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Originally Posted by esprit89
As TimMullen mentioned earlier this may look like a double shear joint but is not. Double shear implies equal stiffness and equal load distribution between the restraining members. If the brace is not tied into the chassis directly, all it is doing is pushing on the opposite suspension bolt which means the joints are still in single shear, you are just averaging out the load somewhat. Also, for the same diameter tube, a brace which is attached to the chassis at it's midpoint can be 4x stronger in compression than a simple side-to-side brace. The critical buckling load (Euler) is inversely proportional to length squared. With the bar Randy's installed, the percentage load carried by the chassis member verses the bar will be dependent on the relative stiffnesses between them. Attachment bolt stiffnesses, hole tolerances, relative cross sectional areas among other things influence the load distribution. Is a simple side-to-side brace good enough? Maybe. Only with the suspension loads and fatigue loading spectrum could you answer that. All things being equal would a double shear brace be better - the answer is yes. Michael
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You are right...but note that Lotus did all the pondering and knows a few things. The simple, light, affordable brace is strong enough to do the deed.
I like their solution because it is simple, elegant and light. The old brace setup retailed for something like $1,100 plus install. With some shops charging about 200 bucks to install a Braille battery into an Elise I could imagine some charging 1800-2000+ to load in the old style brace soup to nuts.
I don't know the MSRP on the new brace but hope that it's about 1/2 the old price or less. And the install is very straightforward.
Nick Adams was personally involved in the new brace design. It's good to go.