[knerr57]

Originally Posted by Soylent

I know these braces are 3D designed to fit exactly like the OEM, but was there any testing to show that the replacement provides the correct strength and stiffness for what it is supposed to do? Being a strut brace.

Yours does look very nice btw.

Thanks for the kind words! Yes, we did a strain analysis of the stock braces to gauge the necessary rigidity because we did not want to add too much stiffness to the front end and negatively impact the mechanical grip of the chassis. We've designed our braces to be very close to OEM.

Then we did NDT on our own braces and found that, while they had an appropriate amount of flexural rigidity, they had too much torsional flex. This actually delayed production for a few weeks because we needed to special order a specific thickness Rohacell core material- this is one of the highest performance core materials that we could get and is autoclave compatible.
The average total thickness of the carbon is about 6mm (and up to 14 at the mounting points.

Edit for clarity: in our original design, the braces had the same overall thickness, bet were more of a C channel design. I knew that C channels are naturally more flexible in torsion than a box tube, but I underestimated the amount of flex. By adding in the core material, we created a box inside the composite lamination that gave us the exact properties we were after.

These things use quite a lot of carbon to produce despite looking so narrow, but the total weight is 970 grams (2.1 pounds).

The reason they take up so much carbon is because the patterns that need to be cut out of the prepreg are quite large and are not able to be tessellated in an efficient manner because it requires many layers of the pattern at 0* and offset at 45* to give even strength in every direction.

[M4Tejas]

Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory

Who makes this one....have the same look on my Z4

https://vargasturbo.com/product/vtt-...-strut-braces/

[Soylent]

Originally Posted by knerr57

Thanks for the kind words! Yes, we did a strain analysis of the stock braces to gauge the necessary rigidity because we did not want to add too much stiffness to the front end and negatively impact the mechanical grip of the chassis. We've designed our braces to be very close to OEM.

Then we did NDT on our own braces and found that, while they had an appropriate amount of flexural rigidity, they had too much torsional flex. This actually delayed production for a few weeks because we needed to special order a specific thickness Rohacell core material- this is one of the highest performance core materials that we could get and is autoclave compatible.
The average total thickness of the carbon is about 6mm (and up to 14 at the mounting points.

Edit for clarity: in our original design, the braces had the same overall thickness, bet were more of a C channel design. I knew that C channels are naturally more flexible in torsion than a box tube, but I underestimated the amount of flex. By adding in the core material, we created a box inside the composite lamination that gave us the exact properties we were after.

These things use quite a lot of carbon to produce despite looking so narrow, but the total weight is 970 grams (2.1 pounds).

The reason they take up so much carbon is because the patterns that need to be cut out of the prepreg are quite large and are not able to be tessellated in an efficient manner because it requires many layers of the pattern at 0* and offset at 45* to give even strength in every direction.

Thanks for the background on your product. I think this is the brace I will get

[knerr57]

Originally Posted by Soylent

Thanks for the background on your product. I think this is the brace I will get

Gladly man! I’m pretty open about our processes because we have nothing to hide. I just want to make the best parts I can do that I can keep doing what I love!

[knerr57]

Hey, just wanted to let all who are interested know that we at Swan Carbon have organized a group buy with G80_Soom this will not last long and will be the best deal I'll ever offer on our braces.

Thanks.

[Drift Master]

I wonder how many open the hood and stare at this at night. Not sure the value of dropping this much $$ for under the hood look so my dealer mechanic enjoy the view.

There are so many more actual performances or exterior aesthetic upgrades that I can see that I would drop $$$ on first

[NightWriter]

Originally Posted by Drift Master

I wonder how many open the hood and stare at this at night. Not sure the value of dropping this much $$ for under the hood look so my dealer mechanic enjoy the view.

There are so many more actual performances or exterior aesthetic upgrades that I can see that I would drop $$$ on first

I'm with you. Shaving a few pounds on a cooler-looking brace is neat for $250. Not $1250.

[chicagofan00]

Originally Posted by Drift Master

I wonder how many open the hood and stare at this at night. Not sure the value of dropping this much $$ for under the hood look so my dealer mechanic enjoy the view.

There are so many more actual performances or exterior aesthetic upgrades that I can see that I would drop $$$ on first

I pop the hood after every time I wash it to dry off and clean up the engine bay. Brings a smile to my face the see the spruced up engine bay each time.

To each their own. 🤷🏻

[NightWriter]

Originally Posted by chicagofan00

I pop the hood after every time I wash it to dry off and clean up the engine bay. Brings a smile to my face the see the spruced up engine bay each time.

To each their own. 🤷🏻

With all that engine bling, I would as well. Enjoy.

[canigetaxm]

Originally Posted by NightWriter

Yeah, that's insane. If I were just getting aluminum, these seem like a much better deal: https://vargasturbo.com/product/vtt-...-strut-braces/

From what I can tell, though, the factory (steel) brace weighs about 7 pounds, and the CF one is about half that. Aluminum is likely somewhere in between. Any weight saved here is pretty minimal... it's more about the aesthetics.

this one with a carbon fiber wrap would be sick

[knerr57]

Originally Posted by NightWriter

I'm with you. Shaving a few pounds on a cooler-looking brace is neat for $250. Not $1250.

