Do to the lack of good metal valances available, I am considering fiberglass. Does anyone have experience with these? I'm concerned with strength, fitment, etc. Any words of wisdom will be appreciated. Or if anyone has a decent front and or rear valance they would be willing to part with, I am interested.

Thanks,
John

I have a fiberglass air dam, front and rear bumpers as well as fender flares on a track car. I too was concerned about strength. It has been absolutely a non issue. I have hit many cones at autocrosses and had the car to nearly 130 at Thunderhill many times. In terms of fitament I would anticipate that you will have to do some sanding, painting and hole drilling to make them fit. Find out who make the best fitting part and buy it knowing there will be work to some work to do.

I can attest to him hitting many cones. in fact, he hardly ever misses them.

There was a black painted fiberglass one on my car. Replaced by a previous owner at some point. No real issues excepts after a few mishaps there were white scrape marks under the bumps for the suspension mounts. After a curb hit in the winter the whole thing tore off. I'm replacing with LE replica from 914rubber. It has no pre drilled holes in the mounting tabs, but looks like a very good fit.

I have a front spoiler in f/glass on my car it is a serious piece of #hit and came from the USA (sorry) really it was made by someone I can't compare to .
Thin gelcoat and bondo to full the tight corners cause they used the wrong cloth in the post gelcoat layup.
Would never try to stick f/glass to a steel its all wrong,maybe thats just me but thats fact really,pick a good supplier and do the research on the best part.

Steel is nice when you can find it, but I'd just go with FG if it works.

I have a stock FG one - never mounted - in case I want to go back to stock from a LE style. I got it from Pelican 10+ years ago, and it looks like a nice part.

Fit is always a trick and every valence I've ever had required attention. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to use FG parts wherever it makes sense.

Not sure if this will be on point....
I got a rear under the bumper valance from Sheridan about a year ago and while it might fit a stock teener it had to be cut in half and widened some two inches to fit his standard wide body. He was quite aware I was using it for one of his wide-bodies and wasn't all that helpful post sale ($275).
And yes, custom vehicles require custom work, but a fitment issue that far off is more like a hunrit buck part from China.

Thank you all for the words are of wisdom. I'll do a little bit of homework before making a decision. In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes open for good metal valances.

Thanks,
John

Rob, those were all calculated and part of my strategy for TTOD!

I had a fiberglass front valence for quite a while. It was OK, but low enough that it took damage from the blocks at the front of parking spaces, or possibly from curbs at the front of parking spaces. The underside was rather chewed up, especially where it went around the torsion bar caps. (I didn't cause all of the damage, but I will admit to being less careful at least a few times when parking.) It did withstand multiple cone hits.

When I had my car painted, they took the valence off the car. Due to the damage, it was very flimsy and flopped around. I'm actually amazed it didn't break into multiple pieces. I decided not to put it back on the car. I have a metal one now that I have to paint and install.... Any year now....

--DD

A benefit of my fiberglass ones is you can hide a tow bar mount
A cheap insurance policy you can't do with steel.

http://shop.914rubber.com/searchquick-submit.sc?keywords=tow

Yea seems to be a common issue,it appears makers of these parts know they don't fit but refuse to retool moulds due to the cost and just carry on making ill fitting parts,shame really as not everybody has the skills make the parts fit.
Some of the layup work can leave a lot to be desired,poor QC and unskilled labour helps little,this usually leads to stress cracking in the gelcoat surface...very hard to fix.

Metal is best, but you only have stock options.
Big difference between a (front) valance and a dam, fiberglass valance holds up just fine as long as you don't bash it into a curb.
A race dam for street won't last long, although there's a dam with a heavy rubber bottom section that will work on the street if you take care.

I still have a fiberglass rear from AA new in the box. It's the very thin one without any cut outs because I had a quad outlet muffler at the time. Tried to install it but it needs to be cut in half and lengthened. No way it would fit. Also it was totally unfinished on the back side, lots of very raw fiberglass. Need to wear gloves if you try to install one. In other words a piece of *hit.

Danny

Yes thats my flex dam. I run it without the rubber .
The rubber is more of a race application. We made the fiberglass in a double layup and is strong enough to support the rubber. We are doing another run on these in the next few weeks.
I love mine. It make the front look more aggressive especially on my 75.

Mark

F/glass won't rust

Sad fact,sounds like a less than quality item,the raw finish on the back isn't a real issue if the right resin and QC has been done....there we go again ????.
Clean it up with course sandpaper and please wear a mask ok,put a coat of paint or underseal on it.

Do you have a pic on an early bumper car?

I want one of these, are they in stock yet?