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      08-06-2023, 06:21 PM   #419
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Im looking into doing this mod for my 2017 M2. If I grab the strut brace from a F80/82, does it matter what year I get it from or it’s the exact same brace from any F8x 2015+ M3/M4?
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      08-07-2023, 12:03 AM   #420
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Has anyone tried fitting the turner intake with the carbon strut brace mod on the OG M2 ? Want to buy one but want to make sure it will work. TIA
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      08-08-2023, 08:25 AM   #421
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iam2slow View Post
Im looking into doing this mod for my 2017 M2. If I grab the strut brace from a F80/82, does it matter what year I get it from or it’s the exact same brace from any F8x 2015+ M3/M4?
Pretty sure the only difference with early F80/82’s is the strut top mounts were 3 bolt, not exactly sure when they went to the 5 bolt (all F87 are 5 bolt). Any case the aluminium & carbon braces are identical on all F8X so only the top mounts & re-enforcement rings would be of no use if 3 bolt.
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      08-08-2023, 12:32 PM   #422
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David.m View Post
Pretty sure the only difference with early F80/82’s is the strut top mounts were 3 bolt, not exactly sure when they went to the 5 bolt (all F87 are 5 bolt). Any case the aluminium & carbon braces are identical on all F8X so only the top mounts & re-enforcement rings would be of no use if 3 bolt.
Thank you for confirming that info!
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      09-08-2023, 03:29 PM   #423
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2018 BMW M2  [6.67]
Thank you to everyone involved in this thread! Got mine done! Just waiting on M2C plastics now but it looks and feels awesome
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      09-28-2023, 10:05 PM   #424
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Fellas are we still of the opinion the ally is doing most of the hard graft and the CF, with it's long lever arms, flat profile and scant mounting points is a bit 'decorative'?

I ask because despite me loving the way it looks I really want to fit an intake, as in do it myself and the only one I like is the infinity designs one, which lead engineer/owner confirmed will not fit with the CF OE brace.

Think Bee Pee said most of it is done with the aluminium as he did before and afters.

I could always put the turner CF ones in I suppose? Which originally I was cussing...

I'd consider the AFE tubular brace but apparently collides or rubs with engine cover !? And where that one attached means one use bolts being removed to service the engine.

Also maybe too much of a good thing with AFE and OE aluminium?

Thanks

Last edited by 3t3p; 09-28-2023 at 10:27 PM..
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      10-02-2023, 12:21 PM   #425
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Welp the party is over on the carbon brace. Pricing back up to $2000
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      10-02-2023, 02:07 PM   #426
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3t3p View Post
Fellas are we still of the opinion the ally is doing most of the hard graft and the CF, with it's long lever arms, flat profile and scant mounting points is a bit 'decorative'?

I ask because despite me loving the way it looks I really want to fit an intake, as in do it myself and the only one I like is the infinity designs one, which lead engineer/owner confirmed will not fit with the CF OE brace.

Think Bee Pee said most of it is done with the aluminium as he did before and afters.

I could always put the turner CF ones in I suppose? Which originally I was cussing...

I'd consider the AFE tubular brace but apparently collides or rubs with engine cover !? And where that one attached means one use bolts being removed to service the engine.

Also maybe too much of a good thing with AFE and OE aluminium?

Thanks
Eh I mean I personally love the CF brace but not sure how much of a different it makes. There are other aftermarket intakes that fit with the CF brace: Turner and Eventuri for example
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      10-14-2023, 11:25 PM   #427
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3t3p View Post
Fellas are we still of the opinion the ally is doing most of the hard graft and the CF, with it's long lever arms, flat profile and scant mounting points is a bit 'decorative'?

Thanks
While the CF does look nice I don't think there is any evidence it's purpose was decorative (like for example CF mirror covers/diffuster/boot lip). Bear in mind that the F80/82/83 also had a CF tailshaft to begin with, no doubt it was cost cutting when they reverted to steel mid-life and a change they got away with because no one could see it!

The CF brace is a sturdy piece and very light, a steel piece of equivalent strength would be much heavier. In a performance car you can never have a too rigid/stiff chassis (so Gordon Murray says) and the ///M engineers chose this bracing (not inexpensive). I wouldn't be removing it to get more intake noise.
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      10-15-2023, 07:12 PM   #428
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David.m View Post
While the CF does look nice I don't think there is any evidence it's purpose was decorative (like for example CF mirror covers/diffuster/boot lip). Bear in mind that the F80/82/83 also had a CF tailshaft to begin with, no doubt it was cost cutting when they reverted to steel mid-life and a change they got away with because no one could see it!

The CF brace is a sturdy piece and very light, a steel piece of equivalent strength would be much heavier. In a performance car you can never have a too rigid/stiff chassis (so Gordon Murray says) and the ///M engineers chose this bracing (not inexpensive). I wouldn't be removing it to get more intake noise.
I wouldn't remove the brace, but the F80/F82 test cars all used steel or aluminum braces. I do think there's no benefit to it being CF vs metal, especially considering what it's bolted to and also how it's glued to its own metal attachment points. I'm sure all it does is save a negligible amount of weight and look pretty.
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      10-23-2023, 11:33 AM   #429
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Just wanted to say thanks to everyone on this thread for contributing and sharing tips that helped make the install easier. The main ‘issues’ that I ran into were the rivnut install and the plastic cover that goes in front of the firewall (51758061866). I have a 2017 M2 so there were no cutouts over the fender holes where the rivuts go so I cut it out myself and used the bolt and washer method to install the rivnut. For the plastic partition area that goes over the firewall, I ended up cutting the raised part out and epoxied it back which made it about 10mm lower to help make the brace flush to the firewall mounting points. So I did not buy any new plastics and cut and trimmed what I had on the car already. This took me 2 days to finish and I spent about 5 hours each day to work on it. TBH this was a pita install for me but I had plenty of time due to covid. Goodluck!
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      10-23-2023, 05:54 PM   #430
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The more this thread circulates the more a strut brace and corner braces make sense to me.
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      10-23-2023, 08:35 PM   #431
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ZM2 View Post
The more this thread circulates the more a strut brace and corner braces make sense to me.
Carbon braces can be found on eBay in decent condition now that BMW is no longer deeply discounting them.
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      10-23-2023, 09:01 PM   #432
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThreeStripes View Post
Carbon braces can be found on eBay in decent condition now that BMW is no longer deeply discounting them.
It’s more about the pain and effort. A strut brace and corner braces bolt up much quicker.
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      10-24-2023, 06:35 AM   #433
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3t3p View Post
Fellas are we still of the opinion the ally is doing most of the hard graft and the CF, with it's long lever arms, flat profile and scant mounting points is a bit 'decorative'?

