I am debating between the BT floor plate or the one from Juiced Hybrid. There appears to be a $25-30 price difference between the two. Are they identical? Or is one better than the other? THanks for any info!
The BT floor plate is more popular here. I would stick with that one. There's debate on this forum, however, whether these plates actually work or is just a placebo.
I bought this one and I feel it has made a difference. But like others have pointed out there is an argument that is doesn't make a difference. G7 Performance Stiffening Plate upgrade stability Prius: eBay Motors (item 120624463535 end time Sep-26-10 10:54:50 PDT)
Before stiffening plate - Prius would get blown around by wind at the top of Coronado bay bridge and would "hunt" when driving on grooved concrete roads. After stiffening plate - Prius was rock solid at top of Coronad bay bridge and when driving on grooved concrete roads. Definately made a difference as far as I'm concerned.
I have the G7 plate, before I got it, I felt the handling was spooky at times in cross winds, since I installed it, I have not felt that. Placebo or not, I am not scared of the handling in side winds anymore.
I have and like the BT Tech Stiffening Plate which costs $165 shipped. I think that undoubtedly it does at least some good. But if I could have a do-over, I'd get the G7 plate from eBay for $50 shipped. It would be really hard for me to ignore the $115 in savings when, by all appearances, the two plates perform equally well.
I'll be getting one of these plates very soon. I'm actually surprised that the braces make that big of a difference. I know the factory brace looks flimpsy compared to the other ones, but it does look like it has some structural reinforcement value -- i'm surprised in that the under body tunnel area is the Prius is THAT flimpsy? The G7 looks like a hot & smart buy! I wonder if the designment of the attachment bolts make a difference? I can't imagine the BT/Juiced-Hybrid bars to be that stronger than the G7. And even so, does the Prius flex that much!!?
My theory: The factory bar prevents expansion of the U shaped tunnel just fine but has no value in compression, when the U tries to close up. The beefy aluminum plates are no more able to prevent expansion than the factory bar, but work MUCH better in compression, so the U never closes up.
In my experience it has helped. I remember the first few weeks of driving the Prius. Even a close merge with Semi would cause the car to shake around in the turbulence. I have put on the stiffening plate, (thanks to Jackllbass) that I got it included in a great bundle deal, and it really hasn't crossed my mind again because I haven't felt that wind push anymore. For disclosure the holes didn't like up correctly with the BT Plate, 3 out 4 screws would go in. I used my drill-press to open the side of the one that wouldn't make it. It's aluminum after all, so not like it's going to rust. For what I paid for the bundle it's worth it, but I doubt I would have sprung for it at full price.
This is the first time I've ever heard this about the holes on the BT Tech plate. I think it must be a rare occurrence. The holes on mine (and I think on the plates of the hundreds of PriusChatters who have reported installing the BT Tech plate) were lined up perfectly.
I tried on two different days. Needed to go somewhere the first day so I didn't have time for a mod to the plate. Same deal the second day, and with an extra pair of hands. Same screw each time, though the screws would thread easily through the old plate, and by themselves. It was on jacks, not sure if that made any difference. Anyway, no harm, it's installed and doing it's job.
The G-7 has slots, not predetermined holes. I just had the G-7 installed by my mechanic and wondered if it would tend to shift under pressure. The bolts were tightened to 17 Foot Pounds.
I had no problem with the holes. I did however, have to put the washers supplied with the BT plate on a screwdriver shank and spin them on the grinding wheel to knock a little off of the diameter of them so that they would slide into the holes.
