Fibreglass bodykit

[lukeb]

Hi all,

just wondering if anyone knows who makes tech 1/2 kit out of fibreglass and how much they cost? or know anywhere that could make them up?

cheers

[Gouki]

try http://www.mcrallying.uk.com

fibreglass replica tech 2 kit.

[lukeb]

thats quite expensive! i thought they would be about half that price. its very similar money to what people pay for an original kit isn't it?

[bootyman]

Why would you want a fibre glass one anyway mate? They look crap and will crack with the minimum of stress. BMW made the kits out of plastic for a reason and like you said, the fibre glass is similar money to the real thing. No brainer really if you ask me

[lukeb]

cause i gonna be using my car for drifting, and have already got a tech2 kit on it. i was thinking that it would be better to get a fibreglass kit and sell my kit cause it would be cheaper when hitting cones

[bootyman]

You'd be buying a new kit every week then dude. The fibre glass kit will fall apart. I know cause i've has lots of cars with glass kits. I just sold a cab with one for Ԛ£2.5k and the car cost me Ԛ£15k to build. It fell apart the 1st time it hit a big pot hole and both side skirst cracked. In the end we decided it was better to rip all the kit off and rebuild the car as repairing it would have meant throwing more good money after bad cause everytime you hit a pothole, you'll be back in the bodyshop having repairs

[Gouki]

Ben is right Luke, Fibreglass isnt all that its cracked up to be (hope that wrent a pun!) In comparison much weaker than plastic. Amazes me why they still make kits in fibreglass, maybe cos they make more money outta it or plastic more expensive to make?

If you got a tech2 kit on there why not just remove it and replace with bog standard bumpers like from the 318iS. They cant be that expensive plus you can still keep the tech2 when your not drifting, just a thought.

[Moofles]

fibreglass is very easy to make things out of, that's why just get a mould and lay it...

problem is, it isn't flexible like the rest of the car. I had a fibreglass kit (same rear bumper and skirts as you gouki, but also had the rest of the kit) and blending it is not a good idea, that's where you get the problems. The bumpers were not blended to the bodywork, but the skirts did "look" blended - on something like a skirt, where the edge is a corner and not meant to be a smooth piece (as though it was part of the car) you can use a different technique - you can get something used on boats which seals between planks on the deck. It's a flexible kind of stuff that comes in those squeezy tubes you put in a "squeezy gun" - lol - the same kind of tubes that can contain expanding foam, and other kinds of household stuff.
This won't crack, and can be painted too.

I have experience of having a blended "item" like you ben! in your case it was the whole car, and being bonded on, it just shook apart when you hit stuff hard (depends on how toughly bonded on how hard it needs to be tho).

In my case the rear lights were blended in, and through both different expansion rates due to heat (between fibreglass and metal) and probably flex of the body in that area, to a degree, it cracked many times before i eventually fixed it well enough (after which it was fine for the 6-12 months that i kept the car).

it was really a case of going OTT on the bonding and using different kinds of filler (fibreglass paste first of all, very strong, then normal filler).

anyway back on topic, just take the kit off and replace with normal bumpers imo!

[dazleeds]

have to agree with all above
i have worked for a plasterer for 4years and we always made our moulds from fibreglas which is fine as we always braced em up well plus most of the time the mould will never be moved

however with a bodykit this aint the case at all

everytime you drive theres vibrations going thru the kit and as they are paper thin they just cant take the movement

run a mile mate either keep ur kit or change back to standard


or buy my skirts n pods as spares

[lukeb]

reason why i dont just want standard bumpers is because i like the look of the kit, it was just a thought as i thought fibreglass would be cheap (as it is 2nd hand) and would be much easier to repair/replace than a standard kit.

if not then il leave the standard kit, thanks for input.

[Hyperion]

over here is SA most guys put on the fibreglass IS kits on the cars, it only costs you R1400.00 (130 pounds)

[Moofles]

everytime you drive theres vibrations going thru the kit and as they are paper thin they just cant take the movement

in my experience of fibreglass kits, it's not the kit itself, the fibreglass is pretty strong there (with respect to vibrations - but would crack rather than bend if it came to it, compared to plastic/metal), it's the bonding to the car that will cause trouble...so if there's an accident i'd expect the kit to crack rather than bend (and be repairable), but vibration wise it'd be ok.

[dazleeds]

everytime you drive theres vibrations going thru the kit and as they are paper thin they just cant take the movement

in my experience of fibreglass kits, it's not the kit itself, the fibreglass is pretty strong there (with respect to vibrations - but would crack rather than bend if it came to it, compared to plastic/metal), it's the bonding to the car that will cause trouble...so if there's an accident i'd expect the kit to crack rather than bend (and be repairable), but vibration wise it'd be ok.

were assuming theyre actualy using a decent amount of matting on these kits

i bought 1 in error once and i swear with the sun behind it when ya held the panels up they were like mondeo bumpers lol

sorry may have worded my other post slightly wrong but bottom line is cheapo fibreglass kits are shite
dnt waste ya money

[Moofles]

yeah you need to have enough layers, certainly