Just thought i would put this up to save everyone some time and money in the long run. Bought the Global West wonder bar and was extremely disappointed. Got it from Summit for 40 dollars and it wouldnt even mount do to not fitting between the front frame rails. I flipped it and tried both ways and still nothing. Basically looks like bad quality to me. Just made a bar with a mounting plate and put some paint on it. Sure i could have made it fit with some grinding but just seemed wrong to spend money on something i have to make fit. I ended up going with the UMI wonder bar and installed without a problem. Great product and great quality.

 

Mine fit perfectly out of the box.

JamesC

 

Wish I could have saved you some money.
I installed a global west wander bar on my 91 RS. Looked at close when I got it and right away say the tabs were not perfectly aligned on the bar. If you set one on the edge of a flat table the other side would stick up a small amount.
Went to install it, could not go on without some holes filed. Measures and swa they were off a small amount.

Makes me wonder about the quality of the rest of their parts. (but not much because I wont buy their parts again).
Luckily my 89 already had a TDS when I bought the car so the GW hangs in my garage.

 

Yea i hear ya bro, the quality is terrible. It literally looks like they took a pipe, made some rough measurements and put some mounting brackets on it. For me the holes lined up but there was too much material on the pipe to fit between the front frame rails. Like i said i could have ground it down but i didnt want to put a band-aid fix on a new paid for product.

 

You read Camaro Performers Magazine and they are always putting some GW parts on a car. I suppose though if they gave me some parts for free or close to it I would not say anthing bad about them as well.

 

UMI makes some nice stuff.

Too bad about the Global West stuff. Did you return to Summit for a refund?

 

Did you put the UMI one next to the GW one, before putting the UMI one on, and see where the problem was with the GW one?

 

 

yea summit let me return it without any issues. Well without putting them next to each other i just knew the UMI one would work because the ends are tapered versus the GW one was just a bar from one bracket end to the other. The UMI bar had brackets on the ends and then the bar started between of the 2 mounting plates pretty much like the stock ones that came on some thirdgens.

 

lol yea i guess you cant complain when its free.

 

After seeing ads on craigs in the items wanted for a "free car wanted, must be fully insured". I would not be surprised if that type of person would not bitch about not getting any money with their free parts!

 

When it comes to four letter words...."FREE" is one that everyone likes.

 

Well you know how they say stuff like "40 is the new 30".
Free is the new "that cost too much i need it for less than free"

 

love the UMI bar ipurchased woulda liked some sorta factory stamp or a sticker for my $65 bar but it still looks great and NO issues

 

PM me an address. I have an extra UMI sticker from all my UMI stuff I can mail you.

 

you might want to check the packaging yours came in, mine came with a small decal in the instructions to put on after.

 

Please "stack" large photos so we don't have to deal with a stretched page.
Thanks
Thanks, for fixing that, much easier to read, view, and reply now.

 

Sux about the Global West bar... I also have a UMI wonder-bar and agree that the quality and fitment are outstanding.

 

I love my UMI bar, perfect no issue product. Same with my SFI's

 

Hey guys are the aftermarket bars any better as far as strength or somehting compared to the factory ones?

 

stronger, yes, is it needed strength, probably not.

the aftermarket ones are usually shiny, and people buy shiny parts

 

Thats interesting, so I wonder if there are guys out there who actually have factory ones but then still replace them with aftermarket. I spose. Do all third gens have the holes for where they go, or do they need to be drilled?

 

Long ago, before many/most people even knew what the Wonderbar was (I stumbled on the info in a book), I purchased the Global West bar only to find that my IROC was already equipped with one . Since the bar goes under the sway bar installation of the proper bar isn't an issue.

JamesC

 

Global West wonder bar fit perfectly on my 1988 GTA (I guess the GTA didn't come with this bar from the factory?). I also purchased and used the rear control arms and panhard bar - fit perfectly and very high quality.

 

I have gw sfc for stock exhaust and I dunno if it was the sag in my car but the angle that it mounted to the driver side frame was off but I just built it up and its pretty close now but I like the shape of it and was not a huge deal but that's just me

 

thanks, i was thinking of buying that...