Moen CSR2145CH 5-Foot Curved Shower Rod, Chrome

I have a curse that takes simple projects and turns them into nightmares. First off, I meant to buy brushed nickel and screwed up and bought chrome. I knew I was doomed. But don't despair, this is actually a good review. Maybe not of my contractor skills, but the product is good.I measured carefully before buying. I measured multiple times. It was going to be close, but it appeared it would fit without needing to cut it. If I did need to cut it, no big deal. (Uh huh.) I forgot to account for the curve, and I measured in a spot where I did not actually wind up putting it. The place I did wind up putting it.......was cursed. What was undetectable to my eye was a slight bowing of the wall adjacent to the tub surround. Down the rabbit hole we went.The first obstacle was that the space was narrower. There was some kind of weird bowing of the wall there, ever so slight. The bar was too long by about 1/4". Ugh. I didn't have a suitable blade to use my table saw. A hacksaw became an exercise in trying to cut into a hard, metallic greased eel. It's curved. Try to hold onto that. It was fun. My garage is a disaster, since I recently moved, and I have no vise or way to clamp something set up yet. Good times.In a flash of brilliance, I recalled this handy device called an "angle grinder." It was still a little exciting to try to use an angle grinder with both hands while stepping on the greased eel to hold it in place. But, whew, mission accomplished. Recommended: a second set of hands or a bench vise.On to the next fiasco: studs in weird, and inconsistent places. You might expect that if there is a stud on one side, you might have the mirror image on the other side. Nope. Better yet, they do not include any suitable wood screws with the hardware, so a quest ensued. See above note about disaster that is my garage. Recommended: yeah, it was dumb I didn't do that first, knowing that I have a project curse. Be prepared for that scenario.With correct set of fasters in hand, holes drilled, bar cut, and everything ready to go, I put the bar in place, and screwed it down. Only to find that the end cap wouldn't snap into place on one side. W..T..A..... Nothing I did would make that thing snap on. One side...no problem. The other...nope. I had even made sure they went on before I mounted the bar. I'm a freaking engineer. How is this possible???I finally figured out that there was something about the way the bracket was sitting on the wall that was interfering. In retrospect, I probably could have shimmed it a bit to make it sit out from the wall a little more. That would likely have given me the clearance I needed. Instead I did the ~smart~ thing, and moved the brackets a little higher. After filling the existing holes and painting them over and letting them dry enough. <sigh>I finally got the thing up there, despite the hijinks and detours. I had wanted this rod for my previous place, but since I was going to be moving, didn't see much point. I just recently redone my master bath, which came with a lavender and purple motif, replete with Tinker Bell wallpaper border, to Responsible Adult motif, and this bar looks great.The bar itself is easy enough to install, once you sort out the logistics.Some recommendations:- Get some spare anchor bolts. I've had the ends of a couple of these sheer off with other products (not this one), and finding yourself short a couple sucks. Having some on hand may save you grief and time.- Make sure you have wood screws on hand should you run into studs. Some #8's and #10's in 1.5" - 1.75" length is a good bet.- Be prepared to cut this down. A hacksaw works, but is definitely not fun without some way to clamp it down or a second set of hands. Watch the angle of your cut. You need to maintain the angle on the end of the bar and want that as straight as you can get it. If you cut it too short, your are screwed. The end cap won't cover the end of the bar, if you cut it too short. Think ahead about how you will go about that.- Don't forget to account for the bow of the rod. You may need to mount this further back to prevent it from sticking out too far. Mine is a good 3 inches back from the front edge of the surround.- Mount it high enough to avoid issues with the edge of the surround being too close, etc. Caulking can make the end cap not snap on.- Think about how high you need to mount the brackets. 75" - 77" inches is about standard for hanging a shower curtain. If you have to put the brackets higher than that, your curtain may hang to high from floor. This was actually my biggest problem. I had to hang this above the surround. But if I mounted it high enough to get a little distance from the top of the surround, my curtain would have been at about 80", which was way to high. So I had to fight the weird wall to get this hung at a workable height. It's still a tad high, despite a mere 1/4" clearance between the bracket and the surround. So give that some scrutiny and it will save you some potential grief.- If an end cap won't go on, think about shimming before you move the brackets. Just a 1/16th - 1/8th of an inch more clearance might do the trick.- A stud finder may be helpful. For some reason, mine couldn't accurately find the studs behind the surround, potentially due to electrical wiring nearby or metal in the walls. Not sure why. But if you can figure out where your studs are first, that will save you some grief.My installation was a little more challenging than most people will probably encounter, but a little extra preparation will help get around that.I knocked off one star because I detest when manufacturers don't include good instructions or enough hardware. It wouldn't kill them to throw a couple extra wall anchors in, and a couple of wood screws. They really should also address how to cut the bar down. They don't discuss the angle or how, which some people would find useful info. I was prepared for that, but others might not be and some additional detail there would have been good. They should also perhaps, address the fact that everything may not be flush and you might have an issue with snapping on end caps. I'd wager good money that I am not alone in running into that. So, one star off for that stuff.

