BT Tech Stiffening plate

It is quite likely that the actual cost to manufacture the BT Tech plate is around $35-$40. The margin that Brian makes between $165 (or $140 or whatever the plate is actually sold for) and $35-$40 covers the cost of designing the plate, designing new products (like the skid plate and front upper strut brace) and responding to threads like this one that run to 1,100+ posts.

 

I'm going to take mine out and give honest subjective judgment, but it is subjective. I'm not willing to mess with my car to get quantitative performance deltæ.

~ dan ~

 

I purchased a piece of T6 aluminum stock of about the same size of the stiffening plate, drilled 4 holes for the appropriate fasteners and installed under my car for few days as test purposes.
The material cost me $27.00 and a whooping $13.00 in shipping last year.
My approach was much cheaper for a test than trying to resell the BT plate later if my decision was a negative one.

 

But your lump of T6 aluminum stock doesn't have all of the machining that the BT Tech plate has. Or the special anodizing. Did you use stainless steel fasteners?

 

Just to throw out a random rude comment, are there any plans for a BT Tech tshirt? Something like "This vehicle equipped with stiffening plate?"

 

Here is another theme - I corner harder....

 

You guys are bad!!!

 

But there is a possible side business for BT Tech.... You do have a following of people who have bought your stiffening plate. A t-shirt would be a great follow-on offering.

 

I was actually thinking about a nice classy raised machined aluminum logo to attach to the back of the car. Very high quality and elegently done..

What do you think?

 

In general, I think that it would be a way to 'advertise' the presence of BT Tech products on the car. It all comes down to how the actual logo is rendered. Something that is understated yet sophisticated.... Possibly analogous to the /M logo for the BMW M series? /BT???? I make no claims in the artistically creative area; my brain has been over-programmed in the technical area. I could tell you what I like; but whether that can extend beyond my preferences is anyone's guess.

P.S.: What is the latest status on the skid plate?

 

For a basic test it is NOT necessary any fancy ribbed surface, it only makes the final product lighter, the fine anodize I could manage with some good quality spray paint, completely unnecessary for a test purpose and for the stainless steel fasteners, you can get these at any Sears hardware store at $1,37 a piece with a SS washer.
Skimming through the BT thread I came across with the signature of hycamguy07 and it reads as fallow
Quote:
"
Never argue with a idiot; they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with their experience."
~ anonymous

 

A piece of aluminum is a poor substitute, even for testing purposes, for the BT plate. There's factors that make the BT plate what it is. One of these is the construction, sure it's made out of the same material, but it won't have the same contact with the chassis as the BT plate. The area that the plate connects to is not flat, there's a 'step', and the BT plate takes that into account. Does that matter? I'm not sure, but just merely slapping on a chunk of aluminum doesn't end the day. If that's all it takes to get equal performance to a BT plate, then I'm sold.

 

Careful, you are at risk of being accused of dragging the discussion down to the level of an idiot and beating with your experience....

 

Perhaps you should have read my comment at post #1121. But then again, you may have more experience than I.

 

No bigger than the HSD logo, the same dimensions would be good

 

How about some artwork for all of the pundits to opine on? You could copyright it, so no one would be able to steal your IP.

 

As soon as I have some logos worth posting, I will put them up here and see which one everyone prefers.

Thanks everyone for your input!!

 

We just received our latest shipment of our BT Tech stiffening plates and all backorders have now been shipped!! Today was one heck of a shipping day with strut braces, skid plates and our stiffening plates being shipped!!

We now have stock of our stiffening plates so if you place an order for one, it will be shipped right away from our stock.