Is it possible to use the springy stock bar with the strut, or would it be best to just leave all bars absent at the third point?

 

Actually, that's an easy answer...

As I failed to mention that in my previous post that I also did connect up the third point to the springy bar and metal tray. The results on flex, well, the window didn't flex either. The springy bar and tray barely flexed. So, this is again proof that the third point when attached to the tray does provide support. This further announces that replacing the springy bar with the solid aftermarket bar in the same fashion makes sure it is stiff. Therefore, again, I have debunked the coincidence or fluke factor that the third point, designed for stiffness DOES work, and the red bar enhances it big time. However, do you really want to drive a car where the window won't flex and can possibly crack? I don't think so.

YES if you like breakage, NO if you don't want breakage.

What I did, is that on the top of the third point on the strut bar, wedged between that and the bottom of the tray where the screw comes in I put a piece of 1" rubber so that if the bar flexed, the tray flexed and if the tray flexed, the bar would flex not to provide any point of contact and end result the window would flex.

I found out today that on Friday they are going to install "Pennington" OEM glass that they put on Audi's and BMW's and the guy iterated it was better quality than the Honda glass.

So, I dunno. I did ask him many questions, of which one of the answers was "yes, glass flexes" and they use an adhesive that will flex with the glass and the frame.

There ya go.

 

I like this idea as a means of distributing the force of a larger area and beefing up the firewall at the same time........ I have only installed the rear strut and pillar bars and was pleasantly surprised before I was out of the driveway and on the road... There is definitely an increase in body stiffness and the rear wheels have a more planted feeling around fast curves... The biggest shock was that after driving for months with the steering wheel being off center it is now like it came from the dealership when new and lined up straight.. It's like the unit body structure had been tweaked with the rear wheels not being aligned properly and the installation of the bars put it in alignment again.... Body roll feels non existent... I believe that removing the rear seats is what caused the problem since rigidity would have have been lost with them removed.

 

It's not really so much a fluke as the fact that you aren't running with Coil-overs. I see that you have just installed springs, but the necessity of a more rigid 3rd point is prevalent when you have coil-overs because the only thing aside from the firewall to prevent the towers from converging in a tighter stiffer suspension system on a turn would be the tower brace which needs the 3rd brace to remain centered properly. You probably don't need as much support with springs so you can get away with the stock s-bar. Either way a windshield isn't really meant to flex but it does happen, but the configuration of your suspension really determines what other support you actually need. You will find that searching for similar topics on Google that some people have this problem and others don't. Most of the time the people that have cracked windshields are using too much or too little extra support for their suspension.

 

See my post I just did - I proved it - the window does flex (at least on my car). We'll see when they put the new one on if that does too! And BTW - I've owned a ton of cars, and never ran into this problem. Brian's Cars

 

I wasn't saying that they don't flex, I'm simply stating glass is not supposed to flex. I've owned other cars too, no need to "car-drop" lol. Im just stating that some people have the problem and others don't so you can't 100% justify why it happened. I'd be interested to see what happens with the new glass though.

 

Point noted, hopefully I won't have any more issues.

On another note, I did have a question about the GE8. On my car, around the vicinity of the sub frame brace, there was a black bar in the general area. I took that off so that the subframe would fit (it interfered), then put the stock brace back on with metal spacers. It's in the following picture. Any idea if you think this is good or bad the way I have it?

 

It looks like you can just remove that stock one. I think ours is supposed to act as a replacement anyhow, i suppose you can flip it around if possible and install it back reversed so it protrudes towards the cat. This is what the T1R 4pt looks like installed

 

I probably could, though wouldn't more bracing help out - especially when the mount points are in two different locations?

 

HOLY SHIT! COINCIDENCE * I THINK SO *.

Stress Fracture on Windshield of Honda Fit - Car Forums - Edmunds

 

I don't think you have to remove the stock one. Mine is from T1R and the 4-Point subframe is almost touch the stock brace.

 

And another...

problems with 09-11 Fit windshield - Honda-Tech

Maybe it was coincidence, maybe not. Though with all my scientific screwing around, I may have caused it since I saw the glass flex/move. I'm not chancing it. The third point will not be connected from the STB to the lower tray.

Thanks for State Farm! I hope the new glass is better!

 

Should not have had to remove the stock brace. The KMR brace should be installed in addition to the stock brace. The KMR brace does fit under the stock brace in my case. So what if they touch.

 

Strange. For the life of me, the KMR brace would not go on no matter what I tried with the stock brace on - hence why I was creative in putting in the KMR brace then the stock brace with spacers. I guess that whether it is over or under, it's on and provides support like you have it. Cool.

