The Rollbar

Hard Dog Hard Core Single Diagonal Roll Bar

The roll bar install is about an 8 hour job that involves much cutting of interior trim and drilling of holes in the body. It was done by Eunos Custom Automotive and I was happy to not witness it. The end result was a very aggressive looking Miata that does inspire some weird behaviour in other drivers.

This bar allows full seat travel, and does not interfere with the hardtop (with the side latches removed). There is a danger of hitting ones head in a fender bender so SFI approved padding is a must. Im 58, so I can drive in my normal seat position, and am not too close to the bar. Taller drivers may have problems. It has affected the seatbelt retraction - they need to be coaxed back in, but you get used to it. The bar stiffened up the car significantly. Many rattles, including the annoying passenger seat rattle, were eradicated or dampened. The stiffening effect offset the nearly 50 lbs in added weight. We had to remove the factory wind blocker, because it didnt fit and we didnt want to cut it. The upside is that we were able to sell it, and it never did much anyway.

We finished off the install by having the boot cover cut to go around the back stays and a custom vinyl cover made to hide the SFI padding on the main hoop. After some ridiculous quotes from local automotive upholstery shops (500 bucks!) we had Rose Upholstery in North Vancouver do the job for $115, including tax and materials.

A note on visibility: rearward visibility is often cited as a concern with single diagonal roll bars, but in truth, its not that bad. About 1/8th of the rear view mirror is obscured by the bar, but this has never been a problem. Instead, when I look in the rear view I think to myself, Cool, roll bar!.