My theory is that cracks initiated quite quickly in the original chassis (ie micro cracks that are not visible) - without the bolt in brace, they also propagated quite quickly and became visible (we shared this experience with many early owners and had a rebuild). The bolt-in brace has at least slowed propagation for those with the early chassis but with the number of cars with the brace now showing cracks, it looks like not being enough. The good news so far is that the replacement chassis with welded in brace (and other changes?) appears not to crack...
I agree JMD, a bolted in brace (from scratch) should be as good as a welded brace of similar geometry if fitted properly. As mine appears to be fitted in the factory before the vehicle was sold I’m reasonably hopeful that there were no cracks already present, my main area of concern is the lower wishbone brackets which don’t have the welded fillets so I’m going to ask MMC about that.
