Reinforcement kit for front sway bar mount, ND
Reinforcement kit for front sway bar mount, ND
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Description
ND Miatas can actually rip their sway bar mounts off the subframe under hard cornering with uprated sway bars. The fix is a new subframe. That's an expensive repair!
We worked with Paco Motorsports to bring this solution to market. They're a simple bolt-on upgrade with no drilling that will increase the strength of your sway bar mounts dramatically. Made of powdercoated steel and less than a pound of extra mass on the nose of the car, they're cheap insurance. Easy to install whether you're doing a sway bar swap or not. Works with all sway bars that have at least 10mm clearance radially from the center of the lower stud holding the sway bar bracket - it would be unusual to have a fitment issue, but it's possible if you have an especially unique setup.
So when do you need this kit? The conservative answer is "when you upgrade to stiffer sway bars." The longer answer is that if you have stiffer springs (like our FM springs), you'll probably be fine with the stock stuff. But why risk it?
Instructions
Shipping
What does it fit?
Emissions
Emissions do not apply.
Warranty
1 year
SKU
If you are like me and want to make sure your subframe doesn't rip out on your brand new miata then of course you are looking at these. This seems to be one of the very few if not only front subframe reinforment kit for the ND miata.
This was built in tandem with the FM stage 2 kit, or Billet sway bar brackets. That's why there is nothing but 5 star reviews on the "Stage 2 reinforcement kit for front sway bar mount" kit
I believe this is why many people including myself are experiencing issues with the tab/bolt/bracket deforming a lot more than we would like, because this was built for their proprietary billet mount which is "thicker" than the OEM metal bracket and extends to meet the arm halfway.
That being said I did not use the FM swaybar kit, but did purchase the Pacomotorsports reinforcement kit.
In theory you can use this with the stage 2 proprietary Billet sway bar brackets without the FM swaybar kit. The FM front sway bar is 1.125" diameter which is just 28.5mm such as various other competitors. You would just need their specific bushings for the FM front swaybar to utilize the stage 2 kit billet mounts fully.
TLDR: They work just fine and do provide structural reinforcement for your ND miata, but aren't designed with OEM mounting tolerances and that's why they bend. But it still does it's job.
I do think it should be cheaper and designed without the arm and bolt welded with a tab as without the Billet bracket- that's just extra weight and I don't really feel as though it actually does anything since it bends with just 10lbs of torque on the bolt.
We won't argue, the Stage 2 kit (billet sway bar brackets) is much nicer (and more expensive) than the bolt+tab arrangement. That said, the bolt+tab reinforces the very end of the stock sway bar mounting bracket, which is arguably the area most likely to fail. Please don't leave the tab off, as the likelihood of subframe failure is much higher.
Also, excellent point about the Stage 2 kit potentially working with other bars. Our bushings are a little tall (to allow room for the collars that keep the bar in place), so your safest bet is to pick up our bushings for your 1.125' OD bar.
Take your time and get all bolts and the sway bar loosely installed, then tighten sway bar first then other bolts after.
Didn't need extra washers as things bolted down flat in that order.
The horizontal bolts have almost no threads in the receiving part. Stripped out with probably 10 lbs of pressure...so they are kind of
pointless.
Not exactly sure about how this part physically reinforces things (cant wrap my head around how that tiny tab and bolt transfers force to the rest of the product), but hope it does.
We're sorry to hear that the horizontal screws stripped out, that's unusual. Maybe the brace was tightened fully to the subframe first, leaving the brace farther from the face that those bolts go through than it should've been? We'll reach out to try to sort it out.
As for how it works, imagine something pulling straight up on the sway bar, trying to rip it off of the the subframe. That's what's going on here, this brace is helping hold it down so nothing fails. The Stage 2 version of this kit is definitely more solid, but this still works great and is (mostly) universal, whereas the Stage 2 kit will only work with our sway bar.
Like a few other reviews, the tab bolts are angled a little weird so when they get torqued down they begin to deform. After removing and reinstalling to lube the sway-bar bushings again, the tab bolts deformed noticeably more. Probably a matter of time before they snap.
Not quite a perfect alignment. Felt there was way too much play after installation with the front bolt hole. Ended up adding some fender washers to act as spacers to eliminate flex.
The bracket seems nice, but the bolts with the tabs are weak, welded crooked, and don't line up with the bracket well. One tab bolt bent significantly at 20 ft-lbs: how I interpreted "snug". I am concerned about being able to reinstall the tabs next time I lube the bushings.