Aries Pope
Ready to race!
Historical Context: I got a Unibrace UB in the last group buy, and finally got it installed and tested out. I had waited since I was getting a downpipe, and it turned out that the Ultimate Racing Downpipe with Metal Cat and Resonator I got did NOT allow the Unibrace UB to fit without modification. This combo required the "Deep Nut and Spacer" kit also available from Unibrace for about $40. You can see the install notes and some photos on this thread. This kit was created by Bruce over at Unibrace to handle issues some folks were having with large resonator DP's. I was happy that Bruce over at Unibrace was paying attention to folks having this issue and came up with an integrated solution so folks didn't have to fiddle (ala plac crushing in his resonator to fit it) or just being unable to run the UB at all. That said, I still was less than thrilled with needing the spacers and deep nuts since I worry that the longer nuts could mean potentially more shearing force. (Perhaps Bruce or a Mech E wants to comment?) Also, the nuts were already pressing a little tight against the brace without the spacers due to tiny fitment issues, and this didn't help.
Daily Driving I immediately noticed a difference in my daily drive. First, my car doors and chassis used to always squeak and flex when I rolled over the dip/bump at the head of my driveway. This is the kind of thing I knew would only get worse over time. After getting the UB on, it stiffened right up --- now I get a solid "thunk-thunk pause thunk-thunk" as I come in over the dip diagonally rather than the old "squeak-scrape pause squeak-scrape". You can feel the car chassis actually rotate a little and force the bump onto the suspension as opposed to flexing the chassis to suck it up.
Also in my daily drive I am getting a little bit more "road feel". I anticipate that some may like this and others less so. At first the car felt a little "nervous" since I was feeling high frequency vibrations from the road that previously were damped out into the chassis flex (presumably). Later though, I didn't mind so much since it was giving me more information about the state of the road under my tires. I still wish these cars had electronically controlled damping since the section of highway on my commute really could use some "infrastructure upgrade" but on a clean road it feels great.
Twisty Goodness I managed to get out to some twisty little roads in the hills (Skyline Blvd and Rt 9 for you Bay folks) this weekend and had a blast. For those who haven't had the privilege, these roads around Big Basin are great to drive in the colder months when there are vastly less bicycles and hiking/camping traffic. Some sections of Rt 9 have a 45 mph speed limit and some turns drop to 15 or 20 mph. 45 is actually pretty generous since you'd be hard pressed to do much more than that on most of it (other similar roads are 30) and still have tons of safe fun within the speed limits. However, the big potential problem with this road is that it's a double yellow stripe and if you get behind someone in a Prius doing 25 mph who refuses to use turnouts regardless of having HID highbeams in his mirrors, you will undoubtedly begin to invent new curse words (luckily he stayed home on this particular evening). Luckily the Hummer H3 and Ford 150 I came up behind were gentlemen drivers and bowed into the turnouts to let me actually maintain the speed limit.
This kind of windy, twisty road is where the Unibrace UB started to shine. I noticed a bit less "slush" in fast left-right-left turn transitions and felt more confident in taking turns at slightly higher speeds than I usually would based on car feel. Again, a lot of that "squeak and scrape" chassis flexing sound was gone, and I could just feel more of the tires and road surface and less of the car flex, which is the main reason for confidence increase. Also I could still feel where the tires were starting to let me know they were working hard so I could stay well within the limits of the car's turning ability.
One note: once (again) I lost my nerve just as I started a certain tightening turn since I recalled a bad bump in the turn exit, so I tapped the brakes to bleed off a few MPH (a bad idea). When I did this last time (before I had the Unibrace), I was rewarded with some ABS and traction control rightfully telling me to "stop doing that, you idiot!". This time, though, the weight transferred a lot more quickly and the car held fine through the turn without a peep from the computers, right over the teeth rattling bad pavement after the turn.
