supercup

I have done a search and reviewed some historic posts on roll bars and roll cages. I know many of you have installed the Tech Equipment Roll Bar and some have upgraded to third party roll cages or the Factory Rennsport roll cage. I am considering which way to go and am looking for opinions.

The Tech Equipment bar, while nice looking and an easy install, I am concerned in a roll over it would be better than nothing, but due to the single bolt pick attachment points it may not do much or fail.

The Rennsport cage appears to be more than I want to live with on a daily basis. Unless you can just use the rear portion and install the front portion and side posts for track days. Has anyone done this? How time consuming is it?

I am in S.Calif. and am wondering where people have gone to have this done and expected cost.

Thanks for your help

JCM

Thanks for your help

supercup

By the way I will be doing this to my 2003 GT2.

Thanks,

JCM

Bob Rouleau

Supercup - I operate on a simple principle "Porsche engineers kknow what they are doing". Consequently I have no doubts whatsoever that a Tecquipment roll bar will function correctly. It is a Porsche part engineered as part of a safety system. If you consider the liability Porsche has if the bar fails to perform, it's easy to believe that it will-not-fail. The Gt3 seats and the Tequipment bar are designed to work together as a system. That's why I like the seats the bar and the harnesses, all supplied by Porsche and designed to work together. I am also confident that the bar and the seats wil prevent head trauma if I have an accident on the street while not wearing a helmet.

By the way on one of these forums there was a photo of a 996 (maybe a GT) which was in a bad accident. The roll bar held. I am not surprised.

Rgds,

macfly

John, one of the bolts could possibly sheer if you looped the car in turn 8, but the bar will still be there, and held in place by the other three bolts. I have yet to see or hear any evidence of a Tequipment bar failing like this. Should you want to go up a grade in weight the DasSport bar is the prefered bar of the PCA/POC, the next step after that is a full cage. There is one that you can remove the front struts on, I think it is the factory RS Clubsport cage.

Holger B

I agree with Bob. These are not cosmetic parts that Porsche is selling and I think the integrity of the system is much higher than many here would have you believe. It's just way too big a liability for PCNA to sell safety equipment that's not up to the task.

What's right for you depends on what you plan to use the car for and the functionality you're willing to forgo. The Tequipment bar with GT3 seats makes the back mostly unusable and I'm sure a cage would make ingress/egress even more challenging, therefore making it less desirable to drive on the street on a regular basis.

mds

I had the rear half of the Clubsport cage installed in my old 04 car, but switched to the Tequipment bar in my new 05. IMO both are adequate for a DE car, and both require a fair amount of work to install. My shop did the welding and install of the cage for about $500. I did the Tequipment bar install myself, which took about 6 hours.

Installing the front half of the cage, which I did not do, would require additional plates welded to the floor in both footwells. The attachment mechanism between the front and rear halves allows for fairly easy removal. I think it would take less than an hour to install or remove the front half once the floor plates are attached.

cosmos

Ditto what Mike said.

I have the RS cage and have the rear installed. The front requires the plates (just like the rear) to be installed, but the bar bolts to the plates. The install of the front half takes 20mins and can me done by one, but should really be done by two.

Moogle

I agree with everything thats been said about Porsche parts reliability and liability risks if they weren't

there are really two solutions that porsche offers.

There is the tequipment bar, which requires no permanent modifications to the car, and bolts right in in a few hours.

or you can go all the way and get the RS cage without the front section (which requires some permanent modifications)

vegasgolf98

I have the Das Sport bar and came to the conclusion it was the best after much research. If you happen to see one and compare to the TE bar. There is just no comparison. It is allowed for PCA club racing if you use the optional floor plates (which I did). I'm not saying the TE bar is bad, just that the Das Sport is far superior. I am very happy with my choice and would do so again 100 times over.

As a bonus, the Das Sport is much easier to install than the TE bar owing to its better design and you can paint it any color you want. The RS half cage would be my next choice FWIW.

Happy shopping.

Bob Rouleau

Vegas - I hate drilling holes in a 100K car. I also like the stainless steel finish on the tequipment bar - no painting needed. That's what makes horse races ...

supercup

Thanks for all your comments and different perspective. I agree on the Porsche design and had not thought of the liability aspect which is a good point. My use is for occasional track days, as I have a Cup car for serious track work. I want something over my head to make me feel safer and to be safer than I am now. And I want it to come out if the next buyer does not want it in there.

Thanks again,

JCM

macfly

the Das Sport is much easier to install than the TE bar owing to its better design and you can paint it any color you want
I have been considering the DasSport too, but I really like the stainless finish of the TE bar. I was wondering if one could have it polished, anodized or in some other way given a nice Ti metal kind of look? Has anyone tried this with a DasSport?

I have the open Pan American TE roll bar which I use with lap belts and GT3 seats. The lap belt is just the lower portion of the 6 point harness, I gave up using the uppers because they attach at the rear seat belt mount point, and should something bad happen I fear they'd compress my spine because of the very steep angle of ascent from the rear mounts up to my shoulders. I have a HANS device, and want to get a proper cross bar belt mounting system myself, so have been looking around at all the alternatives too. I'm stuck between liking the DasSport for function, and TE full Rollbar for form.

Larry Herman

Andrew, you can get anything done to it that you want, chromed, brushed nickel, anything that a plating shop can do. Most of us around here prefer powdercoating; mine is semi-gloss black (just a nice satin sheen) and you might consider that in a satin silver finish. I got mine done for about $275.

mooty

which roll bar to get is a personal things as the opinion varies greatly on this board. but b/n roll bar and roll cage, if you drive the car AT ALL on street, please don't do the "cage" unless it's like mds and cosmos' in which it is removable and intall it when you arrive at the track (which isn't practical).. if you have a cage and you hit something even at 25-30mph, you will most likely crack open your skull. the bar at A pillar is very very close to your head. now if you only use the car on track and trailers it everwhere, then sure, cage it.

btw, cosmos, i really like your rear bar, so i replaced my exiting bar and duplicated your roll bar... ;-)

Holger B

Mooty, I was thinking the same thing but didn't include it in my post.

A cage on the street can be a lethal mistake, even in a minor fender bender.