X-Brace Install question

[MarcoPolo]

In the process of installing an X-Brace. Brand shouldn't matter for this question but it's an SME X-Brace.
i made my holes and noticed that on the driver side hole, there seems to be an obstruction. out of all the X-Brace installs i've seen, i have yet to see this obstruction. hoping someone can shed light. it's not foam injection material as it's pretty hard.
i would need to grind a part of this obstruction to fit the brace.

Edit1: let me add this car WAS "fixed" via BMW's foam fix. this doesn't seem like it but it's certainly possible.

[Tbonem3]

Interesting, doing this soon myself.. Seems like overfilled glue/sound deadening. Probably fine to cut it out somewhat to fit SME brace "peg," but let's hear from someone with experience. Subbed.

[EnzoAtMonza]

Almost looks like a poorly done bmw foam fix. I would just grind away for clearance.
Jeff

[heinzboehmer]

Hmm, that looks like foam to me. From what I understand, the foam expands and then hardens up quite a bit. Take a look at the pics in the pdf linked in this thread: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...ubframe-cavity

For reference, here's that same area on my car (which definitely has not had the foam procedure done):

[dl.m3]

Looks like the foam thats hardened. Im in the processing myself as well.

Does the bottom of the SME brace sit flush on the raised "T"? I was gonna grind mine down but a friend suggested not to since its structural. Gonna fab up a spacer instead for the brace to sit on.

Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk

[MarcoPolo]

Hmm, that looks like foam to me. From what I understand, the foam expands and then hardens up quite a bit. Take a look at the pics in the pdf linked in this thread: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...ubframe-cavity

For reference, here's that same area on my car (which definitely has not had the foam procedure done):

thank you this is an EXTREMELY informative picture. previous owner did the BMW fix himself (he's a bmw tech)
what that picture tells me is that below this "obstruction" is another hole. My guess is when the foam was injected from below, it filled up the space, passed through the lower hole, and then spread evenly. this resulted in this perfectly shaped circle that looked like an OEM piece.

[MarcoPolo]

Looks like the foam thats hardened. Im in the processing myself as well.

Does the bottom of the SME brace sit flush on the raised "T"? I was gonna grind mine down but a friend suggested not to since its structural. Gonna fab up a spacer instead for the brace to sit on.

Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk

i'll take a picture of the bottom of the SME, but it is flat, so it does sit on the "T". SME does sell their own "vincebar" solution that has a spacer that fits within the "T" properly, converting it to a nice flat surface. i'll just live with it. instructions state to torque the upper bolt to 57ft lbs so i'll just do as instructed.

[heinzboehmer]

thank you this is an EXTREMELY informative picture. previous owner did the BMW fix himself (he's a bmw tech)
what that picture tells me is that below this "obstruction" is another hole. My guess is when the foam was injected from below, it filled up the space, passed through the lower hole, and then spread evenly. this resulted in this perfectly shaped circle that looked like an OEM piece.

If I'm not mistaken, the foam is supposed to be injected from the top, through the hole that the rubber plug is in. But it's supposed to go down into the second cavity (so yeah past the second hole). What you're seeing is probably just some overflow from when the foam was done. If you want more pics of that area, I've got a bunch of them in my journal from my vincebar install.

[MarcoPolo]

If I'm not mistaken, the foam is supposed to be injected from the top, through the hole that the rubber plug is in. But it's supposed to go down into the second cavity (so yeah past the second hole). What you're seeing is probably just some overflow from when the foam was done. If you want more pics of that area, I've got a bunch of them in my journal from my vincebar install.

i stand corrected. he probably kept on filling the cavity and when it started to overflow he stopped and capped it off...thus the result....now to find my dremel!!

[ZHPizza]

i stand corrected. he probably kept on filling the cavity and when it started to overflow he stopped and capped it off...thus the result....now to find my dremel!!

Exactly and that stuff is damn near concrete stiff. Can you cut through it with the hole saw and pry out the cut section? The hole underneath is pretty small so you should cut it off from the cylinder going through the hole.

[MarcoPolo]

just to update this thread, the "spillover" material came right off with a hole saw. no pressure at all...almost felt like a very strong clay. from there, i was able to install the Brace. now, it's in the Mid-20's here in NY so the weather was not ideal, but i did complete it tonight.

[Tbonem3]

Nice job. Hole looks too big tho? Did they spec that size holesaw?

[MarcoPolo]

Nice job. Hole looks too big tho? Did they spec that size holesaw?

that would be on me. brace is 36mm wide and 1.5" is 38mm. that leaves me with 1mm to spare all around. i didn' think i'd be that good at making the hole that accurate so i went up to 1.75" which is 44mm. that would give me 6mm all-around so about 1/4". not the end of the world. i may put some window seal around it to make it look nicer.

[Tbonem3]

Gotcha. I've seen people use some sort of trim/seal in situations like this in the side panels when making holes to access top of rear shocks.

[jbfrancis3]

DMG offers what I think is a nice solution for protruding through the carpet as cleanly as possible. Just the steel tabs need to punch through.

https://dmg-autosport.myshopify.com/products/dmg-compv-r