Miata Rollbars for safety

[Tnemec5]

I am considering installing a roll bar, and have looked at the Boss Frog and Hard Dog.

Does anyone have any other recommendations. I am more concerned about safety than appearance, but I would also like to maintain full seat travel.

Pros and Cons from actually owners vs websurfers please. :lol:

[treeafodo]

Have you checked out Blackbird Fabworx? Moti is on a lot of the miata forums, but I can't remember off the top of my head if he's on here or not.
I have no pros or cons because a) no miata yet and b) I'm a websurfer.

[RyanG]

Unless you are installing the roll bar with the intention of taking the car to the track I would not recommend installing one on a street car. With stock seats the roll bar is very close to your head and in the event of a collision you will more than likely smack your head against it and possibly get a concussion or brain damage. The chances of you rolling a Miata outside of a track is very low because the car has such a low center of gravity.

I have a roll bar in my car because I intend to use it for HPDE's and I have to have one for that reason. Without a helmet on the rollbar is more likely to hurt you then save you.

[tsingson]

Unless you are installing the roll bar with the intention of taking the car to the track I would not recommend installing one on a street car. With stock seats the roll bar is very close to your head and in the event of a collision you will more than likely smack your head against it and possibly get a concussion or brain damage. The chances of you rolling a Miata outside of a track is very low because the car has such a low center of gravity.

I have a roll bar in my car because I intend to use it for HPDE's and I have to have one for that reason. Without a helmet on the rollbar is more likely to hurt you then save you.

I tend to disagree with this. Others may agree with me also. A rollover can happen at anytime. Of course, the chance is low but at least the protection is there. The padding can help. I would rather take the concussion than the cars weight on top of me. But that is just my opinion.

[Martin]

Rollbar schmollbar. I was fine after this happened.
7214

[tsingson]

So is that supposed to be opposed or for them?

[Demon I Am]

You can always get one of the hard dogs that sit further back, the sport models, iirc. My buddy has one of those, and there is no way his head can get near it.

[tsingson]

You've seen how far my head is from mine right Tony? It got even further when I changed out the cushion of the seat.

[Martin]

So is that supposed to be opposed or for them?
Neither really. I'm not qualified to say if they are a safety device or a brain-smashing, killing device.

I just pointed out that I was okay after a roll without a bar. I could have just as easily been killed. I just got lucky, or God saved me, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster's "face" shone upon me... whatever.

[tsingson]

You should've played the lottery after that one. That is something you don't generally walk away from.

[bigx5murf]

There was another kid who walked away from something similiar, but his face got all messed up, and he didn't make a full recovery.

Spend the money for the SFI padding, no more risk of skull cracking

[DK Wolf]

Never skimp out on safety. Get one.


Boss frog, hard dog are both good and sensible options financially. Blackbird are usually a healthy chunk more expensive (although higher quality). Just get a Harddog and call it a day.

[kung fu jesus]

Unless you are installing the roll bar with the intention of taking the car to the track I would not recommend installing one on a street car. With stock seats the roll bar is very close to your head and in the event of a collision you will more than likely smack your head against it and possibly get a concussion or brain damage. The chances of you rolling a Miata outside of a track is very low because the car has such a low center of gravity.

I have a roll bar in my car because I intend to use it for HPDE's and I have to have one for that reason. Without a helmet on the rollbar is more likely to hurt you then save you.


This made me laugh.

While not completely incorrect, you are saying DON'T get a rollbar for a street car, unless you are doing track-related stuff. HPDEs are done in street cars. Unless you are trailering your car to these intended HPDEs, you are contradicting your own words.

Low center of gravity or not, you can roll a Miata at fairly low speeds. Seen it happen right in front of me.

You are correct about the padding. Please use SFI rated padding sticks, not pipe insulation from the local hardware store. It is NOT the same thing. Rev Limiter had a blog post about getting rearended in Sharka while stopped in traffic. The unpadded bar rung his bell pretty hard and we are lucky to still have him around.

OP, get the rollbar that suits your needs. Better yet, sit in a few Miatas that have them for comparison. You can't go wrong with either of the companies you listed. How tall are you? That would be a good bit of info. You could have others here follow up with their rollbar model, their height and whether or not they sit in stock seats. You want your head to be below the top of the rollbar in the position you sit while you drive. At least an inch or two.

Personally, I don't like driving convertibles without rollbars. My good friend survived being t-boned in a Miata because the rollbar kept the cabin from being crushed.

[Pfunk]

I've the BFSSDH and it is quite easy to live with, day to day, in terms of raising/lowering the top, my HT fits without issue, it looks great IMO, and it is a stout unit.

