Fender flares, Permanent attachment or removeable attachment . Options

[GTPatrick]

Folks ,I have a question for you .

On fender flares we have either steel or fiberglass items . They should be attached permanently by welding or glueing/fiberglassing them on . Or they can be attached by being removeable by using screws/dzus fasteners .

What is your opinion of being permanent vs. removeable ? Also if one uses the removeable process , how do you attach them , screws or dzus fasteners ?

Does anyone hqve any photos of the screw/dzus method of attachment ?

Thanks to your input on this . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)



GTP (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

[dion9146]

GTP,

Let's take my car for example (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sunglasses.gif)

The evolution of my dzus fastened flares started back in the early 90's when I was completely bitten by the autocross bug and everything I did to my first teener was race inspired or meant to make the car lighter or faster. I was running in AP and needed all of the help I could get. One of those mods was to add much wider rubber along with a 5 bolt conversion, and with that required flares.

A friend of mine was also running a nice steel flared car in the same class, but when it came to making suspension adjustments on the fly after each run it was always a pain because he had to remove the wheels for most changes. At the same time, I saw a car similar to mine at Watkins Glen and decided that removable flares was the way to add the space I needed and allow for quicker and easier adjustment of the suspension. Plus, I thought adding flares like this was a lighter option than bonding them to the car and also wouldn't require a repaint of the car.

Fast forward. A friend of mine owned the car that I currently have. When he was building it, he liked my removable flare idea so much that he copied it and added the fender beading for a nicer touch of civility. He never had plans to autocross the car (and never did), but liked the look. Naturally, when I bought the car I already
Liked the look, and the removable flares have made it nice at times when working on the suspension especially when I changed out the suspension bushings and swaybar bushings last year.

They are solid as a rock and I would argue do not suffer from the same cracking that other glass flares do at times. I can sit on them, and they don't move at all.

Personally, if I ever built another street GT replica, I might be convinced to go with steel flares only because they look more factory. But, I would also instantly miss the ease of working on the car, and I'd bet the factory might be attaching them my way if the 914 would have had a longer racing life. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i1112.photobucket.com-2071-1318855821.1.jpg)
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i1112.photobucket.com-2071-1318855822.2.jpg)

Dion