M7 sent a replacement front strut bar for about $30. shipped.

Twister – Thanks, I am back at Tech these days, but looking forward to catching up with the Tar Heels sometime soon. Just not the basketball team, go Terps (and Hokies)! 

DanC – ha, thanks for the vote. I wonder if that nomination would look out of place on my resume? 

Also, as an afterthought… If this were being sold at WalMart/Target, etc. and it was a car-seat, kids toy, or some other device sold to the everyday consumer, I would feel much more adamant that the mfg. company would be obligated to completely ensure that the product was safe in all aspects of its intended application. However, this is a product available to a small group of enthusiast owners, a small sub-set of owners of a particular car, I think it seems a well-intended solution to a specific issue. Like I said, you have to realize if you put this on your car, it is advertised specifically to affect the structure of your car. If it were more mass-market, I would definitely have a different stance on the issue.

-Eric

Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club

         BCNU,
       Rob in Dago

While almost all modifications that you make to your car fall into the category of not affecting your vehicle’s crashworthiness, this one most certainly does fall in the category of POTENTIALLY affecting the crashworthiness. HOWEVER, in almost every vehicle design, the car is designed to crush from the front to the back. That may seem pretty obvious, but generally a car first crushes at the bumper, the radiator and on back, etc. One of the many reasons for this is to protect the integrity of the occupant compartment. Simply put, you need space to survive; you need as much space to slow your body down as gradually as possible. The USS as I understand it, mounts from the front wheels back, and also has a stiffener about mid-point along the wheelbase. So it shouldn’t dramatically change the INITIAL response of the car in an accident.

Now, once you get to the wheels (to the USS) then yes, perhaps it could start to change things. Regardless of whether the bolts fail or not, the brace is going to have to go somewhere as it crushes. I not sure exactly of everywhere it attaches to the car and specifically how strong each of those connections are, but it will either A) pull or shear the bolts off, or B) crush with the car. I’m pretty sure those are the only two potential answers. If it is A, then it’s likely it will not be a big player in changing things. If it is B, then I would assume the long bars, the actual “understrut attachments,” will probably buckle and bend out of the way. If intact, then it will likely make the rest of the crash even slightly stiffer, thus a bit of a “harder” ride down, but by how much, it is impossible to say. Also, that additional rigidity would likely help to keep the occupant compartment more intact, which would potentially benefit the occupants, but again, it is impossible to say.

Ultimately, there is only one way to truly know the answer to how this will affect the MINI in a crash, but that would require resources far beyond what M7, as an aftermarket company could be expected to provide. I think putting something such as this on your car classifies as implied consent to changing your vehicle’s structure. It is unavoidable that this may change some of the crash dynamics. You can only answer for yourself how comfortable you are with that… but it’s on my wish list.

See my comment above

Was the atmospheric pressure at the time of each run the same?

Was the decernable percipitation and humidity during each run the same?

… good lord guys.

Nice review, thanks for the information it covers the basic knowledge one would want to gain I think. For the race nut they’d already know or would seek their own further investigation for the finer facts.

I’m not so sure anyone should be throwing around opinions best left to structural engineers regarding the crash-worthiness, or not, of any product – just about any performance mod changes the dynamics of a car, so adding anything is your responsibilty, regardless.

             BCNU,
          Rob in Dago

How do you mean more composed? More predictable? I guess I can’t believe this until I test the difference first hand. I can understand why some people would feel a difference. They spent the $350 for a couple pieces of aluminum, of coarse they are going to want to feel something.

That’s understandable because I didn’t really believe it would be noticeably beneficial for a coupe until I tested first-hand. Again I was really surprised at the difference. It’s not huge but it’s undoubtedly there and it’s unquestionably an improvement.

I’m sure anyone who spends the money on anything will want to believe it works. However in this case we were given a unit to review so I can assure you that was not a factor in this review. It’s all about the product and whether it does what it claims to do.

I am not trying to discredit anyone who has one, but just ask the question could it be mental?

-Brian