I ask because despite me loving the way it looks I really want to fit an intake, as in do it myself and the only one I like is the infinity designs one, which lead engineer/owner confirmed will not fit with the CF OE brace.

Think Bee Pee said most of it is done with the aluminium as he did before and afters.

I could always put the turner CF ones in I suppose? Which originally I was cussing...

I'd consider the AFE tubular brace but apparently collides or rubs with engine cover !? And where that one attached means one use bolts being removed to service the engine.

Also maybe too much of a good thing with AFE and OE aluminium?

Thanks
Yup it was me that ran just the ally brace part for about 6 months. The difference I felt to the car's feel/response was more marked when adding the ally brace than it was when I then subsequently added the CFRP U brace to finish it off.

To be honest, the CFRP U brace was a 2nd hand purchase at a very decent price. Had I not found one I'd be still driving my car with just oem ally brace only and it would be night and day better than the stock steel 2 leg brace.

An aftermarket brace, that the fits btwn the strut tops, will be an improvement over stock for sure but none that I've seen are solid single piece that pickup on as main attachment points as oem ally brace, hence infer by design. Just my view and my choice obvs so no flaming required.
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      11-04-2023, 04:31 PM   #434
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Thanks for the input on the CF brace all.

I'll see if the infinity intake gets discounted much toward holiday season and before this run without the CF.
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      01-29-2024, 02:48 AM   #435
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Okkk so my CF brace is off and I've done some commuting and a spirited drive the other day on a back road.

Here's what I feel, the car is slightly less settled than before.on undulations and dips in the road. It very slightly takes longer to recover or is affected by these imperfections more.
Bumps I normally go over smoothly feel a bit more abrupt. So it feels like the front shocks are not being loaded up as immediately as before and able.to.do their thing.
I remember on first driving the car post retrofit it was chassis and suspension working together far more harmoniously that I noticed before any steering benefit although that is there too.

Steering feels lighter but I wonder if during my service that the THOR GTS EPS coding was somehow lost. I have randomly lost THOR coding before when I didn't expect to, usually after flashing MHD OTS maps.

I noticed a bit of front-back mid corner upset on ONE corner but may well have been my driving or the aftermarket suspension I have or alignment (was done not too long ago to spec).

Next step is to put it back in again and see if I'm hallucinating but I do feel the car is different without the CF part.

Time will tell.
I'm no racing driver!
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      01-29-2024, 10:12 PM   #436
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3t3p View Post
Okkk so my CF brace is off and I've done some commuting and a spirited drive the other day on a back road.......!
A while back I was thinking about how the CF brace adds rigidity, I'm no engineer but it seems logical that it's main purpose is to add rigidity to the aluminium brace, reducing/eliminating flex of the aluminium between the firewall and strut mounting points. Together with the fixing to the chassis rail the aluminium/cf bracing would seem to give each strut tower support independent of the other tower unlike the more common bar across the engine which relies on one tower to support the other. You'd assume the engineers knew what they were doing and went with the more effective option.
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      02-05-2024, 04:45 PM   #437
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It does do something ,I wrote a reply albeit in the turner corner CF brace thread.
It makes sense, it's literally spanning over the central hollow square of a hole that the engine sits in. No other brace methodologies do that. I think BMW knew what they were doing, the investment to make that CF part would have been significant, and given not sold as a flashy 'Mperf$$$' part makes it more like it does something at an engineering level no?!
Reverse cynicism logic we could call it :S

Last edited by 3t3p; 02-09-2024 at 05:09 PM..
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      02-09-2024, 03:17 AM   #438
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https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxSLpCwqP...MmSE9ZSD_KTA7n

Tom Wrigley a pro driver and tuner in UK opinion on the CF brace.

I still feel I can feel the brace, bumps in the road are more controlled by the front shocks.
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      02-13-2024, 12:10 AM   #439
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3t3p View Post
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxSLpCwqP...MmSE9ZSD_KTA7n

Tom Wrigley a pro driver and tuner in UK opinion on the CF brace.

I still feel I can feel the brace, bumps in the road are more controlled by the front shocks.
His opinion would be influenced by the fact the brace can't be re-installed with the mods he has developed & is selling. Unconscious bias has a very real influence on our perceptions/opinions, I wonder if he's ever done A/B track testing for example (laps with followed by laps without the brace), even then knowing the change made will influence his opinion.

We're all affected by the same biases, would be reasonable to believe the most reliable opinions would have been the BMW test/development drivers. It's just not believable that BMW made a commercial decision to put this expensive bit of CF under the bonnet just for looks.

Don't know what to make of the comment that some who track at the Ring get more stability with the CF brace removed, they might have other issues with their setup. If you listen to Gordon Murray (best in the business) you can't have too stiff a chassis/suspension mount points.
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