Dinan Subframe Reinforcement and Camber Kit pics

[The ZED]

Well there have been a lot of different people asking me to take some pictures of my welded in camber kit and subframe reinforcement by Dinan Engineering.

I got both of these things done about 8-12 months ago and couldn't be happier with the result.
The Camber kit came first. I had Dinan in Morgan Hill, CA (their Headquarters) install both the kit and the red IE subframe bushings. I had the car aligned with the new camber kit and it came down to -2.0* on either side. The car drove great with the new subframe bushings and the camber helped significantly with the tire wear. After about a year of having this the camber has not changed or slipped at all. Cost: $1700 for camber kit, bushing install, and labor.

The subframe reinforcement came at a slightly later time when my differential mount started to fail. I explored my options with which kit to get and decided that the Dinan kit would be easier and has a warrenty in case something went wrong. After getting it installed the car felt like a brand new machiene. Everything in the car felt tighter and more composed. If you understand the properties of three dimentional statics you can see that this setup not only would work but is the least invasive. This brace connects the subframe to the body at another point, making it stronger. Cost: $3000 included 26hours of install repair to subframe, repaired and strengthed swaybar mounts.

Pictures:
Camber kit




Subframe reinforcement:

[2kredz3]

they did great work. what exactly is their warranty?

[The ZED]

Warranty info:

http://www.dinancars.com/bmw/warranty

[2kredz3]

yeah but if the trunk floor separates after they install that kit what is to say they will warranty it? just being slightly argumentative so dont think i am picking :-) im just wondering what dinan would say if you roll up there 1 year and 11 months later with a crack in the trunk floor. i mean technically their parts didnt break but another part of the car started to break. c? or no c?

[The ZED]

I would say that their product is defective then. It didn't do what they advertise it to do. That would be my argument. Plus I wouldn't be doing anything that would cause separation... Plus I know them really well over there and I'm sure they would accommodate me or anyone else for that matter. Steve Dinan really cares about his stuff and wants it to be the best (I've spoken with him several times).

Bottom line, I don't know what they would say. I just like the reassurance that I can bring it back to be fixed if necessary.

[2kredz3]

local is always the way to go i was just wondering. i have had that happen to me before with a custom transfer case mount that i had built. man when that thing let go it ripped holes in the unibody of my jeep cherokee.

guy was unwilling to fix it


they look like they did class A work I have to do something soon about mine. I am sure you have seen my thread. Dinan kit is only *edit it is now 419 for parts as well, might get me threw for a while.

[yuriosipov]

Is warranty the main reason why you chose to go with Dinan as supposed to using Randy's kit? Just wondering......

Do not quote me on this but Randy's kit still has not failed anybody right?

What about other owners that have used Dinan's kit?

[The ZED]

I used the Dinan kit because it was easy for me. I lived about 10minutes away from their shop, I didn't have to worry about shipping or finding someone who would install it. I know EDGE Motorworks would have done it but I've had a poor experience with them personally. It is also an added plus that a real company did it and not just a guy in his garage (not saying that it's bad at all). The warranty was an added plus for me as well. I trust Dinan and their work.

Dinan told me that they had done several (7 or so) subframes in Morgan Hill and they are all happily motoring still. M's and non M's

[GB5416]

It appears that your differential ear failed even after you installed the IE bushings. Was it already showing signs of failure before the new bushings or did it appear afterwards?

[GBimmer]

Not to nitpick but not only was my trunk welds popping, but the actual ear (the part welded to the subframe of the car that attaches to the diff via a bolt) cracked. Randy's fix addressed that. Dinan doesn't.

[Car54]

Thanks for sharing pics....

So it's one dog-bone like support that mounts the carrier to the unibody?

The camber/toe kit looks identical to the IE product except the IE looks milled and the Dinan looks bent/rolled.

[The ZED]

Cracking on the diff ear appeared after the install of the IE bushings, correct.

It appears that your differential ear failed even after you installed the IE bushings. Was it already showing signs of failure before the new bushings or did it appear afterwards?

[Randy Forbes]

I used the Dinan kit because it was easy for me. I lived about 10minutes away from their shop, I didn't have to worry about shipping or finding someone who would install it. I know EDGE Motorworks would have done it but I've had a poor experience with them personally. It is also an added plus that a real company did it and not just a guy in his garage (not saying that it's bad at all). The warranty was an added plus for me as well. I trust Dinan and their work.

