Does anyone know if there are any group buys going on for the CHE brace w/o the torque limiters? It's $89 but looks to be better engineered than the Steeda or BMR braces and certainly stronger than the OEM brace.

 

Why do you think it's engineered better? I have both the BMR and CHE with T/Ls and minus the T/Ls, both do the same exact thing. It's a piece of metal bolted to the car mating the K-Member together. If I don't put the T/Ls back on, the BMR is staying on the car. It's certainly beefier than the CHE, but it's not like either one is going to break.

 

Can you re-use the stock bolts and nuts with the BMR A-Arm support?

It looks like the Granatelli and the BMR are similar. I wonder which one works the best:
CHE vs Steeda vs BMR vs Granatelli

 

The BMR (and others) only fasten to the factory cross member in a single plane. The CHE is better engineered, as it takes advantage of the lower set of factory holes on the K-member, allowing it fasten in two perpendicular planes. Minimal extra weight, but much sounder from an engineering persepective.

 

Yes.


I forgot about the two perpendicular bolts. Not sure if it makes it better, but it does bolt on more.

 

The Steeda one is plenty beefy(probably about 3 times overbuilt from what is necessary), no issues whatsoever, and I noticed the difference immediately, sharpened up the front a bit and settled it down on bumps. All said and done even the stamped tube from the 'verts and 08+'s OEM is probably just as effective. The areas they bolt to do not flex, so connecting it with 2 or 4 bolts isn't going to make jack diddly poop difference. Spend some time under the car on a lift and look the whole k-member over, preferrably an 08 and you'll see it doesn't matter how its done.

 

Ford must have spent thousands of dollars and man-hours on FEA of the OEM bar to make sure that the bar was kosher to use. It would seem cheaper for Ford to just use a Steeda-style bar, instead of changing the crossmember design and using a new bar. I don't like how the Steeda bar relies on threaded portions of the bolt to prevent flexing of the crossmember.

 

If those areas don't flex, then why bother with a brace?