 

no problems clearing the stock brace on my side either for the subframe. i have yet to install the lower tie bar. did anyone install this without modifying the brace?

 

Update:

I had my windshield replaced this morning in my garage at my house. It was simply amazing how cool and miraculous the guy was pulling out the old glass and installing the new glass. I was quite pleased. The only difference that I can tell between the old glass and new glass is that the logo is different, otherwise everything is the same.

So, the guy was really cool and we talked about how it could have broke and told me that he's done a bunch of Fit's and that springy bar on the tray usually is the culprit. What? Say that again? He says that the tray to springy bar to where the windshield is mounted on SHOULD NOT FLEX, but it does, and that might have caused the issue. I fessed up to him that I connected the third point on the bar to the tray and replaced the springy bar with the red one and then I put it all back? He basically told me to immediately put it back on as that was the best damn thing that could help the glass. Therefore, he and I were perplexed what could have caused the glass to crack, other than he recommended to HOOK UP THE THIRD POINT with the FSB RED BAR to REPLACE the SPRINGY BAR>

Long story short, everything is buttoned back up, going to take a ride tomorrow and tint all my windows 35%.

 

Sorry for jumping in late. Is the GB over, I bet?

 

You should still be able to buy product here:

TigerTuning.com

 

I got my 5 pieces delivered 2 days ago and got them installed today except for the front strut brace.

Comments on my experience:

-parts and/or black wrapping material smelled strongly of chemicals. After waiting this f-ing long, you'd think that smell would have dissipated.

-quality of the included fasteners (so far, everything needing a fastener had one which was nice) is definitely not equal to OEM stuff. I thought about hitting the hardware store for stainless & some nylocs but got antsy and just installed what they provided.

-no instructions was a bit of a pain but thanks to other posts on FitFreak, I figured it out. The ladder brace needed the most guidance as the fitment wasn't so obvious to me.

-I had to grind 1 hole in the brace that attaches to the front lower control arms. I ended up cross-threading one of the longer of the 2 bolts as a result and will have to chase these threads with a tap when I get the proper tool.

-without instructions, it came as a bit of a surprise that both the ladder brace and rear sway bar each required 1 existing hole per side to be enlarged for the fasteners to work. It's quite possible that smaller hardware could have been made to work but I used a step drill bit and got on with it.

-my largest complaint is with the rear sway bar. First off, the brackets that hold the lateral torsion bar have tabs that are spaced too far apart so the torsion bar will rattle back and forth unless you tighten the bolts tight enough to squeeze the tabs together to close this gap. Next up, the bolts provided to mount the plates to the bottom of the spring mounts are regular hex headed bolts that interfere with the rubber lower spring seat. The mounting design also eliminates the smaller hole (that you must enlarge) that is designed to accept a locating "nipple" on the rubber spring seat and seems to leave no good alternative but to just jam the spring in there and hope for the best. A better solution would have been to use carriage bolts with smooth heads and to utilize the square hole (no idea what this is for but the sway bar also has a corresponding square hole that lines up) instead of the smaller nipple locating hole.

So, hows's it drive? I drove it first with the 3 chassis braces installed and noticed that the chassis "jiggles" less when you hit bumps. It seemed to smooth out the bumps more like a larger, heavier car. I honestly can't say that I noticed a huge improvement in cornering performance but I do think I perceived an improvement in overall quality of feel due to the increased rigidity.

After adding the rear sway bar, I think I've noticed a sharper turn-in response and better ability to take aggressive lines through corners, including adjustments mid-turn, that would have yielded more understeer before. Had my 17 month old daughter in the car and am running the stock tires & wheels so perhaps the difference is more noticeable when you've actually got some stick to work with and fewer precious lives at stake.

If I had my life to live over again, I probably would buy another other brand of braces & sway bars. It feels like the KMR bars are copies of other companies' bars minus some of the engineering that went into fit & refinement. For the price, they're decent but I think I'd be happier knowing the bits I've put on my car are of higher quality, fit better, require less modification to mount, etc.

One more thing: somehow when installing the Swift Springs a few months back, I avoided this problem but this time around w/the sway bar install, I found out that even though the ABS wires LOOK like they're willing to hold up your drooping rear torsion beam after removing the shocks, the wires inside ARE NOT up to this task. This is an attempt at humor--yes, I apparently messed up one or more rear ABS sensor wire in the process because I didn't use something to limit the droop. My bad.

Joel

 

Well my parts shipped out to me today but I was refunded for my front strut and told it was for quality issues. :/