My "Improved"Bullet Proof" less expensive version of the Tanabe"Sustec"front bar is available

Ill take a 4pt brace like the cusco.
The point I see here is that If irv doesn't want to give you any of his research data well he's a fool for loosing you as a possible customer and a few others. Those that did buy from him though are more than happy. If it is a placebo effect I'll still take that, however I know its not. Why not see if theres a member near you with his braces and see if you could arrange a test drive.

PC36100 ? 2

 

Go on, I'm listening...

 

Personally, I know that many of you know the prius handles like shit, utter crap. I came from an import background with a pretty stiff car full coilover setup front and rear swaybars and strut bars and a roll bar. I played enough with my previous suspension to know what i thought made a difference. Seriously the Prius handles so bad I think its pretty easy to feel the difference. I put on the rear sway, I felt a difference. I felt the rear hooking when taking a turn. I put on both Irvs front and mid bar together after those were installed when taking the turn you can immediately tell the car rolls or sways as a whole piece. Granted I didn't do one at a time, but both together. Id put money on it you would feel the difference too, if you say you don't well I think your just trying to hurt the mans product.

I bought tons of crap that didnt turn out to perform the way it was advertised. This one I bought because of this forum. The community was dead on with this product. Simply look at the pictures, he posted of his product and the tanabe. Im not and engineer nor do I have any fancy degree, but I am a grease monkey at heart. Looking at the bolt holes from the tanabe product and Irvs its clear to see the tolerance of his would result in less play. I had the car jacked up on one side. It was a bitch getting the mid bar on and the reason why was because the jack caused the car to flex yet his product wouldnt. I had to jack up the rear with the spare jack to try to straighten the body out and then I was able to bolt it in. Yeah I was to lazy to jack up the whole front and decided to do one side.

So post a request for a test ride in someone's car that has the bars it couldn't hurt to try it before you buy it.

 

I do appreciate the in-depth questioning of all products.

I also decided to be an early adopter for these products and risked my money so that the forum could benefit from my good or bad experience.

The history and pictures show this to be one persons idea to improve an issue with his car and the solution was made available to others who might feel the same way. Money wise, as long as it sells below the competition it will generate interest.

Update: I have driven 500 more miles with the two braces and I enjoy the stiffer ride now, more than without the braces, IMHO.

thx.

 

It seems no one acknowledges the fact that the driver isn't exactly coupled to the car. The fact that the driver sits on a very thick foam cushion with a slack two-point seatbelt underlines this point. The "squishy driver experience" we're hearing could just as well be from the "squishy" seats as well as the suspension.

Put a driver in a five- or six-point harness, in a composite racing seat that's securely bolted to the chassis, then we can start talking about the driver's ability to feel what exactly the car is doing. After all, this is how a pilot is secured to a high-performance aircraft, right?

I read what you posted, but this is what I took away from it...

 

so.... the Prius C doesn't have one from the factory...

*poke*.. hey Rude person's... wanna look into it?

 

aww.. so i got the short end of the stick purchasing early?? crap.. i'm gonna swipe an OEM brace from another C then... or wait for you.. lol.

it's hard for me to really isolate the ride quality as Tanabe installed both the front sway bar and the front under brace at the same time... but so far, the handling from them both have improved my cornering quite a lot. not much roll at all and the car maintains pretty flat during high-speed turns.

any thoughts/suggestions on adding the mid-brace? find an OEM one? machine my own? wait and see if you want to? or just forget it..?

Tanabe mentioned they were probably not going to produce one since the car doesn't really need it... even though they made one that stiffens the front..?? odd.. i do not know.

 

You're welcome to refute any point I've made. Simply calling it "BS" doesn't prove anything but ignorance.

That wasn't my point. How is one to tell what is car is doing if he's sitting on a big bouncy ball inside his car?

Uhhh... the Prius is all about numbers and computers... folks love calculating MPG, average MPH, trip times. You might be in the wrong forum if you hate this kinda stuff...

Quality is subjective. What is soft to one driver is harsh to another. That's why numbers are important. You can't lie with numbers.

 

OK mastro, how do you propose we test one? because all I hear is, "Nah, it won't work" and "Prove it". If you're all about contributing to the discussion rather than standing back pointing fingers and lame negativity, then come up with a brilliant way for us to do it so we all can learn from it.

 

Feel free to quote any of my posts that were negative. I've only been inquisitive. Seems that makes some folks uncomfortable... do they have something to hide?

I've simply asked to see what work Rude person's has done to back up his claims. He's made a lot of claims... that his product is superior in ways X Y and Z. But the only proof he's given is testimonials of some random folks that I don't know from John Doe.

Think of it this way. Let's say I came on this forum and offered a $250 bolt-on product that gave you an extra 10 MPG, would you simply open your wallet and hand me money, sight unseen, no proof, nothing? Or would you ask questions first?

There are a myriad of ways Rude person's can speak up. Some screenshots from a CAM program. Some readings from a dial indicator with photos showing his test method. Some numbers from a skidpad or track would be most illuminating...

see for example:
g Masters - Lateral Acceleration Testing - Sport Compact Car Magazine


Excuse me for being inquisitive, but if you guys are happy blindly forking money over to the next guy that comes by with a jar of snake oil, I won't ruin your party... I'll just know not to take anyone at this forum serious.

 

With the way the Australian dollar is (i.e at parity), anything priced in the US is cheap. Try living here and buy with US$ for a top spec Prius brand new @ US$50,000 on the road. Stuff over there is so cheap that we can afford to blindly throw money to the US to buy stuff we've never been able to get for so little $$ in my lifetime.

I was thinking if someone has a standards table so you can calculate the bending moment of a box beam vs the standard hour shape glass assuming both were made of the same material to compare just the strength in its design. I'm not an engineer so you teach me where I can find the information.

 

yea.. i have the "early" center brace mounts.... damnnit.. i have to look at the new mounting system to see what i can figure out..

i'm sure it might help a little to make a brace for the "early" mount... but i'm just wondering how much i can push it to stiffen the thing..

even if it requires some welding.

 

The only thing senseless is your insistence on answering my questions with insults.

I'm actually trying to make sense of the claims you've made of your product. You say it's better than OEM, but you've yet to offer a single piece of evidence.

 

Well, I asked you if you could teach us if the bending moment by comparing the design made of the same material. You claim to be the engineer. Please enlighten us all. Give us the calculations. This isn't a competition on who can stand back and point fingers asking others to do it.

 

I'm not the one making the claim that Rude person's's design is better than OEM... he is. Don't you think that puts the burden of proof on him?

He's got the materials, the specs, everything. Why should I be the one doing calculations?

What are you contributing to this discussion? Just here to stir the pot?