ERW stands for Electric Resistance Welded. This is a mild steel tubing that started out as a flat sheet of steel, formed into tubing and welded. DOM stands for Drawn Over Mandrel and it is actually ERW tubing that has gone through a second process that shapes and smooths the tubing so that the walls are more uniform. This in turn makes the tubing stronger than the original tubing. Chrome-Moly is an alloy of steel which incorporates both Chromium and Molybdenum in the process. Please don't confuse Chrome-Moly with Chrome finish. All our roll bars are painted Black.
The answer to this question is usually found in your rule book. All street roll bars are made with ERW. Most race roll bars and cages are made with ERW tubing unless specified otherwise.
DOM is a stronger tubing, so some sanctioning bodies allow you to reduce the tubing size of your cage when using DOM compared to ERW. This does not apply to roll bars, only roll cages. This also only applies in certain classes within these racing organizations. Some classes do not allow the use of ERW tubing. DOM, however, is a more expensive tubing, so expect to pay more.
Autopower no longer offers Chrome-moly tubing because SCCA has changed their rules to allow mild steel tubing.
No. Size for size, all steel weighs roughly the same. What is true is that Chrome-Moly is stronger than DOM and DOM is stronger than ERW. Therefore, some sanctioning bodies allow you to reduce the size of the tubing as you go up in strength. For instance, a sanctioning body may specify that you may use 1-3/4" x .120" ERW or 1-1/2" x .120" DOM, Seamless or Alloy. The strength would be about the same between these two sizes/types of tubing but you may save about 10-15 pounds using the smaller size tubing. The tradeoff is cost. Here are a few examples of tubing sizes and weights per foot.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Autopower gives you two options: painted in black or no paint at all. If you would like your roll bar to be painted another color, powder coated, or chromed, we suggest that you order the bar without paint and then arrange to have the bar finished after you receive it. There is no charge for this special order request, however, Autopower does not guarantee that they will remember to not paint the bar or cage.
Truck Freight Collect tells you the part is shipped by truck and freight charges will be collected upon delivery. We recommend that you ship to a business address as someone needs to be available to receive your part when the shipper arrives (usually between 9 AM and 5 PM). All shippers are a little different as to how they collect the monies owed. As we use many different shippers, and your product may be consigned to a third party shipper, we cannot tell you exactly what payment method is accepted. Most trucking companies will call before coming and you may then ask them at the exact invoice amount and what payment methods they accept. Please don't ask if you can pay for the shipping in advance if you don't like hearing "NO".
This will depend upon where you live in relationship to Autopower in San Diego, California. If you live in California, we estimate about $40-$70. If you are not too much further away, maybe $70-$90. If you live across the country on the East Coast, bet on $100-$120. If you can't ship to a business address (see below), bet on more. If your delivery is attempted and no one is there to receive it or pay for it, bet on paying a lot more to have it stored and redelivered.
If you don't have a business address you can ship to, try a friend, family member or business associate. Maybe your engine builder will help you out. If all of this fails, we can ship the roll bar or cage to the local trucking depot and you can go there to pick it up. We can ship to a residence, but see above for warnings!
I'll tell you right now, expect the roll bar or cage to arrive scratched. We try to protect the bar using plastic around the painted tubing, but as the bar rides in the truck, the vibrations will eventually wear out the plastic wrap. Most of the time these scratched areas will be hidden by roll bar padding. If you want a real nice paint job on your bar, please order it unpainted and have it painted upon arrival. Sometimes in Autopower's attempts to get the bar to you sooner, they wrap it in plastic before the paint is dry. Then when you take the plastic off, the paint peals off, too. Sorry, as I said, expect the paint to be messed up. The paint is there mainly to protect it from rusting while in transit.
Most of our roll bars and cages meet the SCCA, NASA and IMSA rules. Many road race sanctioning bodies follow the SCCA rules or they are not as strict. Please consult your rule book. Legality will depend not only on the design of the roll bar or cage, but also on the type of tubing used. Legality will also depend upon your class!
No. There are many reasons why our roll bars and cages are not NHRA legal. A few are: type of tubing, size of tubing, telescopic rear braces, and size of foot pads. There are probably more reasons. If your car needs to have an NHRA legal roll bar or cage, we cannot supply you. Many import drag racing organizations will accept the Autopower roll bar or cage. Almost all organizations will allow you to have the roll bar or cage installed if your car class does not require you to have one. Please check your rule book.
No. The tubing is square-cut a few inches extra long.
Autopower U-weld Cage Kits are designed to add on to an existing Autopower roll bar. U-weld Cage Kits do not come with the roll bar. Please order separately.
Because Autopower knows you have to weld onto the roll bar, why waste time and money to paint the bar and then make you sand it all off. However, occasionally Autopower will send you a painted roll bar with the U-weld Cage Kit because they just happened to have the roll bar in stock. They figure that you would rather have the whole order sooner and sand some paint compared to waiting for them to build another unpainted roll bar.
Roll bars and cages are special order items. Roll bars and cages may not be returned for any reason.
Autopower designs each roll bar and cage to fit the model range of each individual car. For instance, Autopower manufactures a different roll cage for the 1984-1991 BMW E30 325, the 1992-2000 BMW E36 325 2-door and the 1992-2000 E36 325 4-door. These roll bars and cages were designed to have the full interior left installed. All roll bars/cages are designed to fit as tightly as possible leaving room for all car components to function normally and for production tolerances. If you have modified your car by removing things such as the headliner, the roll bar/cage will not fit as tightly in your car. Your model year may also come with factory changes that may make your cage appear to be not as close a fit as you would like. We guarantee the roll bar/cage to fit, not that it is aesthetically pleasing to your eye.
First, read the number stamped on the foot pad on the driver's side of the roll bar. Match this number up with the number associated with your car on our Web site. If the numbers don't match, call our toll-free number, 1-800-949-5712, and tell us the story. Everyone makes a mistake now and then, you may have received the wrong bar.
If the numbers match, (sometimes one digit is left out of the stamped number compared to the number on the website) you are probably just not used to how tight these cages fit. Unwrap all the tubing and take some measurements to assure yourself. Try to fit it in the car, if this fails, call us, we will be glad to walk you through it.
Most of the time the parts are there, they are just hiding from you. Before taking delivery from the trucker, make sure that all pieces are there and that there is no obvious shipping damage. If there is shipping damage, refuse the shipment, or if minor, note the damage on the trucker's receipt. Scratched paint is to be expected and not a reason for refusal. If it looks like it has been run over by a fork lift or been dropped from a 20 story building, then that is a reason for refusal!
If you suspect that there are pieces missing from your shipment, but there was no evidence that the piece fell off the package, accept the shipment and then unwrap the roll bar/cage. Usually you will find the pieces hidden by tape and the nuts 'n' bolts package. Assemble the cage outside the car to assure that you have all the parts and that you understand how the cage will be assembled inside the car.
Yep, Autopower's instructions are pretty bad. Maybe our sample installation will help you.
Allow as much time as possible, but at least 4-6 weeks plus transit time of 1 week or more within the USA. Sorry, Autopower does not accept rush orders. Orders may be expedited by shipping unpainted and/or by shipping a faster/more expensive method.