Rollbar padding only sold in offset? Huh? Any engineers, builders or metal fab people to chime in?

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buddy350

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Just finished a 8 point roll cage and have been looking for some roll bar padding to put in areas around the driver.

Last time I built a cage was about 17 years ago and I seem to remember we always just used round foam padding with 1 3/4 inch center diameter.

Now all that seems to be out there for roll bar padding is what is called "offset".
I went ahead and purchased some offset padding only because I could not find just normal round padding anywhere and sure enough when I installed some of it I noticed right away it had a tendency to twist so that the thin side would turn towards the driver and the thick padded side would turn away from the driver.
That's a serious danger if a driver is out on the track and the padding were to twist or turn in the event of a accident the driver would be exposed to the thin side of the padding

This would not happen if the padding was a equal diameter all of the way around.

For the life of me I cannot understand why offset roll bar padding is the standard these days, just makes no sense.

I understand that padding should be fire resistant and so on and that could all still be achieved with equal diameter roll bar padding.

Anyone have any input on this matter?

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bucket

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Just apply a strip of 1/4" double sided tape to the inside of the padding. Preferably at the center of the 'thick' part.
 

TubeTruck

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More material towards the driver gives more protection. I wrap the center and ends in electrical tape to squeeze it onto the bar.
 

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Lowes or Home Depot. Any hvac or plumbing supplier.
 

Scott91370

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My guess is two fold on why it's this way.
1) Thick material for the occupants helmet to hit
2) The roll bar can be a tighter fit to the interior of the vehicle

I like the two sided tape suggestion or a zip tie on each end (not as athletically pleasing).
 

buddy350

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Got some solid ideas

Thanks

I’ll keep an eye out for those pool noodles and or some misc Hvac stuff.
 

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