Killerking1964

I have ordered the Cp Racing triangular front tower strut brace and the rear lower tie bar. Should be great for Auto-X'ing. Will let everyone know when I get them, install them and test them!!!CP Racing :D

WHealy

KK,

Let us know how it goes ...

ATL RX-8

Tell those guys that our cars are 2004 year models, not 2003.

Sea Ray

I ordered mine 2 weeks ago and have e-mailed and phoned for an expected ship date with no answer! I do expect them soon, as I thought they were a stock item. Chris are you listening?

Killerking1964

Ah Ha WHealey, you already have their front strut tower bar!!!!!!!! You sneaky Devil! ¥ I think they are aware that it's at typo, but all 8 owners know they mean 2004.

WHealy

SeaRay,

Yep. I had the same problem. Only a little worse. My guess is that they are not stocked at all but made based off your payment. Also, I thought i was supposed to receive additional hardare, but has never shown up. I ordered mine back in Dec. Been waiting to see what other's expereinces are before I generalize a one-off bad expereience.

WHealy

Killerking1964,

Not trying to upstage you. Just curious about your service expereince.

cgrx

I'm guessing they come in different colors ?
I wonder if that rear tie bar does that much ..

Killerking1964

the triangulated strut bar tower brace comes in red or blue. The lower tie bar I think just comes in blue and tightens the rear end up which is great for Auto X'ing.
Often they have the strut tower braces on EBAY, just do a search for them. They have 94.9% positive feedback.

XeRo

Their service has in the past stunk..but their products are great...just going off word of mouth though..i haven't ordered from them...

Killerking1964

I received an email today from Chris at CP Racing and he said he will call me tomorrow, so so far I am happy!!!!!!!

Sea Ray

I also received a e-mail today and my strut bar was indeed shipped out Monday and has just passed thru customs today. With any luck next week I will get it AND stage1

Bad news is I am going on a week long vaction week after next so I will not be able to play with the new toys until end of the month. Such problems to have, he he he.

Efini888

I ordered my strut tower bar from them a while ago. Around when they first showed up on Ebay. It took them about 3 weeks for it to finally show up they even emailed me 2 weeks into it saying that UPS dropped their whole shipment crushing my strut tower bar. (what are the chances of that???) All i can say is that i hope everyone is really patience because your going to learn to be after this experience of no emails, not being able to get through etc... Customer service stunk, but their product is pretty nice. If you don't mind the whole rattle canned backyard paint job. I got the red one maybe the blue is a little better??? I'm going to get it glasses beaded and powder coated since i can't stand the shitty paint on it. I'll have some pics up if you guys want. This is just my experience with them so maybe yours will be better.

RX8FOREAL

Yes - I agree that their customer service could use some improvement once I received their trianulated front strut bar (mine was red and I was happy with paint job) it was very obvious to me that the bar did tighten up the front suspension - I could feel the difference even while driving straight ! I would highly recommend this bar.

WHealy

Efini888,

Same paint job here on the blue. Glad RX8FOREAL got a good one. But I'm holding you personally responsible for the fact that i am now considering chroming mine. I was perfectly happy until you mentinoed powder coating ... :D

synthtk

How do the welds look on this bar, are they pretty clean?

Is the brace pretty beefy compared to the stock brace which looks fairly weak or compared to some other front braces (MS, JIC, Tanabe)

Highly considering getting this bar since the US MS bar seems to just be straight across and non 4 point

-Chris

Sanguine_Dark

Whealy,

How is your CP strut-bar? Feel and like that? I'm really interested in this item (paint job aside). After driving it for a while what are your impressions? Anyone else who has this part please chime in as well!!

RX8FOREAL

Visually the bar looks very professional. The welds look very clean and like I said before my paint job looked fine.
From an engineering view point, it is stronger than most others I have seen since all the joints are welded, no bolt attachments and it is also anchored to the firewall.
I felt an immediate improvement in chasis rigidity.

Sanguine_Dark

RX8foreal,

Thanks for the input. This is exactly the sort of feedback I'm looking for on this. Sounds very convincing as well as an excellent looking piece.

blksf8

the Japanese MS front strut tower brace is thick, all aluminum and 4 point. The only downside is that the engine cover won't fit on top of it. you can get it at japan parts, canzoomer, jtimports, etc. it's about $475-500

Killerking1964

mine is in route from Canada as we speak. Can't wait!! I'll be able to post about it's performance (along w/ the lower tie bar) and also on the Racing Beat front and rear swaybars and endlinks after I enter another Autocross on April 4th.

WHealy

I like mine. Although I must admitt I showed it to a guy that installed a rollbar for me in a previous car. I've known this guy for a long time. He is one of the last to rag on someone elses's work. But he said in his opinion the bars had not been properly fitted requiring additional welds. He said the appearance could be better, but thought it was probably solid all the same.

The weird thing for me is that mine came with no attitional hardware. When I sent an email on it, they said it would be forthcoming. Never has. As much effort as it took just to get the bar, I figured it wasn't work it. I just tied it into the connectinos off the firewall that were existing. I assume there are better or more enhaced wasys of doing this.

synthtk

Would your guy be interested in making a better version of their basic design? :D

Yah, I was hoping the US would be the same one and was very excited when it was listed for only $250 but its just a thick CF 2point, i just cant justify spending that much (~$500) on a strut tower bar....


-Chris

Sea Ray

I am in the middle of installing my front cp strut bar and am having some issues.

1) The flanges that mount to the top of the struts are too big and I had to cut down the top corner so it would fit into the recess. The factory edges are very rough and could have used a lot of smoothing up.

2) When installing, the drivers side is putting majpr pressure on the break lines coming out of the ABS (?) box. I am not happy about that at all. Maybe not a big deal but rubbing like that cannot be good in the long run.

3) IF and when I would tighten the strut bolts, the firewall brace is fairly low on the firewall. This will make it very hard to bolt on the drivers side since the wiper motor is right in the way.

4) Overall asthetics it looks bad. Welds are rough, mounting plate was cut with ??? And the paint does not match even close, rattle can I agree.

Overall I can live with the apperance, welds, paint, etc. But I don't think the fit is at all good enough, break lines, firewall attachment.

Can anyone tell me their experiences installing it and if and what you did about these issues.

Thanks,
Dean

WHealy

Sea Ray,

I took a closer look at mine it is resting on those same lines. I don't see any wear as of yet. I know when I put mine on it was an of so tight fit, but I don't recall putting any undo preasure on these lines to get it secured.