Sway bars and brake ducts redux.

trackstar · 18th December 2005, 18:14

Hey guys, I apologise if these questions have been asked before, I have been searching but my head is spinning right now.

Odds are I'm going to be looking for a rear sway bar w/ reinforced brackets. Seems my best choice is Dinan.
1) Are there any reputable vendors who sell Dinan (other than Dinan themselves), preferably at below list?
2) Are the Dinan reinforcement brackets that come with the bar adequate, or do I need to go for Beastpower?

I want to install the brake ducts. I may go with the writeup and just buy the ducts and fashion the openings. But I am also considering the Dinan or M-technic kits with the new lower front grill.
3) Are these parts (Dinan and M-technic) truly the same?
4) If so, does anyone have the M-technic PNs? And/or a preferred vendor to buy M-technic parts?
5) Anyone have good pics of either setup? Search yielded only one pic and I couldn't see much.

Thank you kindly.

trackstar · 19th December 2005, 04:48

Any thoughts?

Teutonaddict · 19th December 2005, 05:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by trackstar

Any thoughts?

Greetings, Patrick-

If you do a search on Dinan Swaybar Bracket, I think you'll find a photo someone posted some time ago. You can only get them with the Dinan rear swaybar, but IIRC I got mine for <$200 at my local Dinan-authorized BMW dealer for the typical 10% BMW CCA discount. It's not nearly as elegant and over-engineered as the Beastpower solution, but I got a swaybar AND the reinforced bracket for what Daniel wanted for the brackets alone.

As for the M-Technic brake duct parts, those are BMW parts. I'm quite certain all are posted here on the site. Try these links:

Question for those with brake cooling ducts (non-U.S. cars)

M-Technic Grille with Brake Ducts

Dinan sells the same parts in kit form, for a mark-up. Nobody kitted them together when this first got rolling...

Good luck!
-Dave

mottati · 19th December 2005, 08:04

you can generally get a discount off list from dinan dealers, between 10 and 20% is not unheard of. Eibach also makes sway bars, i believe. I have not seen the dinan bar mounts, but will say the beastpower units are the way to go, indestructible. ( i think there is another brand that costs less, perhaps from a board member TCM ?)
Mike

trackstar · 19th December 2005, 13:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teutonaddict

Greetings, Patrick-

If you do a search on Dinan Swaybar Bracket, I think you'll find a photo someone posted some time ago. You can only get them with the Dinan rear swaybar, but IIRC I got mine for <$200 at my local Dinan-authorized BMW dealer for the typical 10% BMW CCA discount. It's not nearly as elegant and over-engineered as the Beastpower solution, but I got a swaybar AND the reinforced bracket for what Daniel wanted for the brackets alone.

As for the M-Technic brake duct parts, those are BMW parts. I'm quite certain all are posted here on the site. Try these links:

Question for those with brake cooling ducts (non-U.S. cars)

M-Technic Grille with Brake Ducts

Dinan sells the same parts in kit form, for a mark-up. Nobody kitted them together when this first got rolling...

Good luck!
-Dave

Thank you. I have seen the Dinan bracket pics but couldn't tell if they are strong enough. I also already found that first thread about the brake ducts but the picture wasn't too much help. However that second one is just what I was looking for, don't know why I couldn't find it. Too bad the pics in that thread aren't working

Thanks though!

CSBM5 · 19th December 2005, 13:28

FWIW -- After one track day at VIR on my Dunlop SSR's, a rear tire developed a serious out of balance condition, and I had to drive about 100 miles with awful shaking. This broke my LR sway bar mount (Dinan bar with their add on supports).

The Beastpower brackets are the way to go -- functionally. The Beastpower brackets are (hopefully) the highest margin product BP sells. Not too long ago, a group buy for similar brackets was started that were to be made up, and BP lowered their price to $99 for a while. I see they now went back to extortion level prices. It is an excellent bracket, but it is just priced at "taking advantage of M5 owner prices" imo. In other words, if you need these kinds of margins on a product like this to make your business case work, there is something wrong with the business case.

You can buy the same exact braket from TCD (the people who make the BP bracket) for $25 less the last time I checked.

mikeoski · 19th December 2005, 14:44

My shop, MotorWorksWest, did an awesome job installing the Euro brake ducts. All I needed was the ducts themselves. I drilled out the mesh myself just like you see in the write up on this post. My guys at MWW cuts the holes for the ducts to sit in and screwed the ducts from the inside to the mesh. No zip ties needed. Clean and cheap. No comment on the rear swar bar brackets as I have not had a problem with the Dinan sway bar on the track or street. The beast does get driven hard too!

Anita · 19th December 2005, 15:53

I'm so cheap. I just found out I have one busted sway bar bracket and got two OEM ones from the dealership at $3.92 each. I figure if I have to replace them every 50K miles that not too bad right?

But I don't track my M5 either.

Teutonaddict · 19th December 2005, 17:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anita

I'm so cheap. I just found out I have one busted sway bar bracket and got two OEM ones from the dealership at $3.92 each. I figure if I have to replace them every 50K miles that not too bad right?

But I don't track my M5 either.

I'm with you, Anita!! I've got a half-dozen OEM swaybar brackets in my track tool bag for that very purpose. I got the free 'upgraded' brackets b/c I wanted the Dinan rear bar, and so far, they've held up fine. But I still have a bunch of spares!

The cheap b@stard in me couldn't stomach $200 for the CNC-milled versions, no matter how elegant. Old habits die hard. I thought for a moment about the half-off group buy--but only a moment.

Scrooge on!
-Dave

Anita · 20th December 2005, 01:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teutonaddict

I'm with you, Anita!! I've got a half-dozen OEM swaybar brackets in my track tool bag for that very purpose. I got the free 'upgraded' brackets b/c I wanted the Dinan rear bar, and so far, they've held up fine. But I still have a bunch of spares!

The cheap b@stard in me couldn't stomach $200 for the CNC-milled versions, no matter how elegant. Old habits die hard. I thought for a moment about the half-off group buy--but only a moment.

Scrooge on!
-Dave

Whew, ok good I'm not alone here!! Looked at pics of the Beastpower brackets and they sure looked substantial (ie huge), but the cost --ouch. A quick question though, do you know if the Dinan brackets are made specifically for Dinan? You know how, if not, sometimes you can go directly to a source for better pricing. Just wondered if this was the case here.
Thanks!
Anita the cheap

--I'm really not that bad--I think it's just the hunting and gathering instinct