Driving Impressions: Lower Stress Bar

[insite]

install was a snap. i removed the nuts that fasten the diagonals to the shear plate. i pounded out the studs with a hammer. i test fit the ernie bar to set its length, then installed it permanently. piece of cake; takes about 15 minutes once the car is jacked up:

[insite]

impressions: this thing is great! i wasn't sure how much i'd notice it. i went to the track last monday and put it to good use. from the driver's seat, the car seems to set much more quickly on corner entry (a perception reinforced by swapping drivers and boxsters). from a measurement perspective, i was pulling significantly higher lateral acceleration numbers than i ever have. in the mildly banked corners, i was at 1.3 g's. in the unbanked corners, i was between 1.15 and 1.2G's. this was on STREET tires. once set, the car also seemed less prone to unsettlement over bumps. the car just doesn't seem to flex as much in back. here's one lap of telemetry:

[insite]

bottom line: this thing was like $130 shipped. it really works! between my last track day and this one, i did the following:

996 front brakes w/ racing pads
mantis lower stress bar
bilstein sport front dampers

lap times went from 1:15:20 to 1:12:72. that's 2.5 seconds on a 1.41 mile course! i'll take it.

[chaudanova]

wow, thanks for posting this up, that's awesome to hear. Do you know what G's you were pulling prior to the addition of the bar? And also, do you notice any difference on street driving?

[insite]

Originally Posted by chaudanova

wow, thanks for posting this up, that's awesome to hear. Do you know what G's you were pulling prior to the addition of the bar? And also, do you notice any difference on street driving?

on this course, i averaged 1.06G with a max of 1.13G. this thing put me in the stratosphere here. it really holds the camber. as for street driving, it doesn't effect comfort levels at all. i don't really notice it under normal driving circumstances. it's very noticable when i push it.

[BobMarley1]

how do I order one?

[MNBoxster]

Hi,

How are you measuring your lateral acceleration? You're throwing around numbers here (both Baseline and Modified) which are greater than those repeatedly published for the Boxster S (0.91g).

While that may be so of a Modified Car, I doubt it's the case with a Base Boxster. I suspect your Data Logger is miscalibrated. How else do you explain it?

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[insite]

Originally Posted by BobMarley1

how do I order one?

their website is here: http://www.mantissport.ca/

you can't order online, though. call them at 905.844.6219 and ask for stan. btw, any prices listed on their site are canadian.

[steve00s]

I have finally gotten around to installing the lower braces on my car and have a question for those of you who have done this.

I can't get the old bolts out. I understand that they are pressed in and should pop out but I have whacked on them pretty good without any movement and am afraid of breaking or bending something. What is the trick to getting these out?
Thanks.

[blinkwatt]

Does the company that you bought the stress bar from have a website?

*Never mind I found it;
http://www.mantissport.ca/
I can't seem to find the lower stress bar though.