I removed the old RACP plates on my car, here's what I found

[bigjae46]

I think an installation with epoxy takes a lot more care and work. You have to get a uniform film of epoxy and then seal it from moisture or you will get corrosion as you saw from the one plate. I epoxied my plates and looking back I didn't seal around the bolt hole.

Welding is going to be more forgiving and will probably yield better results in most cases. Epoxy has the potential to perform a lot better but requires more skill and work.

[Albino09]

For clarity, I think welding large plates is a fine solution, especially if they include plug holes. I just believe that epoxy is better in every way. Also I’m just a guy on the internet.

Now if you were to epoxy a plate set that is meant to be welded, you would be missing out on this extra reinforcement, and therefore I consider epoxying plates that were meant to be welded a bad practice.

For what it's worth, both Redish V3 and the CMP plates are both designed to be welded. If one is to go the epoxy route, I would recommend using a plate design that is designed for that method.

[0-60motorsports]

For what it's worth, both Redish V3 and the CMP plates are both designed to be welded. If one is to go the epoxy route, I would recommend using a plate design that is designed for that method.

That'll be Vince then and those are the ones I would get.

[bimmerfan08]

What's the consensus of TMS reinforcement plates? I used TMS plates in Dec 2013 as not many plate options were available then.

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-9...forcement-kit/

I had a Vince Bar welded in the car in Aug 2019 for additional reinforcement.

[bmwfnatic]

What's the consensus of TMS reinforcement plates? I used TMS plates in Dec 2013 as not many plate options were available then.

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-9...forcement-kit/

I had a Vince Bar welded in the car in Aug 2019 for additional reinforcement.

Since you already have topside (I assume front and rear), just leave them be, the topside holds everything together now.

In 2013 this was the way to go due to lack of alternatives, but there’s no reason to fit this in 2024.

[Nate047]

Thank you for all the input guys. I appreciate both sides of the argument, and I am going to stick to the plan and go with welded Redish V3 plates.

I have not had a lot of time to spend on the car, so I'm still only about halfway done going down to full bare metal on the plate areas. I have discovered one failed spot weld, no cracks so far, but I did discover some damage from the previous owner grinding the panel too hard when stripping it for the first plate job. I also fucked up and marred the panel a little by going too hard with the wire brush in a few spots. Not too bad, but I definitely didn't expect that to happen. The panel is not very thick. And it doesn't take much to mar it up!

Once I'm done, I'll post up the final clean panel and get some opinions on patching etc... I also have to go in and check the top still.

[ZHLPR]

Yeah this stuff is crap, send it back. Get Redish or CMP. You are doing the job anyway, do it right.

Got the Redish plates. Shipped crazy fast to the west coast. Full CMP kit is not in stock.

[old///MFanatic]

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/redti...kh3g0ttqo&dl=0
But again maybe some of you guys with more experience can chime in and give your thoughts on the condition of all this, and wether it surprises anyone or not. Thanks for looking!

Yeah honestly those plates look fine and would not have messed with.

[Sid_E46]

Parts shop max has some pretty solid and cheap plates that work with the epoxy method.

https://store.partsshopmax.com/shop/E36E46/BushingChassis/E46SFCR.html

[Nate047]

Yeah honestly those plates look fine and would not have messed with.

Can’t put the genie back in the bottle 🤷🏻♂️ I don’t regret doing it, if nothing else I have peace of mind really knowing what’s under there now.

In the end, I found a couple failed spot welds and some very small almost indistinguishable hairline cracks. Gonna get these repaired and welded up end of next week after the rain.

[Nate047]

Admin can you move this out of the for sale section?

[rickybobby]

Appreciate you documenting this! I’ve been curious as to the current state of my welded TMS plates after they’ve now been installed on my car for 10 years

[Nate047]

Appreciate you documenting this! I’ve been curious as to the current state of my welded TMS plates after they’ve now been installed on my car for 10 years

Right on. I don’t think there’s a feasible way to tell without cutting into the car. You might be able to get a borescope camera into the cavity and see if there’s any corrosion. And of course you can do top side reinforcement if you haven’t already. But short of cutting off the plates I think you gotta just trust the process. Unless there’s a reason to believe there’s a problem under there.

[simonnim]

You know, I wonder how many people have actually removed reinforcement plates after they've been installed. Or even the ratio of failure post installation. Also the other factors such as weather conditions it was driven in after like snow and salt. While we're all hyping up what is the best solution, how many of us other than Nate has removed installed ones.

I highly doubt we're all professional welders or automotive engineers. And I hate playing devil's advocate. What usual frame stress are most of us putting on these cars post reinforcement? Is this your track only? Because if it was I'd assume more reinforcement other than just plates or Vince bars/CMP.

Regardless thanks Nate for taking it apart and sharing. It follows my original take or belief as someone moderately knowledgeable mechanic of what plates do.

And yes I've seen the reddish failure after installation videos. But they're in heavily salted roads.

[Nate047]

Thanks man, I didn't really "want" to do this lol. But I feel like it was a good learning experience and a decent data point for anyone who has a questionable RACP job, done by someone else without documentation. I wouldn't expect anyone to do this job twice if there aren't signs of failure. I'm sure there are plenty of cars out there that had this job done a while ago, with older and smaller plates, and no top side job.