SLR Front wings for the 944

[J.C944TurboMan]

I have come across these front wings on the German eBay site, not my cup of tea! They seem to have a Mercedes SLR look about them.
I will need some repairs to my front wings; can anyone recommend a good repairer within the Northwest area, coach builder or body restoration person who can slightly rebuild the front wings? I will travel further if need be.
If I recall correctly, I seen some front wings on the forum that had been rebuilt on the lower parts and they looked great.
Thanks best regards J.C

 

[A.Wang]

Are you keen to keep the car original, or are you not too bothered about that?

If you're not aiming to keep the car 100% original, you might want to consider fibreglass front wings. The moulds are made directly from the original (OEM metal) wings, so the fit would be perfect. You'll also save quite a few kilos too! []

 

[944 man]

Im keen to buy a set of these perfectly fitting GRP fronts and I would love to hear from where they can be purchased... []

 

[J.C944TurboMan]

I am keeping it original steel wings . Thanks

 

[J.C944TurboMan]

Check the PorscheShop they sell both steel and GRP front wings :http://www.porscheshop.co.uk/acatalog/porsche_944_body_panels.html
Turbo front wings £420 a side Ooch !

 

[944 man]

My point was that theyre crap and dont fit, not that I couldnt find them.....

 

[ChasR]

Do any replica FG panels fit properly on cars? Hell, even Steel Flip fronts are becoming more commonplace on Minis...

 

[Peter Empson]

I'd suggest that the good ones can be made to fit well, but the fibreglassing process does not make an identical copy, there will always be a degree of distortion.

The wings on my car were much cheaper than those mentioned above but I think they look great and most people would need to be told they're not metal. However this was only possible thanks to the hours the bodyshop spent working on them.

Cost wise I'd say there's not much in it by the time you compare them to buying original wings once you've factored in the labour, but the lack of corrosion worries and light weight are what make them worthwhile for me.

 

[J.C944TurboMan]

strange way of putting your point accross !!!

 

[PSH]

As Pete has said they are unlikely to be good fits although this will be mainly due to being made cheaply rather than the fact they are fibreglass. Such panels are generally made by small cottage type industries who see a way to recreate body panels using a medium that most could do for themselves in their own shed/workshop and sadly some that are produced look as if they had...lol
It is possible however to create a near perfect replacement in fibreglass if your so inclined but the work involved far out weighs the cost of buying a new steel wing. Main problems using fibreglass are warping/twisting and shrinkage, the former can be greatly reduced by letting the panel completely harden before removing it from the mould and not remove it while still in a green state( which most seem to do..lol), doing this and laying the wing up correctly unsuring no air is trapped and the right amount of layers are used in the correct places to add strength will produce a fairly good wing. The shrinkage issue can be addressed too but this involves a lot more work to make a perfect sized wing, shrinkage rates vary between manufactures and from the amount of catalisyt used not to mention ambient temp. However if your prepared to do the sums you can make( yes carve to shape) a new pattern to the correct dimensions that would produce a matching wing to the original when removed from the mould.
Now since most of these companies that supply the glass wings do not have the skill or indeed the will to go to such lengths , this alas will never happen when they can lay a few layers over an original wing to produce a mould and then rush them out as quick as possible before the mould is no longer of any use(a mould will probably produce 20 wings before it starts to show signs it needs replacing, more if done well)

Of course if money is no object you could always lay up in carbonfibre and use a vac chamber... very costly ( F1 level) but hey it can be done and I know a good place in Godmaling Surrey that produces very good work....[][]


Pete

 

[J.C944TurboMan]

On my first post I did say "Not my cup of tea " I posted the SLR style wings because they were diffrent thats all ! I do believs the GRP wings are mainly used for track or race cars to reduce weight , so the perfect fit is not so important when hitting a tyre wall ! .
I am more intrested in having my original front wings slightly repaired . Can you or any one from the forum recommend anyone who does this line of work ? Thanks best regards J.C

 

[PSH]

I don't know what part of the country you are in JC but if near London try 911 bodyshop in Wembley 020 8900 0572, I've used them for 11 years and can vouch for their good work.
In that time they have done a complete respray ( glass out) front panel repaired twice , N/S sill , N/S rear wing , rear panel , O/S rear wing and the car is due to go back in soon to have the N/S front wing sorted so i guess you could say I've used them a lot. Oh and before anyone asks no I havn't had lots of accidents. Most is rust being sorted before it developes , hit a few times by debris on motorways , kids throwing stones (not intenioally at my car I might add)and one small knock earlier this year when I knocked a metal pole...lol
The car is guards red and you will not be able to spot any difference in colour so give them a call and ask for chris.. say Pete sent you and I'm sure he'll take care of yours or anyone elses car here who may need bodywork sorted.

[8D][8D]

Pete

 

[J.C944TurboMan]

Thanks Pete , I am based in the North West area so a little bit to far to travel , but once again thanks for you recommendation much obliged regards J.C