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Thread: All Ultra Racing Chassis Braces review.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Vero Beach FL
    Posts
    14
    My Cars
    2005 R53

    Thumbs up All Ultra Racing Chassis Braces review.

    Hello all. First post in about 10 years lol. I recently purchased ALL three of the Ultra racing Braces for my Dad's car for his birthday as they have a 20% off memorial day sale. I don't see anyone really taking about these braces so I thought I might give some insight in them once they arrive for others to concider them. It's a stock 2008 135i manual with 35k miles on it.
    I've had great luck with braces on my car (R53) and am looking forward to trying these out when they ship out.

    My dad isn't a car enthusiast but he loves Stick shift BMW's and he plans on keeping this car forever. I just do the maintenance and reliability mods for him. Trying to get him to do some autox lol.

    https://ultraracing-usa.com/product/...0tt-2004-2013/

    Thanks for reading.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Vero Beach FL
    Posts
    14
    My Cars
    2005 R53
    Okidoki. Here are my initial thoughts. Keep in mind I don't drive this car often so I'm not used to it's dynamics.


    Shipping and appearance:


    I received all braces wrapped together with ALOT of plastic and paper. Each bar has their own serial number for the lifetime warranty registration and to make sure it's not an imitation product. These bars were made to order and took about a week and a half to arrive. Opening up those bars from that packaging was a nightmare. It took literally an hour for me as I did not want to scratch the powdercoat. Once unraveled I found a few nics and scratches but nothing of too much concern.





    Installation:


    Dirt easy if you have the appropriate tools. The center triangular brace is the easiest to install as you just need to undo the four torx screws and two rear bolts of the factory brace and swap them out.








    The rear subframe Brace is a little trickier as I needed to support the subframe while installing.















    Now the front brace fits great....until you go back to put on the under tray. You're going to need to modify it a bit to sit flush. It can still be mounted securely but the rear will be bent down a bit at the corners.











    The braces themselves fit great and are reasonably light. The triangular brace is roughly the same weight as the stock piece but with that extra lateral bar in place.


    Driving feel:


    I'll reiterate. I don't drive this car often but I did notice some differences.
    The ride is somewhat smoother and more solid. Especially when going over railroad tracks, I also felt the added stiffness when exiting the parking lot ramp at an angle. With the body stiffened up the suspension could do its job more properly. I also feel the car has a bit more confidence when accelerating through a long corner. Such as an on ramp. The deflection in the body that was there before is now going to the OEM bushings. Which is a good and bad thing. Switching to poly or spherical bushings will definitely help.


    Do I recommend these braces.


    It depends.... For the price you pay and the product you receive I have no complaints. The welds are good and the bars feel solid on the car. These are a good value for money. HOWEVER...... I have a feeling these bars (mostly the front and rear subframe ones) will be much more effective if the vehicle has stiffer bushings installed throughout the suspension and drive train. Since the body deflection has reduced all of that twisting motion will go to the weakest link. The soft stock bushings. Fix that and you're golden.


    Over all I am happy with these braces.

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