Great product, molly bolts are fine as of 12/13. Drilled a couple of wrong holes, but that's my fault for not being careful where I wanted it and where my studs were relative to the tub. Ended up needing 4 wood screws due to layout of my wall studs. You need to buy those, about 2" will do, if you want more sturdiness and your tub/wall setup has the studs there.A good 1 hr project from gathering tools to cleanup, with the right tools (drill, pilot bit and main bit, pencil with eraser, Phillips screwdriver, and some wall caulk for mistakes). My bad for not remembering what my dad taught me, but I was able to teach my kids about many aspects of things we've forgotten. Like, knocking for hollowness in walls and erasing pilot hole marks with their eraser.First decide how much out you want from tub and how high, working around studs as you wish or with one wood screw (not supplied) in a stud for sturdiness. For wood screws, you don't need to do the molly bolt sized pilot hole. If you do and there is wood undernead, just fill with wall caulk before you screw in the wood screws so steam doesn't get at the wood easily.Pick symmetrical first hole on each side of shower wall and then drill the pilot holes (1 each side). Attach the assembly (shower curtain on pole and covers facing each wall) loosely on one hole each side. Mark the other 2 holes each side, hang the rod offset by moving the one hole to the other side of the mount bracket so you can drill your marked holes and not worry about your setup falling to the ground or needing another person to hold it up while you drill the other 2 holes. Then attach each side, and add cover plates and you are all set.My setup was lucky in that one side was all wood screws, and the other side were 2 molly and 1 screw, so it is sturdy. YMMV.

Bought this to replace a no-screw friction-fit rod from IKEA. It's a solid enough item, decently priced, and it's all stainless steel so it won't rust. The wall brackets seem well fabricated, with good stampings and welds, and the trim plates are neatly made. The chrome finish is actually quite nice, smooth and ripple-free. They supply sturdy drywall expansion anchors and screws, though these don't appear to be stainless. It was easy to install using a drill, screwdriver, measuring tape, and level - 15 minutes, tops. Once installed, it seems steady and secure. It certainly adds a lot of extra room in the shower - family members said "you could throw a party in here" and "there's room for a parade".My only quibble is with the length of the rod. The description and instructions say it is sized for an opening that is 59"-60" wide. I'm a "measure 3 or 4 times, cut once" kind of guy, so I know for certain that my shower opening is 59-1/4" wide. The instructions make a big deal about being sure the bar is seated down tightly to the base of the brackets - well, I CAN'T. The rod is at least 3/4" too short to do that. If I fit it tightly on one end as shown in the picture above, the rod hangs out of the trim on the other end by almost 3/4". If my shower actually was 60", it would be even worse. It's more appropriate for an opening that is 58"-59" wide, not 60", which kind of sucks, because a standard tub is 60" long.The brackets have a post/sleeve that slides into the each end of the rod by 2" or more, so the rod is securely anchored in my opening and doesn't wobble or move. But the sleeve kind of sticks out like an ankle between the top of your shoe and the bottom of your pants when they are hemmed too short.

This is SO much nicer than the old straight 'tension' rod we had. Was easy to position and install. I read online direction to mount it 3" inboard of the old straight rod. I wish I had gone more like 1 to 1.5" inboard instead. But still gives much more room in the shower.All parts of this are metal, and much heavier weight rod than the ones at the local building store in a similar price range. Plus it's a solid bar, not telescoping. So there's no joint to catch on when you slide the curtain across.Someone said it's not strong enough to hang towels on, but I find it way stronger than the old tension rod, from which we hung towels, coats, you name it. I wouldn't do chin-ups from it though. ;)The end caps are highly polished chrome, the rod itself is not brushed, but not highly polished either; it's somewhere in-between. The end caps are slim and give this a really sleek, high-end look.

Arrived only in a plastic bag, item it dented and damaged upon arrival. Support for Moen currently is nearly non existent. So far, very disappointed. Will update if item get replaced and I can actually use it.EDIT: amazon sent a replacement and it arrived in perfect condition. Install was easy and it looks nice up. Install was fairly easy, had to shave 1/4” off to make it fit. Ensure you have the decor caps on the right way as they’re not round. Now the true test will be how it holds up over time, I’m hoping for no rust! Upping my stars for now to reflect the replacement I received.

This shower curtain rod will change your life! I've always HATED having the seam in the middle of those adjustable tension rods where your curtain hooks always catch on. On this one they slide effortlessly from side to side and the added few inches of shoulder room is amazing! Yes, it's more time consuming for installation than putting up a tension rod, but it's so worth the extra effort for not having to fight with the curtain hooks every day. I will never, ever go back to having a crappy tension rod again!

This rod is not adjustable like the reference video shows. I made the mistake of trying to install it anyways following the enclosed directions. The instructions have you cut the rod down to the size of your opening. But after I cut and test fit the rod I found the curvature dimensions were all screwy. Should have returned it.

This was easy to install, although you do need a metal saw. Only cut off approximately 1/4". You might want to put painters tape or something like it on the wall where you're putting the pole up so you don't damage your wall. I used to have the pressure rod and this is much nicer looking and great not having the bump to roll over.