I was recently looking at parts at Turner Motorsports. I came across some reinforcement kits for the e36 cars.
1. Rear subframe/chassis subframe reinforcement kit
2. Rear swaybar reinforcement kit
3. Front subframe reinforcement kit
4. Rear shock tower mount reinforcement kit
http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=4111225649

Has anybody experienced any problems in these areas? I use my car for only occasional ( one per month ) autorcross events.

Other suggested replacement items include control arms. ( every 2 years )

Again... any comments?

bg

My experience (or lack thereof) with these items:

1. I was told from numerous sources that this was only an issue with non M cars (funny how the Turner site says "late E36 cars," hmm)

2. Some will argue that this is needed no matter what you do with your car. Most will say it is needed only when you add a larger rear swaybar. There is plenty of discussion of this topic in the archives.

3. I don't know anyone personally who has had this problem. somebody else may want to chime in here...

4. Assuming this means adding the factory "Z3 reinforcement plates" this is a simple (and cheap) reinforcement part to add compared to the other three. This topic is also discussed at length in the archives.


Another "reinforcement item" not mentioned on your list may be 97+ front shock tower plates that sandwitch between the upper strut mount and the front shock tower. Another cheap, easy to add item like the Z3 reinforcement plate for the rear.

Best of luck.

My brother ripped the rear sub off of a 92 325. Costly repair and he did it auto crossing.

The front subframe people have had issues with, but not a tremendous number of people.

The rear suspension carrier mounting plates that you provided a link to are the parts that are standard on an M3. Good to have if your car did not start out as an M.

The shock tower reinforcements are probably a good investment, particularly if you have upgraded shocks. Again, not a high failure rate, but I have personally talked with a couple of people that have failed this area.

The swaybar reinforcement is a must have, even with stock sway bars. After looking at the "floppy ear" design of the E36 sway bar mount, I can not believe a competant engineer did this. The Turner kit is nice, but GC's $2 flat stock will work just as well.

The area that seems to be most common to fail Turner does not have a kit for...probably due to the difficulty of beefing up this area. The spot where the trailing arm attaches to the body has been reported on many occasions. The theory is that failed rear trailing arm bushings (RTAB) cause undue stress on the three mounting locations. Welding them in place before they fail is probably a good idea. There are other ways to reinforce this area, but they sound very expensive to do. Close inspection, and frequent RTAB replacement will probably keep you out of trouble in this area.

Good luck!
Bernman

Thanks for the input.

bg