Quote:
Originally Posted by kmarei
i wonder if you can make the same dsign without the brackets and screws etc
just one solid piece
now THAT would work
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That is actually the main issue here. People want performance, but do not want to compromise usability. Then vendors claim they have products which deliver the best of both worlds without compromises. (I am not sure what CEC claims regarding this issue. That is not clear based on what has been posted here so far. They clearly claim "a" performance benefit, but I am not sure if they claim their design is as rigid as a solid bar or not.)
If you have a few free hours in your hands, and have access to a basic shop, you can build a solid bar by spending ~$50 as Swamp says, but nailing down the necessary dimensions and tolerances would take time. Then there is the issue of how necessary that is to begin with since this part of the chassis is fairly well reinforced (as compared to the front suspenion mounts for instance). I am sure there is still some minor relative motion, but the question is would your average enthusiast actually benefit from establishing a more rigid connection between the rear struts or not. My guess is no.
From the more detailed pics, it is clear that the pivot appears to be somewhat constrained for rotation in one direction, and much less so in the other rotational direction. The contact between the middle bar and the sleeve to each side of the screw will impede rotation somewhat. However, there are two core issues with that design which Swamp already identified: you need a zero tolerance on the bolt for there to be absolutely no play from the very beginning before any loading (which is not possible, and one of the pictures clearly show how much slop there is); if there was indeed significant vertical relative motion in the suspension mounts, then the bar would experience significant loading and the bolt might yield the Al bar or the sleeve at the contact surfaces (that one cannot know for sure without doing some analysis).
The pricing does seem to be high indeed. Dinan sells very similar parts (materials, processes, etc) for M cars for ~$350, so clearly the margin on this particular product is very high. Then it is up to the consumer to decide if they want to pay for that margin or not. I personally wouldn't, and if I felt like I would benefit from a more rigid connection between the rear towers, I would build a solid piece myself.