return to body brace testimonials


I participated in the first Beta Test of the Body Brace, and unfortunately, my stock exhaust headers came down and interfered with the installation of the brace on the passenger side of the car.

Like many things in life this unfortunate event helped Paul develop a better design. Paul came upon a design that seems to be a more OEM fitting alternative than the first Beta design. This brace snugs right up against the bottom of the car and is bolted to the bottom of the car flush.

I invited some of my local buddies to join in on the fun. In the end, Ed"scuba" handled the rear Strong-Strut end of things, I handled the X Brace and Dominick was in charge of fitment of the OEM brace to the car.

A 2001 M Roadster (S54) has a plastic covering on the underside of the car that covers the X-Brace and many other regularly accessed areas of the car. As I understand it, this plastic has been added to the 2001 and 2002 M Roadster and Coupes because these cars are rated faster (?). They are aerodynamic in nature, not protective. There is a protective aluminum skin under the cladding to protect the Fuel Filter.
Since the plastic covers the X-Brace , it will either need to be removed or modified to allow the Body Brace to be installed.

My game plan was to remove the plastic entirely to validate the Body Brace fit the 2001 version of the M Roadster, and then to determine if it made a difference before deciding to keep it.

Let’s get started:

These are pictures of the Body Brace in my kitchen before the install. The workmanship is classic Ebeyer, Sturdy and attractive Body Brace with Hardware

 

Paul obviously went to a lot of trouble to design a curve that fits the bottom of the car.


This is the rear of the OEM X-Brace where the forward end of the Body Brace is attached



The passenger side Brace goes in just as easily, except you have to take precautions not to let the back end of the brace to come into contact with the fuel cell. The second brace took less than five minutes start to finish, and we were ready to go for a nice little ride to hit every railroad crossing in my town.

Close-up of the driver’s side Brace Forward attachment point


 

Close-up of the passenger side Brace forward attachment point



Close-up of the rear Strong-Strut attachment to Body Brace


Drive quality after installation – The car feels tighter. The car does not feel as though you have made a huge mistake when you go over a railroad crossing at any speed (so far). I hit a couple of my most dreaded potholes and they are much smoother. The sharp report of a pothole or railroad track seems "muted". Since I was in town I have not had a chance to really wring out the car. The feel of the Body Brace is very akin to the change I felt when I first installed the Strong Strut. I wonder what the difference would feel like from no strut braces to the Strong & rear Strong-Struts as well as the Body Brace.

I plan on tracking my car and have a roll bar install in my future. I am interested to see what the combination will yield in stiffness.

I am not an engineer, but I am confident there is a positive improvement in the way the car feels. It is more solid, and I am very interested in how that translates when I get on it in an auto cross or on the Track. I wish I had had more of a chance to really play with the car, but my car time was limited Sunday with family obligations. Hopefully next weekend’s weather and obligations will cooperate.

I will supply more feedback as I get more road time.