Dinan told me that they had done several (7 or so) subframes in Morgan Hill and they are all happily motoring still. M's and non M's

My components are laser-cut at a local fabrication facility. All up, their combined buildings likely exceed several hundred thousand square feet.

Marketed through Sports Cars Plus, LLC.

Unfortunately, I don't live in a 5-8 million-dollar house, like Steve Dinan does (I know someone that's been to his house numerous times).

At present count, I've done thirty-nine (39) reinforcemnt jobs in my little garage.

[The ZED]

I never said your stuff was bad or not proven. I was stating a fact.

Let's also keep in mind the price of this kit. Mine was more because of the other fixes.

$419 for the kit
16 hours labor @ $100/hr say

That's $2019 + kit shipping ($35) + tax = $2220.57

[GB5416]

How many miles were on your Z when you had the work done? Aren't subframe problems very rare after the IE bushing install? Thanks for the photos, I think I may get the IE or Dinan rear camber and toe-in kit this winter and try installing it myself.

[The ZED]

I had the work done at about 175,000 miles. The IE bushings I had done at probably 160,000 miles.

Both kits are pretty much identical, also the welding looks easy enough, just make sure it's all aligned correctly as you wouldn't want you adjustability to be different per side.

[fmcfad01]

If you were gonna spend two K to ad a flex point to your car, why not cough up a few extra bucks for randy's solution which is much much more robust?

[Z3speed4me]

I feel the same way.... i mean they did work, but truthfully its barely anything, it doesnt touch the floor pan where the welds pop and thats the main concern that from what i understand later leads to the more catastrophic problems down the line

understand it was down the street from you, but personally with the bs ive seen from dinan in the past NOT upholding their warrenty in multiple situations, i would stray away from that company


randy is the way to go, he has his kit on 500+ hp cars and not one has even an inkling of failure yet. randy for president!!!



and on a random note, suspension is in, time to hope it stops raining, wash her and take pics, I KNOW you guys like it when I take pics

[fmcfad01]

and on a random note, suspension is in, time to hope it stops raining, wash her and take pics, I KNOW you guys like it when I take pics

Win! did you do it yourself?

[Randy Forbes]

I feel the same way.... i mean they did work, but truthfully its barely anything, it doesnt touch the floor pan where the welds pop and thats the main concern that from what i understand later leads to the more catastrophic problems down the line

understand it was down the street from you, but personally with the bs ive seen from dinan in the past NOT upholding their warrenty in multiple situations, i would stray away from that company


randy is the way to go, he has his kit on 500+ hp cars and not one has even an inkling of failure yet. randy for president!!!


and on a random note, suspension is in, time to hope it stops raining, wash her and take pics, I KNOW you guys like it when I take pics

There is one (1) incident, but I don't think it was a failure on my part; at least the car's owner isn't blaming me.

A supercharged S-54 Rdstr that I recently did blew up his entire differential, and I'm told, bent one (1) of the mounting pendants. Now bear in mind, that's with BFG Drag Radials and like 5000 RPM () launches. I only saw a few pictures of the carnage, so I really couldn't make a determination if there was anything I could've done better on his car. He sent the entire car to Jim Rowe at Metric Mechanic for the differential rebuild, so it will be interesting to see what Jim does with the car before it leaves his shop; he's no stranger to high output BMWs either.

[Z3speed4me]

well i dont care if you build the rear like a tank, do enough launches like that and something is going to eventually give on you...

[robrez]

Thanks for posting the info Zed. People will have their own opinions, but none of those opinions would mean a thing if there weren't other options out there.

[JoeZ]

I don't have the big hp #'s some of the FI guys do but I do have monster torque from 2k rpms on up and Randy's kit has served me well for nearly 10k miles

[The ZED]

Thanks for posting the info Zed. People will have their own opinions, but none of those opinions would mean a thing if there weren't other options out there.

Thank you. I will soon be posting a physics lesson for everyone to enjoy exploring the differences in the kits from a statics stand point. I am interested to run the numbers to see what kind of forces are being exerted on both of the kits.

[Car54]