Xtreme Strut Brace - EMSPowered

[baktasht]

We finished up the final prototype for the new EMSPowered Xtreme Rear Strut Braces a few weeks ago. Did a quick test fit last week to snap a few pics for those interested in the progress. We've pushed production back by a few weeks in order to give ourselves time to finish with the restructuring of our organization in order to better serve the community. So they'll probably be in stock and available to ship around the 2nd week of August. Please note that these are pics of the prototype, the final shipped product will be cleaner looking and buffed to the same finish that our front bars are. Also note, the picture below with the brace on the car is not bolted on, it is just laid in place for a quick test fit.

This is by far the best rear strut brace available on the market. It weighs 1/2 the weight of the TRD brace. It gives more clearance for intercooler pipes than the TRD brace. It is all aluminum construction (TRD brace is steel and rusts if the paint chips off). It sits higher so it leaves more room for bulky piping, intake manifolds, and throttle bodies.

Let me know what you guys think. Here are a couple of quick pictures:

[fvillota]

once you buff it its gonna look really good!
and if its just as strong or stronger as the trd and half the weight it automatically makes it "worth the money"

[RePete]

Agreed ^. The extra clearance sounds very useful for aftermarket stuff too. And because it's aluminum, powdercoating (like the TRD bar) is unecessary.

Once you get your house in order, this could be a brisk seller for you. What's the projected retail price?

[mr2na]

Fantastic stuff baktasht! Hope your situation gets better for you. You've been a great asset to the mr2 community. Let me know when this item is available. I am so in! Thanks again!

Frank

[Oteck]

make it out of round tubing?

[lmoua_07]

looks kind square, style i guess..?

[canadam]

I'd assume that round tubing would require reinforcements at the joints like you see in the TRD bar or require precision cutting of the bar ends, plus maybe increase the cost of materials.

If it's truly lighter and more rigid than the TRD, looks like there's some bang for your buck here.

[baktasht]

Originally Posted by Oteck

make it out of round tubing?

Originally Posted by lmoua_07

looks kind square, style i guess..?

That was definitely taken into consideration as well. Since round tubing is a little more "pretty". That decision came down to cost. With round tubing we would have needed some very custom "stamped" end plates that would have upped the cost by another $75-100. That would have put the bar out of reach for the majority of the community. In the end we decided on slim rectangle tubing, this helped us to keep the profile of the bar very thin while still maintaining an extremely strong structure. I'll have some pictures of a buffed one mounted up in a week or so. These are still a month or so away, just teasers for now. For those that have bought from us in the past, you're probably familiar with our "pre-orders". We no longer do pre-orders due to delays and our customers not being too happy about the delays, understandably. We'll be posting these for sale when they are in stock and ready to ship.

[1stgen]

Just from a metal guys point of view...I mean something is better than nothing..but in order to "replace" a trd bar it would have to be a damn good bar. round tubing is more than just pretty...its stronger..Also you are using a lighter material. I dont know how much actual tension force is put on that rear strut bar but if you are going to use a squarish type of tubing i would make sure the wall thickness is quite hefty (read: heavy aluminum) or use actual square stock rather than the rectangualr stock as this weakens torsion strength even more. Unless your just going for bling factor. In that case just polish it up and it will be damn pretty.

[baktasht]

Originally Posted by 1stgen

Just from a metal guys point of view...I mean something is better than nothing..but in order to "replace" a trd bar it would have to be a damn good bar. round tubing is more than just pretty...its stronger..Also you are using a lighter material. I dont know how much actual tension force is put on that rear strut bar but if you are going to use a squarish type of tubing i would make sure the wall thickness is quite hefty (read: heavy aluminum) or use actual square stock rather than the rectangualr stock as this weakens torsion strength even more. Unless your just going for bling factor. In that case just polish it up and it will be damn pretty.

Just judging by the feel of the assembly and the firmness of the bar compared to the TRD, this one definitely seems stronger. We're using thick walled tubing and endplates that are twice the thickness of the TRD end plates. We're not trying to replace the TRD bar, we're simply making a product that is better in many ways.

[1stgen]

Originally Posted by baktasht

Just judging by the feel of the assembly and the firmness of the bar compared to the TRD, this one definitely seems stronger. We're using thick walled tubing and endplates that are twice the thickness of the TRD end plates. We're not trying to replace the TRD bar, we're simply making a product that is better in many ways.

Well when you say its "better in many ways" by "judging by the feel of the assembly." I am just asking what testing have you done to claim that this is "by far the best rear strut bar" I am sure it will work fine as a strut bar but as a high performance one you should change the design to use either square stock tubing or round tubing. Under mild track/canyon conditions I could just about guarntee you would see cracking/bending warping on those bars. I have seen what my MR2 has done to a cheap EBAY non XBAR type rectangular strut bar and there is alot of torsion from different directions that rectangular metal cannot stand up to. That is why most known companies make round or semi round bars. (Greddy,Tein,Tannabe, etc) The round bars do cost more to make ends for but they handle torsion strength alot better.
Not trying to be a troll or piss on your thread..just trying to enlighten you if you didnt know...i do this stuff for a living on a much bigger scale my avatar shows how big of a scale.

