Amazon: Smith & Deakin fibreglass wings - any good?

[tsetse1986]

My driver's side front wing is showing its age and I really don't want to spend £500 on another metal one. I see the Smith & Deakin fibreglass wings are much more affordable (£150) but are they any good? I have experienced good, bad and ugly with Morris Minor glass fibre panels so I know if you choose wisely you can get a good 'un.

Can anyone offer any advice (or a good driver's side wing ;-)?

Tim

[123GT-AMAZON]

Hi ya ,

Honestly don’t bother buy a real deal metal wing protect it and paint nicely money well spent think how many years it will last ( fibre glass may not rot but does break down so not bulletproof ) .
It will de value your car if using fibre glass and when spending good Money for the repaint I can never and would never bring myself to paint a fibre glass panel .

Keep it quality and worst case pop a few quid away each month £100 x 5 months you got your real solid steel wing

Good luck & sense sending your way

Kind regards
Robert.w

[tsetse1986]

I would much rather stick with steel and my son Matt has kindly offered to help repair the original over Xmas so it looks like that's what I'll do.

Thanks for helping make my mind up!

Tim

[amazon69]

Especially on that beautiful GT of yours Tim.

[JC T ONE]

I can only agree, plastic has no place on a nice Volvo.

Do yourself a favor & fit a set of innerwings in alloy, your car (and your wallet will love you for it.



Jens Christian

[tsetse1986]

Originally Posted by JC T ONE

I can only agree, plastic has no place on a nice Volvo.

Do yourself a favor & fit a set of innerwings in alloy, your car (and your wallet will love you for it.



Jens Christian

Already done
The problem is, there must have been rust between the vertical diaphragm panel and the wing when I rebuilt it and now it's starting to show.

Thanks for your kind words Dave - I will have to give it a wash & polish before you visit again!

Tim

[amazon69]

And one day you'll have to sell it to me...can but dream.

[GP1]

If that's Smith & Deakin in Worcester, then I have no experience with car related parts/panels but do use them for industrial roof sheeting profiles from time to time and have never had any problems with them or their product..

[tsetse1986]

I went the repair route as generally approved here. Fortunately my son Matt was home over Christmas and offered to help (ie do the work ;-).

The wing came off easily enough and looked fairly respectable with the paint still on although you could see bubbling where the vertical diaphragm meets the wing just in front of its trailing edge.

With the paint ground off and the wing bead turned up all is revealed (see pics). The rusty section of diaphragm was removed and a new piece fabricated. The wing has a curvature which meant the flange on the diaphragm that fits against the inside if the wing had to be slit on the bend and metal let in to accommodate the curve. Once this was in, the rusty original outer wing piece was removed while the new diaphragm flange marked the required curvature of the wing panel.

Weld through primer was used and the bare metal finished with Brantho Korrux orange primer. The inside was given 3 brush coats which guarantees water proofing. I have a piece of scrap steel sheet which had surface rust on one side and was clean on the other. I gave this 3 coats of Brantho and stuck it in the dirt outside my garage. That was 2 years ago and there's still no sign of rust on either side - great stuff. Even better, it is non toxic and won't react with other paints.

Thanks to Matt for all his hard work. I'ts off to Phil the painter Weds morning for a rust-free Amazon once more!

Happy New Year to all.

Tim