Conclusion
All in all I am happy with the Unibrace UB. From what Bruce and others say, the Unibrace XB is a bigger bang for the buck in terms of stiffening and that they work well together. For me, the XB wasn't an option, but the UB is a welcome addition to my mods. In my daily ride it clears up the annoying squeaks over speedbumps and the like, and on a spirited weekend drive gives me a little better dynamics and road feel. The downside is a little more nervousness on the highway. If you want a little chassis stiffening and feel like a sway bar would be overkill for your needs, the Unibrace UB is certainly a good way to go!
Daily Driving I immediately noticed a difference in my daily drive. First, my car doors and chassis used to always squeak and flex when I rolled over the dip/bump at the head of my driveway. This is the kind of thing I knew would only get worse over time. After getting the UB on, it stiffened right up --- now I get a solid "thunk-thunk pause thunk-thunk" as I come in over the dip diagonally rather than the old "squeak-scrape pause squeak-scrape". You can feel the car chassis actually rotate a little and force the bump onto the suspension as opposed to flexing the chassis to suck it up.
Also in my daily drive I am getting a little bit more "road feel". I anticipate that some may like this and others less so. At first the car felt a little "nervous" since I was feeling high frequency vibrations from the road that previously were damped out into the chassis flex (presumably). Later though, I didn't mind so much since it was giving me more information about the state of the road under my tires. I still wish these cars had electronically controlled damping since the section of highway on my commute really could use some "infrastructure upgrade" but on a clean road it feels great.
Twisty Goodness I managed to get out to some twisty little roads in the hills (Skyline Blvd and Rt 9 for you Bay folks) this weekend and had a blast. For those who haven't had the privilege, these roads around Big Basin are great to drive in the colder months when there are vastly less bicycles and hiking/camping traffic. Some sections of Rt 9 have a 45 mph speed limit and some turns drop to 15 or 20 mph. 45 is actually pretty generous since you'd be hard pressed to do much more than that on most of it (other similar roads are 30) and still have tons of safe fun within the speed limits. However, the big potential problem with this road is that it's a double yellow stripe and if you get behind someone in a Prius doing 25 mph who refuses to use turnouts regardless of having HID highbeams in his mirrors, you will undoubtedly begin to invent new curse words (luckily he stayed home on this particular evening). Luckily the Hummer H3 and Ford 150 I came up behind were gentlemen drivers and bowed into the turnouts to let me actually maintain the speed limit.
This kind of windy, twisty road is where the Unibrace UB started to shine. I noticed a bit less "slush" in fast left-right-left turn transitions and felt more confident in taking turns at slightly higher speeds than I usually would based on car feel. Again, a lot of that "squeak and scrape" chassis flexing sound was gone, and I could just feel more of the tires and road surface and less of the car flex, which is the main reason for confidence increase. Also I could still feel where the tires were starting to let me know they were working hard so I could stay well within the limits of the car's turning ability.
One note: once (again) I lost my nerve just as I started a certain tightening turn since I recalled a bad bump in the turn exit, so I tapped the brakes to bleed off a few MPH (a bad idea). When I did this last time (before I had the Unibrace), I was rewarded with some ABS and traction control rightfully telling me to "stop doing that, you idiot!". This time, though, the weight transferred a lot more quickly and the car held fine through the turn without a peep from the computers, right over the teeth rattling bad pavement after the turn.
Conclusion
All in all I am happy with the Unibrace UB. From what Bruce and others say, the Unibrace XB is a bigger bang for the buck in terms of stiffening and that they work well together. For me, the XB wasn't an option, but the UB is a welcome addition to my mods. In my daily ride it clears up the annoying squeaks over speedbumps and the like, and on a spirited weekend drive gives me a little better dynamics and road feel. The downside is a little more nervousness on the highway. If you want a little chassis stiffening and feel like a sway bar would be overkill for your needs, the Unibrace UB is certainly a good way to go!
)...That was embarrassing to modders everywhere...
