he's a distant cousin of Goat.se

 

lol Twice removed.

 

I'm using 20 year old door blocks because I'm into the vintage look.

I'm still trying to determine how these improve chassis rigidity when door latch and hasp are metal and door hinges are metal. The device appears to be a guide to assist with lining up the latch and it may serve as an anti-rattle device, but it doesn't appear Mazda designed it to be structural.

I'm using frame rails and door bars so this is a useless device even if it added something for others, which I doubt.

I'd like to see the frame deflection testing that was done to support the claims being made by any of the vendors. Claims with only anecdotal evidence are suspect. Claims without data are suspect.

 

answered your own question

bro'z think their car is stiffer cause it rattles less

 

It allows the door to creak less, making the car sound stiffer. There is no real data because it doesn't do anything.

 

All you can hear is the sound of 100% profits

 

Funny, I was lambasted for posting nearly the same thing when these first came out.

 

i made door bushings out of wood, to match with my wooden shift ****, wooden handbrake and my wooden wheels.. nostalgiaaaaaaa..

 

When these were first being rediscovered by garage star I offered to measure chassis stiffness change. No bites.

 

i could understand the rigidity argument if what wrapped around the bushings wasn't 0.5mm stamped steel

make the bushing and a new "cup" that's thicker and yeah I could take that argument at face value.

Until then do like FM did when they released their frame rails. Measure chassis deflection with them and without. But that's not likely to happen.

 

A few of my clients use such products. They dont do ****. And none of the doors close right, but thats a installer issue.

 

GarageStar pretty much exists on doing knock offs. Admittedly, pretty high quality knock offs, with slight design changes from proven money makers. But still precious few truly original ideas, just the same old stuff with good execution. It's no more a copy of GarageStar than GS was a copy of Ken Auto.

I got on the hype train and bought a set. Yes, I know they didn't stiffen my chassis. But damn if they didn't help with rattles and cowl shake. On this new car I'll probably try pinching the cups. Once in a while I'll trade the monies for warm fuzzies, and this was one of those times where I was totally satisfied with my decision.

 

A few clarifications:

-The original Miata door bushings came from a small vendor in Japan. Garagestar lifted the idea, just like we are doing.

-They make a big difference in NVH, very much worthwhile.

-Several Acetal formulations will work. Delrin is a Dupont tradename for a whole family of acetal nylon/resin formulations. Silly to use it as you're paying double just for the name. That's like insisting on Kleenex.

 

I've put a few sets in cars and I couldn't agree more. The NVH reduction reminds me of bolting on an OEM hard top to an older car.

 

I am using UHMW for my blocks, polyethylene. Tough stuff.

UHMW is not that much cheaper than acetal, not many plastics that would work well are. Material cost is insignificant, like I said earlier. White or natural color is sometimes cheaper too.

 

UHMW has nice low friction and stiffness properties but will eventually cold form (change shape). Keep an eye on that. The right acetal nylon compound will resist cold forming. Mech properties are really close to a non heat treated or T-3 block of 6061. We like to use UHMW for skid runners under splitters.

 

I'm going to make mine out of inconel. No door block stretching for me.

 

I mean really if china wanted to knock these off they would make them from injection molded PP or PE.

 

I put a set of the Garage Star ones on my street Miata, they seemed to reduce vibration over bumps. I just don't see any reason to put them on a caged car, I don't think there's anything to be gained.

The Ken Auto blocks have a different shape than the GS blocks. The GS blocks need a bit more adjustability for some Miatas for the doors to close without slamming them. Expensive vs cheap is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Just got a set of the BentoBox blox in the mail. They look nice, came in a cute little perfectly sized ziplock style bag, inside a padded envelope.

Much to my dismay, I live in the Detroit area now. Whether or not they work to reduce NVH on an NB2 will be easy to say after install.