Prius Gen 3 +”v"2010-15 Bulletproof Front & "box Beam" Under Brace Set "mike500" on 2040-parts.com

ORIGINALLY sold by Mike500 on the PriusChat boards, before I was banned from selling on PriusChat due to complaints from other vendors. My offerings ARE more innovative and cost less.

This COMPLETE front and mid-chassis brace provide greater stability and better feedback to the driver's road feel. The "squishy" feeling is reduced or virtually eliminated.

CUSTOM white oven baked epoxy finished “BULLET PROOF” billet aluminum FRONT and STIFFEST “box beam” Brace available for the Gen III Prius including all Prius”v” and “plug in” models

THE FRONT BRACE

AFTER installing the Tanabe TUB153F on my Prius”v,” I liked the better handling, but I was disappointed in its design and construction.

Over the past two years, I developed ideas for a bar that serves the same purpose of the Tanabe that is a lot stronger, has no reduced strength welded parts and bolts on the same way.

Welding reduces the tempering and hardening process imparted to T651 treatment to the T0 or annealed condition or the strength by over 75 %.

First, my cross bar would be solid, instead of hollow. That adds only about two(2) ounces to the bar. While a hollow bar would be lighter, it is NEVER as strong as a solid bar. The Tanabe weighs in at 11 ounces. Mine weighs in at 12.3 ounces.

I used the "eye bar" concept. It will be of tempered 6061-T651 billet aircraft aluminum. It WILL NOT be welded. Not welding it means that the totally tempering of the aluminum will not be weakened by heat and will be a lot stronger.

Specially machined 6061-T651 billet aluminum spacers are used to offset the "strengthening" ridges on the triangular OEM braces. The clearance needs to be only 7/8 inch below the bottom frame rails, NOT the 1-1/8 on the Tanabe. That will save 1/4 inch of "hang down." At least an additional 3/8 inch of "hang down" will be saved, because the "cup shaped" end reinforcing tubes would not be needed. THE TOTAL HANGDOWN OF MY BAR IS AT LEAST ¾ INCH LESS THAN THE TANABE. That ¾ inch of additional ground clearance makes a big difference in a car that has 4-1/2 inches of ground clearance. Mine is NOT visible below the engine pan covers or any part of the suspension. The Tanabe bar is visible from the front under the engine cover.

The spacers would have at least 3/8 inch walls, not the thin 1/16 inch tubes on the Tanabe. The main cross "eye bar" will be 1/4 inch thick and either 1-1/4 inch wide.

Basically, this solid billet tempered aluminum high strength set is at least fifty(50) times stronger and more durable than the Tanabe TUB153F.

If one was building a structure for an aircraft or even a spacecraft, where there are numerous multiples of these "bars," a cumulative multiple addition of weight or mass would be very detrimental to the performance of the vehicle.

In the case of only one bar, an additional sacrifice of two ounces of additional weight will have little effect to the decrease in performance to the vehicle.

The Tanabe bar is attached to thin 1/16 inch thick aluminum cups.

My bar is attached with 10.9 grade (instead of the OEM lesser strength 8.8) bolts through the eye bar and the spacers. The bolts go through over an inch of thick billet aluminum with over 30,000 pounds of clamping pressure. One of my users replaced his Tanabe which had snapped off from road debris with my design and has not had any problems since. If bottomed on road debris, the steel member of the car body would bend a little and allow the bar to ride over the debris rather than break. Road debris would more likely hang up on lower hanging underbody components rather than this bar.

THE TANABE BAR IS MADE WITH A “VERY LOOSE” FIT FOR EASE OF INSTALLATION. A loose fit, while making installation a bit easier, NEGATES the purpose of having a bar for a “tighter” more taut suspension. My bar is designed with a VERY TIGHT close fit, while the Tanabe has nearly an eight an inch of clearance around the mounting bolts. JUST LOOK at the side-by-side comparison of the mountings.

THE MID-CHASSIS “box beam” BRACE.

　 The brace is machined from a 6061 T6 age solution hardened aircraft grade aluminum “box beam” extrusion. The extruding process eliminates the stress from bending sheet or plate aluminum and makes the piece much more resistant to metal fatigue. This means that the brace will likely outlast the car The brace's design represents my 45 years experience in the aircraft metal fabrication industry. The brace has been phosphoric acid etched and finished with an “oven baked” flow white coating similar to powder coating.

　 This lightweight but stiff and strong braces weighs less than eight(8) ounces more than the thin “hourglass” OEM brace shown in the photo below my custom brace. This brace is the stiffer possible to bending on end to end than the “hourglass” brace and five (5) times stiffer than the newer “round bar” “tubular” brace (shown in one of the photos) that Toyota started installing on all Gen III Prii in mid 29012. Yet, it weigh a FULL POUND less than the tubular brace

Unlike chassis braces developed by others which are basically thickened plates with no accommodation to allow the brace to twist, Toyota recognized the need of the brace to twist to prevent damage to the thin metal of the rails at the weld nuts used to mount the center brace. MY BRACE is designed at the OPTIMUM thickness to STIFFEN RESISTANCE to BENDING and ultimate location of the space between the body rails, while at the same time being THIN ENOUGH to allow less resistance to twisting.

The purely DECORATIVE machined cavities and counterbored mounting holes others have added to their designs to justify ADDED cost, does NOTHING to improve the performance of the design and actually HURTS the bending modulus of the brace when the car is in motion.

The mounted “box beam” brace still “hangs down” NO MORE than the NEWER OEM “tubular” brace.

The DECORATIVE “cavities” machined into the brace actually WEAKENS the structure of the metal. The smooth uniform piece bends EVENLY along its entire length like an archer’s bow, while a piece with CAVITIES will exhibit more bending stress at the places weakened by the DECORATIVE cavities.

Installation should take less than 30 minutes to about an hour. The front wheels should be supported evenly on ramps. The mounting holes are made purposely as small as possible to provide the closest mounting. Toyota and other aftermarket custom makers like Cusco and Tanable uses comparatively large clearance holes for easy mounting. That, however, makes for a less secure and weaker fit. A little filing may be necessary for some individual vehicles due to manufacturing variances.

There is an additional 3/8 inch "hang down" with these braces. It is NOT recommended for lowered vehicles. Damage to the braces or the buyer's vehicle from read debris is NOT the responsibility of the seller.

This sale is for ONE set consisting of the white Oven Baked Epoxy finished Prius Gen III (including Prius”v”) front and “box beam” mid-chassis braces. The last photo is if an earlier set made in white for better contrast to show how the brace set is mounted. Nothing else shown in the photos the car, additional installed items or the Tanabe brace included. . The item is guaranteed to be exactly as described.