non stop for 15 miles and the hangers were destroyed! I think that when more people really start pushing their cars to the limit, we are going to see more of these ripped hangers.

Guess we agree to differ...

Aussie,

I hear you about the AutoX.

But at Gingerman, the cars were traveling twice as fast compared to SCCA.

I was reaching 110mph before hard late braking before the left hand 60 degree turn. The bar probably broken the welds then.

The back part of the course has a long left hander that you are accelerating from 50-90mph while turning left causing incredible, blood pumping body roll.

Then the S curve is pretty tight, shift the car's body from left to right at 70 mph.

Lots of torture compared to the typical 55mph max AutoX.

Speed's not the important part. What is important is suspension travel, left side vs. right. The largest load on the bracket will occur when one side goes into full jounce and other goes into full rebound. That puts the bar into the most extreme twist condition it will ever see, and sends bracket loads through the roof. This can occur at high speeds, but it can even happen at low speeds, like during the body twist caused by a severely banked driveway.

Bottom line, it scares me to think that a welded plate let go...

-Kurt

Yup... My vertical mounts broke yesterday.....

Tis why I asked months ago if Aussie was gonna offer reinforcements for them too....oh well....

Sure the welded on plates portion of the mount is NEVER going to break, but now the weak point is the vertical portion.....

Time to go to the local weld shop and have them beef them up as good as possible....

Nikolas

It was vertical mount that broke. Not Aussies plates. Take pics for me please, so I can see what they do. My local welder isn't the brightest.

Get this. The 1/4" backing plates my car have ripped the subframe apart. There is a nice little hole where the mount was located at.

I solved the problem of the stock clamps. I solved the problem of the tearing of the stock brackets (a few times). I fixed the backing plates with Aussie's. Those became part of the 1/4" thick units, also welded in. Not its ripping up the subframe! I have a pic too when I can get my server to take it.

Though even with all of that, I am still very happy I bought the bar. It brings smiles to my face every day.

Sounds right to me. My vertical mounts (hangers) broke while driving on ice ruts. Lot's of extreme twisting! Maybe this is all a combination of weak material in factory mounts, extreme loading, and bushings that are too tight, or under-lubed?

Those who had trouble even after the Aussie fix highlight a real problem here. The upgraded backing plate is a bandaid (an effective one, for that matter). This bandaid just passes the high stresses on to the next component in the subframe.

We could end up chasing this one forever.