I decided to pick up some parts for my car to celebrate by birthday, and settled on a TSW X-Brace, NM Eng Tie Bar, and Craven Dipstick. I'm not too worried about the latter two, but I've seen more than one mention of hitting speed bumps. I have to drive up a ~3" curved lip when pulling into the parking lot where I work. Am I going to have an issue with it, keeping in mind the fact that I pull up it VERY slowly? It seems to hang pretty closely to the area nearby the wheels, so I'm hoping it'll ride up over it without any issues.

I'm on the factory S "Sport" suspension. Are clearance issues with this part primarily an issue on lowered cars only?

--Matt

 

You could always mock up some pieces under the car (styrofoam and zip ties?), drive it, and see if you hit. I would call the vendor that you got it from and find out their opinion.

Mike

 

Good idea. I'll reach out to way.

--Matt

 

I have an OMP underbody cross brace and it does not hit the road, but road kill is another matter. Practice your auto-x skills, just a suggestion.

The OMP brace sits as low or lower than the TSW X-brace. Neither sit lower than an under body, factory installed, plastic spoiler just below the firewall. Things like road kill or chunks of snow and ice up here in the winter are a concern. They ring the CrMo steel bar quite nicely if you guess wrong.

 

All good coming into/out of steep entrances too?

 

No problems at all with driveway aprons, other than hitting the chin spoiler. But that is a totally different issue.

Have not had any problems with "speed bumps" or "sleeping Bobbys"/"sleeping policemen" either.

 

Just had one installed along with TSW springs. No problems so far but the drop was minor.

 

great news

 

I had a TSW x-brace along with NM springs (1.2 inch drop) and the x-brace would rub regularly on speed bumps. I eventually took it out because it was too annoying and noticed the constant rubbing had bent the x-brace a little.

 

Well, I installed the brace last night. I'm in awe with how immediately noticeable a difference it made. The change is not subtle at all. The difference is most notable when traveling over uneven pavement, accelerating/decelerating at low speeds, and cornering. Every creak and rattle in my dash and front doors also vanished immediately. It definitely hangs down below anything else on the chassis, but not by a lot. I guess we'll see how it goes at work on Monday. Haven't had any contact with anything yet though. The sport suspension is only .3" lower than stock, so hopefully it wont cause me any issues.

--Matt

 

No issues on the way into our out of the parking lot at work, or anywhere else so far either. Still can't get over the elimination of all interior rattles...

--Matt

 

Can you post up a couple of pictures that show how it sits under the car? I'm glad that you see an improvement.

Mike

 

I had the brace on my Clubman which was lowered 1" in the rear, and 3/4" in the front, Really had to ease over the speed bumps and steep driveways. Q

 

Surprisingly hard to get a pic that really shows the impact. Here's my best two shots (click for bigger pics).




--Matt

 

I should have found this older post first. I just installed the TSW X-Brace this afternoon on my pretty Bilstein low clubby. Didn't realized it installed just behind the engine towards the front side and hang low. I only have a few inches of ground clearance. Fingers crossed about the fat speed humps but it's only the metal bars. I'll try to take some photos when it stop raining later this week.

Photo here. About 3" clearance

Definitely hitting speed bumps :(