Review - New UUC Strutbar available for E46 - Strutbarbarian

We just got these into stock here at BavAuto. Nice pieces, they seem to fit very well. I put it on my own car last evening, everything went into place pretty well. The finish is nice, painted silver. The feet are steel and the center bar is aluminum. It comes with all hardware needed. My only suggestion and the only thing I will probably change is getting bigger washers for the center portion as the supplied washers look like they got sucked down into the slots on the bar slightly. Not a big deal, I just don't like how it looks currently. No hood clearance issues that I noticed either, I've heard people mention some bars touch the hood. I did not have that problem.

It does feel a little bit different and tighter up front. I don't feel this is as big of a change as Sway Bars would be but you do notice a difference, no question.

We sell the bar for $224.95, and currently have about 10 in stock with 15 more coming in the next week or so.

Here's a few iPhone pics I took in our parking lot this morning just to get you guys a visual.

Looks nice! Wonder why they parted ways with the magnesium version.

Why do basically all E46's have those yellow glue-like lines down the inside edge of the drug bin?

Originally Posted by trizzuth

Looks nice! Wonder why they parted ways with the magnesium version.

Why do basically all E46's have those yellow glue-like lines down the inside edge of the drug bin?

I disagree, I really think the best-looking strut bar produced was the BMW Performance one. I don't understand why no one else seems to have made a strut bar as attractive as that. I know they're supposed to be functional, but a big part of them is aesthetics since it's in the engine bay.

Nice but those plates on top of the towers look THICK. are my eyes deceiving me? I know my Meyles won't clear it (short bolts) especially with the reinforcement plates.
When you push down on the bar in the middle, does it deflect pretty substantially??

Originally Posted by E46Mango

Nice but those plates on top of the towers look THICK. are my eyes deceiving me? I know my Meyles won't clear it (short bolts) especially with the reinforcement plates.
When you push down on the bar in the middle, does it deflect pretty substantially??

Actually, when you tighten the bars to the feet it stiffens up noticeably. The bar is pretty flexible off the car but as soon as it's bolted down it doesn't move at all.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

Nice but those plates on top of the towers look THICK. are my eyes deceiving me? I know my Meyles won't clear it (short bolts) especially with the reinforcement plates.
When you push down on the bar in the middle, does it deflect pretty substantially??

I brought up another bar from inventory to measure.

The bar itself is slightly thinner than .5". The feet are slightly thicker than .25".

+1 on getting larger washers. They really need to resize that nut/washer combo.

I like how you give it an honest review, instead of a usual Sponsor just praising something about how spectacular it is.
Well $224 is a better price point than before. Good luck with sales and props for the review. (you'll find if a review here is too blantantly bias, people will call them out).

I have to say that that strut tower bad looks pretty bad compared to others I have seen and I will list some reasons.

1. is has two > 90 degree compound bends and I would bet my car that it's Asian made and cold bent. This means is has an enormous amount of residual stress in and its now getting stressed by the car. The question you have to ask yourself is that.... Is this acting like a spring? Can it counteract the lateral forces without excessive strain in those bends? If it wasn't bent the way it is and maybe TIG welded aluminum then perhaps it might serve a better function.

2. Has this thing been time tested? My guess it's not. I wonder how long it would take to weaken during a track day or some spirited mountain driving. My guess this will be destined to fail over time. If someone were to find out the material its made out of and the dimensions I can run it though PTmodeler and let you guys know but I would need some dimensions of the bar and the cross sectional area(s).

Here's one I have seen at some local race tracks on M3's and 3 Series cars where the owners swear by it. Notice how its built.....
http://www.strong-strut.com/E46.html

i thought it is ideal to have a strut bar that is 1 piece? my thinking is that if you have a 3 piece bar there will always b issues where the pieces meet not to mention lack of rigidity in thoes areas... the best one i remember seeing is the one from mason engineering... found here

http://www.masonengineering.net/imag...acingFront.jpg

although i have no experince with it, this looks like the best option to me

Originally Posted by Zell

I disagree, I really think the best-looking strut bar produced was the BMW Performance one. I don't understand why no one else seems to have made a strut bar as attractive as that. I know they're supposed to be functional, but a big part of them is aesthetics since it's in the engine bay.

I said "nice" not BMW-Performance-carbon-fiber-work-of-fawking-art-spectacular. dUR zell

Looks kind of cheesy IMO. Doesn't really look like it belongs on a E46. It's priced ok.

Originally Posted by BDUB328I

i thought it is ideal to have a strut bar that is 1 piece? my thinking is that if you have a 3 piece bar there will always b issues where the pieces meet not to mention lack of rigidity in thoes areas... the best one i remember seeing is the one from mason engineering... found here

http://www.masonengineering.net/imag...acingFront.jpg

although i have no experince with it, this looks like the best option to me

I think a three-piece bar as fine as long as it's not hinged. The OE M3 bar is a similar style, and it works fine. Just torque the nuts down properly.

What I like about 3-piece bars is that they make working on the car a bit easier, since you never have to unmount the shocks.

Originally Posted by E46Mango

Nice but those plates on top of the towers look THICK. are my eyes deceiving me? I know my Meyles won't clear it (short bolts) especially with the reinforcement plates.
When you push down on the bar in the middle, does it deflect pretty substantially??

I have to agree. I don't think the studs on my upper strut mounts are long enough to clear that top plate, and still get enough thread engagement to tighten the plate down. What type of upper strut mount do you have on the car in the pics? Edit: Never mind! I see it is counter sunk around the mounting bolts.
Also, what about the thermal expansion of the aluminum? I would wonder if that bar doesn't bow up when the engine bay gets hot. Even steel would expand less. Carbon fiber would be best. Any thoughts on that?

Originally Posted by MJLavelle

I have to agree. I don't think the studs on my upper strut mounts are long enough to clear that top plate, and still get enough thread engagement to tighten the plate down. What type of upper strut mount do you have on the car in the pics?
Also, what about the thermal expansion of the aluminum? I would wonder if that bar doesn't bow up when the engine bay gets hot. Even steel would expand less. Carbon fiber would be best. Any thoughts on that?

Thermal expansion will be minimal. Assuming the bar is about 1 meter long, then it will expand approximately 0.9mm when going from 0ºC to 40ºC. A 1 meter steel bar would expand approximately 0.6mm over the same interval. As you can imagine, such little expansion won't really effect anything.

Heck, if thermal expansion was an issue, then E46 non-Ms would probably be failing left and right. The blocks are aluminum with iron liners. Obviously both aluminum and iron expand at different rates -- but the changes are so minuscule (even at engine temperatures) that it's just not worth worrying about.

I'm still waiting for UUC to ship my shift knob I ordered 2 years ago.

lol

Originally Posted by MarcusLSB

I'm still waiting for UUC to ship my shift knob I ordered 2 years ago.

I just received my strut bar from ESC Tuning and she is pretty. They make a carbon fiber one.

I personally dont like the look of this one....looks to track carish for me.

Originally Posted by MarcusLSB

I'm still waiting for UUC to ship my shift knob I ordered 2 years ago.

call Rob, he's more than accommodating

Originally Posted by MarcusLSB

I'm still waiting for UUC to ship my shift knob I ordered 2 years ago.

Haha this is why I will never order from them again. I waited 6 months for wheels before cancelling the order!

Originally Posted by AndyN

Haha this is why I will never order from them again. I waited 6 months for wheels before cancelling the order!

At this point I'm just seeing how long it will take out of sheer curiosity.. 3 years? 4 years?