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Fibreglass or Steel
71superbug - January 5th, 2005 at 03:06 AM

Hmm, i am wondering if it would be worth going to fibreglass fenders instead of getting new steel ones,

i know the fibreglass ones are quite pricey but heard they arent as good.

anyone know a price or quality difference between steel and fibreglass parts?


Anthony


Che Castro - January 5th, 2005 at 10:06 AM

do you mean widened guards? The advantage of steel obviously is that you can panelbeat them, weld etc.

the new steel fenders you get these days are rubbish brazilian ones usually. Best to stay with original german ones as the quality is much much better.

Of course if you meant widened ones it'd probably be cheaper to go fiberglass as widening steel ones is pretty labour intensive. You could go with Aero guards which look great IMO on late beetles.


Doug Sweetman - January 5th, 2005 at 10:12 AM

Its a $$ and skill argument - if you have the skill, repair your current german ones (as Jon said, the replacement panels nowdays are cheap and nasty). If you have the $$ to spend on Aero's (I believe they are quite exxy) then do that, as they do look good.

They are not much (if any) lighter than steel ones.

Might be easier for you to get some good second hand ones ?


68AutoBug - January 5th, 2005 at 10:26 AM

Yes, German guards are the best and heaviest steel...
other European Guards aren't too bad and are heavier than the cheap Brazillian ones...

If there isn't anything wrong with Yours Keep them....
they can be welded and panel beaten etc....

as said in other thread, the AERO widened guards are very well made.....

Lee


BiX - January 5th, 2005 at 11:35 AM

i have seen a set of wodened steel guards. used 4 guards tio make 2. But he was a panel beater and took him 40hrs each side, so if you think about it for the front, about 80hrs * $50/hr = $4000 (conservative)


Che Castro - January 5th, 2005 at 01:24 PM

the standard steel fenders weigh next to nothing anyway so going to fiberglass would save you not much in weight anyway