I wish I could do these for $250. The raw carbon alone is a fair bit more than that. Let alone the days that go into each set of braces- 2 days in lamination, a day of trimming, straightening edges, three separate clear coat applications to ensure absolute flatness, packaging, shipping.. it all adds up.

I get that for many people the value isn't there, that was expected and that opinion is perfectly valid. But for the people who really care about the way their engine bay looks and want the best looking carbon brace you can buy, I think my braces are the answer.

[Drift Master]

Originally Posted by chicagofan00

I pop the hood after every time I wash it to dry off and clean up the engine bay. Brings a smile to my face the see the spruced up engine bay each time.

To each their own. 🤷🏻

With that bay I see your point. My point is there is a huge list of exterior and interior visible upgrades people can start with and additional performance ones. I would start there before adding to the engine bay. I totally see the point if it was a car with a visible engine bay like the C8 coupe that would bring more value to the equation. Did I say you have a sick engine bay, enjoy it as long as it brings you joy it's money well spent at the end

[Medal]

Looks like no one pointed out this one yet, just the aluminum counterpart:

https://www.urotuning.com/products/v...UaAvhuEALw_wcB

[NightWriter]

Originally Posted by knerr57

I wish I could do these for $250. The raw carbon alone is a fair bit more than that. Let alone the days that go into each set of braces- 2 days in lamination, a day of trimming, straightening edges, three separate clear coat applications to ensure absolute flatness, packaging, shipping.. it all adds up.

I get that for many people the value isn't there, that was expected and that opinion is perfectly valid. But for the people who really care about the way their engine bay looks and want the best looking carbon brace you can buy, I think my braces are the answer.

Sure, I appreciate that a quality product requires some R&D investment, and I didn't mean to suggest you're overcharging; just that I don't see the value proposition for something like this. But apparently one in six GT 500 customers pays $10k for racing stripes, so what do I know?

[M3GABIT]

Originally Posted by knerr57

It is really cool to see my products being shared organically like this.. I am not a vendor here yet, so I don't want to over step, but thanks for the kind words! I put a lot of love into these braces!

Edit: some issues with my website were pointed out to me, and I have improved them as well as I can. I am a lot better at making things in SolidWorks and the real world than I am at making websites haha.

I'm a web developer for big tech, I'd be more than happy to whip something up for you in my free time! It doesn't seem see be loading right now due to some type errors.

[MMnut]

The 2 piece brace suite very well with M3/M4. I understand everyone is different but seem a lot of guys are following and getting the CLS brace for their car. I'm not a fan of that brace at all, look too busy for me.

Sometimes less is more.

[GregM4]

Turner Motorsports CF installed. Really nice quality.

[emthreepa]

It seems like the VTT option is the most economic while also offering appearance upgrade?

[Diesel power]

Originally Posted by knerr57

Thanks for the kind words! Yes, we did a strain analysis of the stock braces to gauge the necessary rigidity because we did not want to add too much stiffness to the front end and negatively impact the mechanical grip of the chassis. We've designed our braces to be very close to OEM.

Then we did NDT on our own braces and found that, while they had an appropriate amount of flexural rigidity, they had too much torsional flex. This actually delayed production for a few weeks because we needed to special order a specific thickness Rohacell core material- this is one of the highest performance core materials that we could get and is autoclave compatible.
The average total thickness of the carbon is about 6mm (and up to 14 at the mounting points.

Edit for clarity: in our original design, the braces had the same overall thickness, bet were more of a C channel design. I knew that C channels are naturally more flexible in torsion than a box tube, but I underestimated the amount of flex. By adding in the core material, we created a box inside the composite lamination that gave us the exact properties we were after.

These things use quite a lot of carbon to produce despite looking so narrow, but the total weight is 970 grams (2.1 pounds).

The reason they take up so much carbon is because the patterns that need to be cut out of the prepreg are quite large and are not able to be tessellated in an efficient manner because it requires many layers of the pattern at 0* and offset at 45* to give even strength in every direction.

Thanks for the insight on the design process. So just to clarify, you're specific goal was to match the stiffness (and meet or improve the strength) while minimizing weight. Is that correct?
This is interesting as without cutting a cross section of the composite strut bars there's really no way to assess stiffness so I had assumed that most of these strut bars were to increase stiffness.

[stormlv]

Originally Posted by chicagofan00

I pop the hood after every time I wash it to dry off and clean up the engine bay. Brings a smile to my face the see the spruced up engine bay each time.

To each their own. 🤷🏻

Agreed - I'm the same... (BTW, really like yours)
I try to keep them clean. Don't know if that makes me a freak, but it's nice i'm not the only one

Here's mine

[docjavier]

Originally Posted by chicagofan00

I pop the hood after every time I wash it to dry off and clean up the engine bay. Brings a smile to my face the see the spruced up engine bay each time.

To each their own. 🤷🏻

I also open the hood to dry and clean everything. Smiling 😁 all the way.

[Diesel power]

Has anyone ever thought about just painting the factory steel ones? Might give a nice pop of color without spending over a thousand. As others have noted, the weight savings is minimal either way.