Cheap Stiffening Plate???

Several PriusChatters have gotten this "G7" plate and discussed it in, among other places, the following thread beginning with post #6:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-modifications/53234-stiffening-plate-53-a.html

Offhand, it sounds good because, unlike earlier cheap imitations of the BT Tech Stiffening Plate, this G7 plate's aluminum is apparently anodized.

 

I give this guy a A++, fast shipping, great plate, easy to install and it fits like a glove.

 

Does it do anything? I wonder how it would do with the stiffer springs I installed. It handles with less body roll but still has some wind movement. Next step is possibly this then tires when the time comes.

 

yep!

 

Not sure about all these Aluminum stiffening parts, have these fabricators actually done any fatigue testing for these things? I'm curious how long it will take for these things to develop cracks and break...

 

Stiffening plates are a waste of money! They don't do anything!

 

The tires will make a far bigger difference than anything else you are contemplating.

 

Absolutely, and possibly alignment (I plan to get my alignment checked to see if it is off, and if so will correcting it improve the "twitchyness" at 75 mph).

 

mamayer has some credibility issues, this is what he said about the BT plate before:

About the plate in this thread, I would have ethical issues with ordering unauthorized copies of someone else's design. From what I've read this is a ripoff of someone else's work.

 

I feel the same way in this particular case because Brian of BT Tech, the inventor of the beefed up stiffening plate and recently, tragically deceased, seemed to be the most decent of people.

I felt the same way about buying non-Polartec brand synthetic fleece products because Malden Mills, the inventor of synthetic fleece, was at one time the most decent and humane of companies (see, e.g., The Mensch Of Malden Mills - CBS News).

If there were measures that Brian and Malden Mills could have taken to protect their legal rights to their creations, I wish Brian and Malden Mills would have taken them.