01pewterbird

Well as the title states, put the SFC's on about 10K ago and before I put the car away for storage I noticed it has the infamous dimples which are only on the driver side . I installed the SFC's as soon as I bought the car to avoid this. I guess it is possible the dimples have been there since I got the car but I highly doubt it(i'm meticulous about the car). Seeing the dimples I decided to check things out. Well on the driver side the picture shows how the SFC isn't flush against the frame rail where the LCA mounts to(about an 8th-16th of an inch gap). Could this have caused the dimples since the SFC is slightly angled down towards the back of the car???Also, I think the dimples appeared after I put the 315's on. The passenger side has no dimples and the SFC is mounted flush to the frame rail.
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Sorry for the crappy pics the car was on the ground.
Thanks in advance for any input

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Actually it's likely got more to do with the connectors not really stopping that effect. More than a few folks have developed them after SFC's. Some cars without them don't have dimples too.

Demon Of Dreams

iTrader: (3)

they just happen, nothing is guaranteed to stop them... sometimes SFC's enhance the dimple effect further

just depends on the car and its uses.

i have dimples and sfc's and my car only has 20k miles

01pewterbird

Well that sucks. The 315's deffinately added to it then, finally got some traction over the crappy falkens it came with. My car only has 40k on it and is garage kept and babied, really sucks these things happen(not to mention the god damn sail panel, and door panel). I just didn't want to leave it like that if it was causing the the problem. I though it may have had something to do with it since the passenger side doesn't have them and is mounted flush, i still think it might. I wonder if the brand has any effect. I don't think many people have the ones i have. my gf got them for me as a gift from summit.

Ripper415

iTrader: (6)

wtf?! literally every other thread i've read about this says sfc's STOP dimples from forming. my car has 33k miles and i was thinking of getting sfc's as a preventative measure. but if the above is true then i wont.

01pewterbird

I don't know man, I was kind of hoping somebody would say the bad install would be the culrpit just so i could cut it then re-weld it. But I guess not, f-bods are a bitch to keep in good shape.

Jeremiah

iTrader: (5)

https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...ferrerid=27546

Look for my reply to this issue.

01pewterbird

I'm just curious as to why i only have them on the driver side.

TXAgZ28

iTrader: (1)

Maybe the passenger side panel is stronger? thicker? Who knows...

I had 3-point SFC's on my Z28 and I still got dimples. It's just the car and the way it is.

01pewterbird

Guess i'll just have to deal with then. Just sucks since the car is garge kept and stored most of the time. On a side note, why do you guys think underneath my car looks so shitty, almost looks like it was in a fire, the whole rear of the car is black like that. you can sort of see what i mean in the second pic.

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

This just goes to show there is no correct side on the 4th gen SFC issue. Alot of people will swear they are needed, others disagree. Bottom line its all opinions--NOT FACTS. If anyone would have scientific info on the torsional rigidity (did I spell that right?) of the 4th gen it should be GM. Any one have a source?

Bottom line, its all a matter of opinion...seems no one really has the answers.

01pewterbird

^^ If only there was some facts with proof to back it up. I thought my car felt stiffer after the install. But who the hell knows

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

Yeah, I really feel 4 u man! I purchased SLP bolt ons as one of my first mods. My thaughts were, this is a nice low mile car (19k) and I want to keep it nice. The more I read and thaught about it, I ended up taking them off. I just am not convinced they will do all that is expected of them. Still a topic I am very interested in. I do alot of reading and thinking about them lately. It would be nice if say a big magazine would do some REAL testing on this. But the $ isn't there. GM isn't selling 4th gen Camaros, and I dont feel alot of afermarket SFC builders would like the results...

jb442

iTrader: (4)

I read the article... And they did put SFC's on the car. Here's a quote from Page 1 - "A BMR torque arm and subframe connectors were used in conjunction with a Strange S60 rear end to bulletproof the driveline, enabling solid launches on slicks at the track."
Link: http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...et_camaro_z28/

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

Wow.. I feel stupid. You are right-my mistake.

I editted out my misinformation.

BlackDuk98

iTrader: (34)

I didn't truly understand the torque dimples till i read a ton of posts about them. For some reason, I thought that they were verticle ripples that extended from the top of the quarter, to the top of the wheel well. Now I understand that they are at the top of the quarter by the sail panel. So I now know that I do have them on both sides of my car. Noticed them when I first purchased the car last year, and I just figured that the quarters were put on shitty at the factory. I do have these 3-point SFC's now. (The silver around the edges is a type of paint that you can weld through) They were cut off a car at a friends LS1 shop and thrown out because aparently someone welded them on wrong. So I took them to work, bolted them up and kinda guessed on how they made the welding points. Hopefully, these will help stop or at least slow the stuff down. I still have to put a tunnel mounted Torque arm, panhard rod, LCA's, and the SFC's on in spring, and now am paranoid about driving hard w/ the car. Thanks guys! j/k. I regret buying black. If i paint it way, way down the road, it's gunna be white to hide most of the ****.

Jeremiah

iTrader: (5)

SFC are a great addition to any F body but they simply do nothing to reinforce the rear of our cars. The connect the front and rear unitized long members. The rear long member or unitized frame rail is a two piece rail with a "very" weak point "crush zone" just behind the rear seat or cabin erea. This acts as a hinge and allows the rear of the body to flex just enough that we get the dimples in the quarter panels. The quarter panels are a structural component on our cars and they do get a lot of torsional stress applied to them. I also have seen countless stock unmodified cars with the dimples and I feel it has far more to do with the rough roads or driving habbits than the torque output of the engine tweaking them. I have cut these cars appart and pieced them back together enough times that I know the inner structure of them like the back of my hand.

Ripper415

iTrader: (6)

so then in your opinion how can we stop them from forming? dont drive the car hard or over bumpy roads? is there any aftermarket suspension/chassis part that would help prevent this? right now my car doesn't have any, but i dont really beat on it or drive it over back country roads. i'd like to do everything in my power to keep it this way.

Jeremiah

iTrader: (5)

The only thing that will add structural support to the rear of the car is a roll cage. My Mecham had a Wolf 6 point installed when it was brand new and its never shown any signes of this problem. My last few Fourth gen F bodys had the dimples long before I did any mods to them. I would also think removing weight from the rear of the car like the spare tire ect. might help slightly to relieve the problem.

The next time you jack your car up take a look at the rear rails right above the rear axle with a flash light you will see the weak erea im talking about.

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

Definitely no guarantees on the quarter panel dimple problem...mine has them on the passenger's side only, and it happened a while after I had installed my SLP subframe connectors.