DAS Rollbar and Bose

Well I'm STILL deciding on which rollbar to buy. I started to look at the DAS unit again (the recent pics posted on this topic really helped.thanks!), and it looks really nice. Question: Does the bar interfere with the Bose subwoofer? If so, will removal of the sub make mounting of the bar possible? Is removal easy? What will that do to my bass (kill it probably)? From the pics it looks like where the bottom of the "X-brace" section mounts it is right square where my subwoofer would be... I just emailed DAS but figured I would try here too. I know Brey-Krause makes two harness bars to account for this. I love their stuff but they don't make a "rollbar", just harness bars. Anybody have any contacts at Brey-Krause and know if they are or ever considered doing something like the DAS that had some rollover protection. I bet it would be really trick! TIA

Lance, Have you considered Autopower rollbars (no affiliation): <a href="http://www.stable-energies.com/autopower/autopwr.html" target="_blank">http://www.stable-energies.com/autopower/autopwr.html</a> <a href="http://www.stable-energies.com/safdev/safepric.html#Porsche%20Applications:" target="_blank">http://www.stable-energies.com/safdev/safepric.html#Porsche%20Applications:</a> I would call/email Bob to verify that these will work with a Bose subwoofer. Good Luck,

Lance, Looking at those pictures, I came up with the same conclusion you did. DAS won't fit if you have Bose subwoofers. Never really thought about removing the subwoofers. Have you considered the tecquipment Porscher roll bar for the coupe? It's available for coupes ordered in Europe, but can be obtained aftermarket. I am assuming they have one for the Bose subwoofer fitted car.

itc....I have looked at the Autopower rollbars but the place I called that sells them didn't have any detailed info. If I remember I think he said you would have to slice the carpet to accommodate the flanges. I'm not against making slits in the carpet since it isn't a big deal but worried about turning the car in after the lease if over. No pics, specs or anything so I pretty much ruled them out. He didn't know about the Bose situation. As far as the tequipment one I am considering that one but there has been much discussion on another thread about it's ability to provide rollover protection. Other than looking cool, I figure why not get rollover protection AND a place to mount my harness and extinguisher. But if the rollover protection is in question why pay $1K for a fancy harness bar? I can get the trick harness bar from Brey-Krause for about $500. Like I said there has been a lot of detailed discussion about the ACTUAL rollover protection some of these bars provide, testing they went through etc. I haven't seen any definitive info. about any of these yet. Since I'm mostly doing auto-x and DE rollover protection is not a must have but why not incorporate it if I'm gonna fill up my back seat anyway? Anybody have info or experience with the Autopower one?

Lance, I think the issue with both the Tequipment bar and the DAS bar in a 996 is how they are mounted to the floor. Both bars use a similar technique, where you bolt the bar to the mounting place for the front seat belt. The concern is that in a rollover, all you have is that one bolt, which could shear and since there is only the thin floorpan below, the car could puncture the floorpan and collapse. This is all hypothetical, of course, AFAIK it hasn't happened to anytone. I think in this sense the DAS bar is probably better than the Tequipment because it at least has a wide flange on the bottom and therefore would take more force before punching through the floorpan. On the older 911's, these bolt in bar sat on top of the frame rail and so this wasn't an issue until the 993 and 996, which don't have a framerail that is exposed to the interior of the car in the rear. Whatever the issues might or might not be with the roll bars, they will certainly provide better protection that a harness bar, which provides none. Some people argue that you shouldn't use 6 point harnesses unless you have a rollbar, since you don't want to be strapped in upright when the roof collapses. I have no experience with the Autopower bar. Karl

Karl...thanks for the input. Yes I agree that the DAS with the flanges looks more structurally sound. Your point about using a 6-point without a rollbar and being strapped in tight was one thing that had me really concerned. I guess at this point there is really no "official" info. on what these rollbars do. My initial thought was even if these rollbars weren't "approved" I would at least have SOME insurance in a rollover. But then when you throw the 6-point situation into the equation it's almost like you go all the way or not. That's why I am concerned about finding a bar that has some credibility. To me the DAS looks pretty beefy and the fact it has flanges makes me feel better. I'm really surprised the Tequipment one doesn't have some "language" or "specs" associated with it! As a former manufacturer rep for Ford Motor, I know that anything a big company with a lot at stake(i.e. Porsche), tends to put extra R&D into things because if there's a problem they have much more to lose. So when seeing a rollbar put out with the Porsche label, my initial feeling would be they wouldn't do it unless they felt confident in it's abilities. However my impression is that this rollbar is an ROW type of part and maybe doesn't present as much of a legal liability in other parts of the world. Nobody out there has info. on the Autopower Rollbar?!?!?!

I believe the roll bars so far discussed, tequipment, DAS, and autopower, all bolt in. As such, they all have the weak point punching a hole through the floor. In theory anyway. If one is so concerned, the best roll over protection would be a roll cage that is welded to specific strong points in the car. Anything less is exactly that, less. For a daily driver and frequent trackster, would you really want to go that far? We are not talking about a convertible here. This is a coupe, which by design has inherent roll over protection. A bolt on roll bar will add some more protection, with the advantage of being removable and the disadvantage of shearing bolts and collapsed skulls. A welded roll bar will hold up much better, with the disadvantge of being permanent. The welded roll cage is the ultimate "going all way". It all depends on what you want to do. For DE, the inherent roll-over protection of a coupe with those hefty "B" pillars should be fine, IMHO. When I become like Karl S with a GT3 Cup Car and serious track time and 10/10ths driving (man, am I jealous, ), then all the way is the only way. Hmmmmm, maybe A RUF . We should have a "salivating" graemlin.