I installed a Truhart brace on the back of my EG yesterday, and have a bit of a concern with it. I'm certain the middle/backer brackets are seated as well as they can be, but the plate seems to have a bit of a curve to it once torqued down. My initial though was that it could be the issue ASR calls out on their fakes page (https://www.asrparts.com/blogs/news/89955270-stop-the-fake-fake-asr-subframe-braces) but this does seem to be accounted for in their parts. I know aluminum doesn't really like bending so much, so I'm assuming this thing is justpjust made junk, but this company seems to generally make decent quality products so I thought I'd ask - is this a common phenomena by chance?

It looks like this:


--Matt

 

Are the pockets for the inner part of the rear lower arm square with each other? Has your car ever been hit? From the picture it looks like the right side is bent, maybe just the lens. But what else could it be?

Remove the brace and put a straight edge across the 2 mounting points to confirm. I have a long level I use for this.

 

They are square as well I can see with a straight edge. I don't believe it was ever in am accident, but I'm like the 4th owner so it's anyone's guess. The car was slammed on stock shocks and no bumpstops and clearly bottomed out some times, but the body generally seems straight.

There was a brace on before, and it didn't have a bend like that, but it had a rainbow blue finish that didn't hold up well to time so I tossed it. It was much thicker, though, probably by twice so it could have coerced things more than this piece.

The camera lens does eccentuate the effect. Here's a pic from straight on below. It doesn't seem to have any twist at all...just some slight curve.



The best approximation of the cause I can come up with is that the lower part of the spacer doesn't perfectly account for the little flat plate where the stock swaybar plate would be mounted and is getting bumped out ever so slightly by it. The old brace that was on here only touched the subframe directly around the bolts, but this one is a bit more flat..for better or worse.

--Matt

 

Here's a better pic of the curvature. It amounts to just under 1/4" on each side with a central reference point at the worst point (the bottom). Up toward the top it has less curve. I'm pretty confident it's the spacer fitment at this point. Whether or not it is common or acceptable remains to be seen.

 

Looks like a design flaw. I have a Dark Star brace on my Del Sol and it's straight as an arrow.

 

Sure seems that way. I reached out to them to see if they have a solution. I bought a more basic model based on some "all braces are the same now" comment somewhere in here, but I guess they're not necessarily all ok.

--Matt

 

Measure the hole to hole spacing on the brace and the subframe. I'd guess it's off.
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It is, by about 1/4". I split the difference with 1/8" on each side. Based on where the holes that attach the plate to the spacer live, it's impossible to correct. Given that the old brace fit fine, I'm inclined to believe the car is not at fault.

--Matt

 

There is your problem.

Also, truhart is trash.

 

Kinda looks that way, for this part at least. Screw it, I'm just gonna get a real ASR at this point. Not worth the hassle to save a few bucks.

 

Only TruHart that is somewhat decent is their rear LCA. They utilize HardRace bushings.

 

I've got a set of their rear upper control arms, which seem to have HardRace bushings as well. That'll be it from them for me I guess, though.

--Matt

 

That's sad to learn. Their front LCA's seem pretty solid. Tony didn't seem to have problems with the rear camber arms for fitment.

I was thinking about utilizing their air struts for the EG. Not their air system, just the struts. I like someone else's system to tie into the struts.

Seems they started expanding into too many parts too quickly to maintain the higher quality standard they seem to have started out on originally.

 

Swapped it for an ASR tonight... straight as an arrow and the bolt holes lined up precisely. The machining and materials quality difference between the two is kinda insane.

 

that applies to a lot of things, such as turbos. Don't care what anyone have told you, all EBAY turbos are straight up G A R B A G E.

 

I would've questioned them about that but oh well, already replaced.

 

I did. When I reached out to them and shared the details above, they arranged for a return without any alternative solution. *shrug*

--Matt

 

faux, oh well at least they didn't give you hell.