Unbelievable....So here I am a week ago, googling information about the JCW strut brace and find a link to a Mini club in Canada where a guy is selling his brand new (and unused) one. Emailed him, and yup - still for sale!!

I couldn't believe my luck. So I bought it for just under the US list price plus 35 bucks shipping and it arrived today!! The Mini enthusiast I got it from had sold his Mini (for which he had decided to manufacture his own -stainless - strut brace), so he never put this one on...

What a beauty!!! Yes, it's bright shiny bling for no small $$$, I know - but what can I say, I wanted one!! And in my Cabrio, I think it will be more than just bling, since our friends across the pond report that it really helps with the front end rigidity. After being in my first Autocross this past weekend at Mini Meet West, I am curious to see how it stiffens the front end next time I do one.

I am SOOOOO psyched and happy!!! I wanted to keep my car as OEM/Works as possible, and never thought I'd luck out this way.

Now, all I have to do is install it. If any of you can help me out on this please do feel free to give advice! Do I really have to have a torque wrench (and if so, what NM?) or can I just use a box wrench and tighten it into place?

 

Nice. Let us know if it tightens up the cab.

 

kool!!!!

just make sure ur' on a flat surface when u' torque it down...& do use a torque wrench.

 

Sounds nice...any pics of the peice

 

I will post some, soon!

 

Well, it's on! All I needed was to find some level ground (not easy in San Francisco) and a torque wrench and about a half hour's time.
I think maybe it helps deaden the bumps a bit - maybe it's acting as a sort of damper for my Cabrio's front end. Anyone else notice this?
As to how it does on the corners, we'll see. Haven't had a chance to try it yet.

 

right-on! so congrats...if U' already noticed that much, then in the 'bends' youll be happy

 

Here are the pix:

 

...... yep, .... real nice looking bar. Good job I envious.

 

whats the bar material? billet is it? is it clear coated or raw polished steel?

 

Thanks guys!
According to what I was able to find online, JCW states that the bar is "alloy". From what I found online, alloy steel contains an admixture of various compounds added to steel, with a composition that is somewhere between that of carbon steel and stainless steel. It has a high tensile strength and is heat and corrosion resistant, yet is lightweight. Heat treated alloy steel has a very high strength to weight ratio. It is used to make gears, carving knives and even roller skates. Sounds like a good product to make a strut brace from!

 

no doubt thats nice quality indeed......

 

Oh man...that bar looks so much like an ebay one but this one is polished. Quite frankly, I think this bar should be worth no more than US$100 (and that's pushing it). This bar is HINGED, which practically gives no real benefit to handling. What you want is a non-hinged bar so it can't stress under hard loads.

Personally, I like this bar much better. It's not as "pretty" as the JCW bar but it performs better. To think of it, it's only $239.95 + shipping and you get to save the extra $$$ for something else!

 

at $24o.oo + shippin' i...think thats high for what it is, didnt know they were that much myself....

 

I know that this "hinged" vs. "non-hinged" is a debatable thing, but I can tell you, the way that the bar is attached to the mount via a T shaped-bar, all of the forces go out laterally to the mounts. It is not "hinged" in the sense of a true hinge as one would think of it. It's more of a "T" design with the top bar of the "T" in the strut mount holes and the bottom of the stem of the T screwed into the end of the bar. Because the forces are all spread in a linear fashion along the bar (which is like a rectangle with the long sides convex, in cross section), it's not going to move anywhere. Ever try and break and egg by squeezing it along it's long axis? Pretty hard to do. Same principle here.

 

Hi MiniMelSF,

First, I wanted to apologize if I offended you (or anybody else) by my comment above. I understand what you're saying. However, I can honestly say just by looking at the design alone, it has two flaws that I noticed right off the bat.

Numero Uno, the bar looks adjustable by the thick collar between the bar itself and the mount. Adjustable bars allow too much "slack" and not uniform in terms of size and depth, like the helix bar. For example, if you look between the thick washer and mount, you see the threaded part?

Second, I assume when you mounted the bar, that there was no pre-load required? How would you know when you adjusted the bar to make it fit that there is even (and I do mean even) tension between both strut mounts?

Well, bottom line, it looks real flashy and cool with the JCW logo, but with that high of a price, I would rather get something that really works. Of course, it's a matter of personal opinion.

P.S. I used to own a E36 M3, and BMW Motorsport came out with a Lightweight Strut Bar specifically for their E36 M3s. The bar actually comes stock on 95 M3 LTWs. Notice the design of the ///M bar compared to yours. You don't see that screw running through the bar at the end of the mount OR a long range of adjustability.

 

No need to apologize, I'm not offended at all! I know that there are differences of opinion on this. I will still maintain the the threaded mount has nothing to do with anything. It's no different than if the bar tapered down to a piece as narrow as the threaded end and was one piece. Still takes the forces laterally.
I am at a loss why I would want any "preloaded tension" in the bar. I can see having it solid, with essentially neutral tension, which it is. There's no way it can move end-to-end at all. If there were preloaded tension, then I don't see how the brace would dampen forces coming up from the struts, because it wouldn't "absorb" this force, it would oppose it.

 

Good find........These were on backorder and now available. Part#51-71-0-395-853 retailing for $320 plus tax.........Once my site is up ill be selling them for alot less.

 

This reminds me of the rediculous prices for the bars on the Grand Prix scene - all these aftermarket companies selling them for $250-$400, then GM goes and releases it for $18! LOL Best $18 deal I ever got!

 

I gave up on getting my JCW bar in the US and bought in England. Bar was installed today.

Bar looks great. Will put some pics on likely tomorrow.

Too bad BMW couldn't get their act together here

 

What does that mean .... "once my site is up" Are you becoming a NAM vendor?

 

I am a vendor but not on this site.....Im trying to get it going but havent heard back from them yet.....I just asked today actually. I had to go over alot of logistics with my company.

 

Has the availability status just changed? Over on the Roadfly forums, MINI of Sterling said last week that it still wasn't available. They said that MINIUSA had withdrawn the release date earlier in the year and never announced a new one.

 

Roadfly is selling for $272. How your going to do a discount below that

 

$288 SHIPPED..........US only

Do you have there link?