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Performance-Part/60-1307.html

[bigx5murf]

I've the BFSSDH and it is quite easy to live with, day to day, in terms of raising/lowering the top, my HT fits without issue, it looks great IMO, and it is a stout unit.

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Performance-Part/60-1307.html

I love the look of this bar, and really wanted it. But decided the higher price, plus the fact it'll probably dig in and sink if you rolled on soft ground made me decide against it.

Still feel a bit of envy everytime I see one from behind though.

[kung fu jesus]

That one is a bit more difficult to install.

[SM16RMSM]

I know I replied to this already before the HACK, but I have the Boss Frog Double Hoop roll bar. If you bolt it in correctly, It won't move if you roll over and it fits the Miata really good. I went with Black and I really happy I got it. I was actually looking a the single hoop version for the longest time and decided that the double hoop looks even better.

[KJMagnum]

Please use SFI rated padding sticks, not pipe insulation from the local hardware store. It is NOT the same thing. Rev Limiter had a blog post about getting rearended in Sharka while stopped in traffic. The unpadded bar rung his bell pretty hard and we are lucky to still have him around.

He had SFI padding in that accident: http://revlimiter.net/miata/bonk.html

I have a HD Sport and my head easily hit with a stock foamectomy NA seat since the headrest is at my neck (I'm 6'1" so the slider was all the way back to get enough legroom). I have their SFI padding and it still hurts when hit but hopefully it'll save me when necessary. Shortly after, I installed a Vios3 rep (a functional headrest) that's mounted to the floor so my head clears fine now.

[jux]

Had a Hard Dog Sport (no diagonals) in my '99. Seat had a foamectomy. When the car ended up looking like the letter "u" after a wreck, I never contacted the bar. The steering wheel, on the other hand... :/
Now that I'm dailying the '90 again, I need to get the padding cut and on the Hardcore bar.

[KJMagnum]

^ I'm guessing you weren't rear ended, right? The steering wheel would be hit in a front end collision so that doesn't count. :p

Here's how mine looked:
7219

[Martin]

^ That is why I put 2005 seats in my car.

[tsingson]

I guess lucky for me I slouch when I sit in my car. My head doesn't really go above the top of the seat. I'm about 5'10"-5'11" and using the M2 sport no diagonals.

[kung fu jesus]

slouch or not, the trajectory for an occupant in a rear collision is actually up and back. Then your head hits the seat and rolls back over the top of it a bit, especially on the lower OEM seats. The lotus seats on my NA left zero chance to hit the bar is a rear hit. I would like to move to '01+ seats for the higher headrests and because I hate the microsuade/alcantara on the 10ae seats.

[Martin]

Don't get Mazdaspeed seats like mine, same or similar material in the center section.

[kung fu jesus]

I love the self-inflicted wedgies I get from alcantara.

[NW Bill]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm curious if any of you guys have tried or have opinions on the dual density (aka "dual durometer") roll bar padding, discussed on http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/roll-bar-padding-sfi-vs-non-sfi/36263/page1/ and recommended by Keith Tanner (Flyin' Miata) in his "How to Build a High-Performance Mazda Miata MX-5." Apparently it is what he uses.

As far as I can tell, it is only made by BSCI but available through a number of dealers, (see: http://www.safedrives.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BSCI-DDpad;
http://www.apexperformance.net/prod-1603.htm;
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=2397;
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/roll-bar-padding-sfi-vs-non-sfi/36263/page1/; etc). Oddly, Flyin' Miata (and the other usual Miata parts dealers) don't seem to carry it.

With this, the inner layer (next to the bar) is SFI rated for maximum protection, while the outer layer is firm but softer. The idea is that SFI padding is intended for use with helmets and can be pretty hard on an unhelmeted head (or other body parts when used on door bars, etc), so the (removable) outer softer layer acts as a cushion to the inner SFI layer. For cars used on both street & track the softer outer layer can be removed when the car is on the track (and wearing a helmet) but put in place when the car is on the street.

The downsides seems to be that this padding is bulkier than usual and is somewhat more expensive. I also have not seen any covers that will fit this, but that seems a pretty minor concern.

If this works as advertised, it may go a long way to answering the problem of smacking your unhelmeted head on the roll bar (bad with SFI padding, worse without), especially if/when rearended (which just happened to me a few weeks ago, luckily at a fairly low speed).

Bill

[wannafbody]

Maybe it's because I have long arms and tilt the seat back to about 30 degrees but I clear a HD M2 sport with the stock seat and I'm almost 5' 11".

[RoadsterTech]

I'm going with the dual durometer stuff when mine gets back on the road.
A 2 week vacation due to a concussion was not fun.