[baktasht]

You must be an engineer from the way you talk I assume? If anyone can crack, bend, or in any way damage these bars on an MR2 with even the most extreme driving and environmental conditions I'll give them a refund plus 3x the money back. Cheapo chinese ebay bars are cheap because they're made from cheap metal, with cheap welding, with just about no quality control. You should know that, and there's not even a reason to bring up cheaply made imitation products from Ebay in that case. There's simply no comparison. Is solid square bar stronger? Sure. Is round/oval tube stronger? Sure. Would it be nice if we had the funding and the volume in sales to take an MR2, put one of these on it do stress tests and crash tests? Sure. Is that reality? Nope. As I said before, the cost of using round/oval tube would be far too much and would put the bar in the $450 range, and the majority of people in the MR2 community would not pay that. The solid square tube is simply overkill for this sort of application. The thick walled aluminum rectangle tube was the best of all worlds in this case, it gave us the ability to keep the profile thin, keep the cost reasonable, and keep the weight down as well, all while having a fairly strong bar, which from my experience and my personal dealings with bar so far, I can say it is in my opinion stronger than the TRD bar. There's always better ways to make a product, there's also reality that we have to deal with too. If you'd like to try out one of the bars let me know and we can work something out to put your doubts to rest. I assure you that you will be thouroughly impressed, and if you're coming from a cheapo Chinese eBay piece, then you'll definitely be happy.

[1stgen]

Originally Posted by baktasht

You must be an engineer from the way you talk I assume? If anyone can crack, bend, or in any way damage these bars on an MR2 with even the most extreme driving and environmental conditions I'll give them a refund plus 3x the money back. Cheapo chinese ebay bars are cheap because they're made from cheap metal, with cheap welding, with just about no quality control. You should know that, and there's not even a reason to bring up cheaply made imitation products from Ebay in that case. There's simply no comparison. Is solid square bar stronger? Sure. Is round/oval tube stronger? Sure. Would it be nice if we had the funding and the volume in sales to take an MR2, put one of these on it do stress tests and crash tests? Sure. Is that reality? Nope. As I said before, the cost of using round/oval tube would be far too much and would put the bar in the $450 range, and the majority of people in the MR2 community would not pay that. The solid square tube is simply overkill for this sort of application. The thick walled aluminum rectangle tube was the best of all worlds in this case, it gave us the ability to keep the profile thin, keep the cost reasonable, and keep the weight down as well, all while having a fairly strong bar, which from my experience and my personal dealings with bar so far, I can say it is in my opinion stronger than the TRD bar. There's always better ways to make a product, there's also reality that we have to deal with too. If you'd like to try out one of the bars let me know and we can work something out to put your doubts to rest. I assure you that you will be thouroughly impressed, and if you're coming from a cheapo Chinese eBay piece, then you'll definitely be happy.

I am happy with my Turd bar you dont need the solid square stock just the same thickness in a square rather than rectangle would make a world of difference. The cheap ebay bar I had was bad out of plain old 6061 aluminum .125 wall rectangular stock wasnt cheap stuff it was just poorly thought out. None of the welds broke it just twisted and this was after one afternoon of lightly spirited canyon driving. (barely over 40 around twistys). but if you will stand on your 3x the money back guarentee that it wont bend or break or damage hehehe.. you must have a strong calculator in your pocket because those or calcualtions I wouldnt gamble on.... physics

[baktasht]

If you have the knowledge, make something better, otherwise, stop playing "I'm smarter than you, therefore you will fail". I know these won't break or bend, and I am very confident that they are stronger than the TRD bars.

Not much else to say here. I really don't have the time right now to go back and forth about things like this which are the equivelant of bench racing and useless. No hard feelings or anything.

[1stgen]

Your front bars look awsome and on the 15th if you still have some I will plan on buying one..they are defintaly comparable to the TRD ones.!! TOP NOTCH!!

[baktasht]

Originally Posted by 1stgen

Your front bars look awsome and on the 15th if you still have some I will plan on buying one..they are defintaly comparable to the TRD ones.!! TOP NOTCH!!

If you're up for beating up on one of our rear braces to put it through your own "test" that has managed to damage your other bars let me know and we'll arrange something. I'll stick to my end of the deal, if anyone manages to break/bend/damage them while using them on an MR2, I'm confident enough in our design that I'll put up 3x the price of the brace.

The front TRD bars are actually much inferior compared to the EMSPowered front brace. They don't even come close.

TRD:





EMSPowered:

[328FTW]

It would be cooler looking round on the mkII, the mkI would suit a boxy one but it still looks cool, polished up or anodized it would be awesome. I can't see that breaking under normal circumstances, I bet I could defiantly still break it though

I like the front brace I want to make one like that for my mkII using the heap of steel I have around. I just haven't got round to it yet.

[328FTW]

Double post

[Basement Digital]

Something I learned early in life - don't argue with an engineer; whether they're right or not.

[Nuclear Kitten]

Greetings

So, first of all I was one of those "not too happy about pre order delays" customers awhile ago. I purchased the front bar from EMS. I would like to thank them for considering the customer feedback and making some real changes to improve his business. It makes me more confident about ordering from him in the future. Thanks baktasht.

2nd. Like I said I bought the front bar to replace a Japanese made Tanabe bar. I have been thrilled so far with what I got. The difference going from no bar to the Tanabe was very noticeable, and again going from the Tanabe to the EMS bar was at least as noticeable once again. The font bar was built really tough and of great quality. So if the rear is of the same quality, which I have no doubt that it is, then I will seriously consider getting a rear bar to replace my Tanabe.

Cheers