wheel arch extensions

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wheel arch extensions

Postby Jin » Wed Apr 01, 2015 1:22 am

While I had the Quantum and fitted bigger wider wheels to it, the protrusion (at the front mostly) of the wheels did stick out a bit, I trawled the internet for a bespoke or universal wheel arch extension profile but came up blank, I even trawled though countless extrusion moulding catalogues to see if I could find anything that would do the trick but found nothing, hence the decision to make my own from black PVC tile trims

http://quantumforum.proboards.com/threa ... extensions

They were a success and did the job rather well, a massive extension wasn’t required just enough to cover about 10mm of tread poking out the side of the arch, the end result was subtle yet very effective and gave more detail to the car, the only hassle was making them since the rigid PVC moulding needed to be heated up and manipulated into place, not something you would want to do often.

Onto the Midas…..

As with the Quantum the front wheels did protrude out the side of the arches on the Midas even with the standard rover metro alloys on, the Vauxhall wheels I had machined to fit only stick out 1mm more – the net result is around 12-13mm.

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Not fancying making another set of tile trim extensions, and thinking I’m probably not the only person who has had the desire to add a small wheel arch extension on for whatever reason, I set about trying to get something made commercially, so I designed a profile that I felt would give the desired effect once extruded in flexible PVC, not as easy as it sounds since it had to be reworked 3 times to produce a profile that would extrude evenly, then I contacted several companies who specialise in both custom extrusions and full scale production runs in thousands of meters, once id whittled down the short list I paid for the extrusion die to be made and a prototype run produced.

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I set about trial fitting them, after one or two hiccups with adhesion failure of the double sided tape (would you believe not all double sided tapes are created equal?) where it started to peel over time I found the tape that was made foir the job in the shape of 3M VHB 4147F after hours and hours of comparing performance data of many brands of tape.

ever wondered what £96 of double sided tape looks like?

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Ok so there’s 33m of it and I can now get short rolls bulk discount to less than a tenner each.

So, tape applied, the 1mm rebate at the top hides the tape from view and seals the arch against the bodywork, the underside lip creates an aditional strong bond surface area for the whole assembly to attach to the car with but more importantly protects the paintwork (now vulnerable to chips thrown up by wider wheels) from damage.

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again, please excuse the state of the car, this is real world testing in action here


Additionally the soft nature of the moulding cushions the arch protrusion from knocks and scrapes without problem, they just absorb impact and bounce back – great for tight car parks or off-roading (maybe not in a Midas), they could be painted with a plasticiser but to be honest I think black is – well the new black, take a look at the high end BMWs and Mercs at the moment, all have gloss black highlights such as skirts and spoilers so the deep black fits in quite well, they are satin as standard but some back to black brings them up a deep gloss.

The flexibility is great conforming to all contours no problem and not deforming out of shape at all, the polymer used was developed specifically with this end product in mind.

The finished result looks better than I imagined it would and gives the car a more production feel.

Ill be having a full production run made in the next month or 2 and will bring them to market soon after, eventually creating a website and adding to the range in terms of sizes and styles, ill keep you posted.
https://easywider.co.uk/ universal flexible wheel arch extensions
Jin
 
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Re: wheel arch extensions

Postby Geoff Butcher » Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:48 pm

Jin,
By 'flexible PVC' I assume you mean plasticised PVC. There is often a problem with PS adhesives (and contact adhesives too) in that the plasticiser eventually migrates into the adhesive which turns into a slimy mess and lets go. Years ago where I worked we used an adhesive called Gelbond 12 which was plasticiser resistant but I don't know if it still exists.
Geoff
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Re: wheel arch extensions

Postby Jin » Thu Apr 02, 2015 10:00 pm

Hi
Yes your correct regarding the adhesive, I started off knowing nothing regarding plasticisers, low/high surface energy substrates, wet out etc and although I'm no expert I've had to learn a lot in the last few months, I've had one or 2 expensive mistakes on the way.
The reason I settles on the 3M VHB 4147 is because it is exactly that, plasticiser resistant.
Tape technology has moved on in leaps and bounds in recent years and I'm very impressed with this stuff.
So far so good with the arches on my car, they are holding up to the abuse of daily life rather well.
I'll be sticking a set on the wife's 4x4 in the near future, now that will be the test....
https://easywider.co.uk/ universal flexible wheel arch extensions
Jin
 
Posts: 454
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:33 pm

Re: wheel arch extensions

Postby wolfie » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:55 am

Nice work Jin, you've just saved me the hassle of working out how to sort my arches as I have the same problem with my wheels protruding. I'll keep an eye out for when you get them into production and start saving the pennies
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Re: wheel arch extensions

Postby Jin » Fri Apr 03, 2015 7:31 pm

Thanks mate.
discount for Midas owners of course. .
https://easywider.co.uk/ universal flexible wheel arch extensions
Jin
 
Posts: 454
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:33 pm

Re: wheel arch extensions

Postby Geoff Butcher » Fri Apr 03, 2015 8:31 pm

Jin wrote:Hi
Yes your correct regarding the adhesive, I started off knowing nothing regarding plasticisers, low/high surface energy substrates, wet out etc and although I'm no expert I've had to learn a lot in the last few months, I've had one or 2 expensive mistakes on the way.
The reason I settles on the 3M VHB 4147 is because it is exactly that, plasticiser resistant.
Tape technology has moved on in leaps and bounds in recent years and I'm very impressed with this stuff.
So far so good with the arches on my car, they are holding up to the abuse of daily life rather well.
I'll be sticking a set on the wife's 4x4 in the near future, now that will be the test....


Hi, Jin,
Have you got a link to a data sheet for that tape? I can't find it, although 4945 looks similar
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Re: wheel arch extensions

Postby Jin » Sat Apr 04, 2015 12:11 am

https://easywider.co.uk/ universal flexible wheel arch extensions
Jin
 
Posts: 454
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