Removing front wings

[cuffn]

Hi All

I've not posted for quite a while as I took my car off the road a while back to deal with the bottom of the front wings and a few other jobs that I just couldn't do when driving it every day. I have popped in every now and again to the forum and caught up with goings on and really want to now get on with fixing the car up.

Just a quick question to anyone who has done it before: Are there any tricks to removing the front wings? I've already removed all the bolts in the offside one but have a suspicion that breaking the mastic and underseal along the join is going to be far from easy. Will heating it with a heatgun soften it up or is it not affected in that way amd needs to be cut through?

Hoping to spend a few days down the workshop next week and want to try and make the most of the time available.

Cheers

 

[GPF]

Hi Nathan,

When I removed mine ready for new ones I cut through the mastic on the top joint by pushing a large stiff kitchen knife through the join and sliding/working it all along the joint from under the bonnet.

It wasn't too bad but was fairly hard work - heating the joint up first would possibly have made it easier.

I think I cut through the mastic at the rear joint under the wheelarch with a craft type knife from memory, then just levered the wing out and away.

Good luck!

 

[chrisg]

Nathan

I note from your post that your car has ABS and that the wing you're refering to is the O/S or drivers wing. I had to remove my drivers wing ~ 5 yrs ago to access the ABS unit, slightly different shape but the fundamental mountings are the same:

Difficult job if it's never been removed before !

Yes, heating the mastic with a hot air gun will definitely help. Don't forget the wing is held onto the A-pillar with 3 x 13mm bolts which you may not be able to see or get at because of the mastic, the ABS pump and the scuttle channel (plastic water diverter above the ABS pump) make access very tricky !

Once, you've removed these 3 and the bonnet line bolts , with the exception of the front mounts where it meets the bump and under panel you should be able to remove it.

Chris

 

[cuffn]

Thanks for the replies guys - I'll make sure I take the heat gun with me as well as a variety of knives and slicing implements. I had remembered the three screws behind the ABS pump on the A-pillar as I remember a post some time ago where somebody hadn't known about them and couldn't understand why the wing wouldn't budge!

I'll let you know how I get on at some point.

Cheers

 

[cuffn]

I don't want to be accused of jumping the gun as I haven't even got the wings off yet, but am considering the best way to re-fit them once repaired. I want to try and achieve a near factory like finish so wondered whether I need to remove the excess mastic from both the wing edge and body and then use completely new mastic to reseal or leave everything as is and just add extra mastic. Also not sure what kind of mastic to use - is it just brushable seam sealer? I seem to remember some mention of something called Silkaflex or similar. I guess under the wheelarches I can just use standard stone chip spray to re-seal the wing edge to body and blend in with the existing underbody sealer.

Any help from those who have been through this before will be gratefully recieved.

Cheers