hey all,
i need to know how thick the fiberglass should be and also what can i do to reinforce the kit. is tar recomanded or is it too heavy?

I used chassis black but then again I have have a cheeta kits which is fairly thick already and didn't really need reinforcing. My guards are actually much thicker than stock steel guards and I would estimate up to 1/3 to 1/2 an inch (1 to 1.5cm roughly) in places, particularly along the guard crease and the outer edges.

Two ways to add strength in top of knitting more layers of glass, tar or chassis black.

(2) Use block washers behind the bolts. They are square pieces behind the bolt that run under the guard along the wheel arch and act like the round washers but squeeze the guard hard against the car reducing vibration.

(3) Brace the guards front and rear to the nudge / push bar and the front ot the tree guards if you have them that run along the sides. The outer areas of the guard a often the weakest. Especially on corrigated roads.

Reduce the amount of weight on the guards, heavy indicator assemblies, trapped sand, head light assembly etc. Sounds stupid but I have seen baja with inverted spotlights bolted into the guards and showed sighn of shaking out no doubt taking the best part of the guard with it.

Hope this helps.

Bronze.

If you buy guards that are ready made you may find the fibreglass to be a bit thin. You need to do as the bronze says and strenghthen the joins to the body with big washers and minimise loads on them.

If you are getting yours made for you, ask for a thicker finished product (about 5 mm thick is good) Also ask for extra material at the edge where the bolts go as that is where the greatest stresses are. If you can get that area wider than normal that's even better. The extra material at the bolt on edge needs to be thicker for about 50mm from the edge out into the mudguard area to stop stress concentrations.

I have a Baja with guards that are in my opinion far too thin. They are already showing sings of stress and the are cracking at the bolt on zone.

What I have are simply not good enough. They are thin, the bolt on area is too thin and too narrow and the shape of the bolt on are does not follow the shape of the Beetle body accurately, so when the bolts are tightened the flange bends and cracks while the guard is fitted.

It's all very unsatisfactory, but I have not seen a Baja kit yet that is thick enough, strong enough at the bolt on area and which conforms to the Beetle wheel arch accurately. They mostly seem to be badly designed and cheaply made.

If I am wrong and someone makes what I would like to have on my Baja, please tell me.

Yes,
the guards are usually very thin and flex and naturally crack the paint....
It just needs someone to make them thicker which means stronger....

but most people make things to a price....

Look at the standard looking wide fiberglass guards made by Richard Holzl..
maybe stronger than standard guards...
certainly thicker.... very good quality...

Someone was giving away a set of moulds for Baja kits on here....
Maybe someone who likes fiberglass [??] could make some decent thick guards....

Lee -- [a non Baja person...]

The first thing I've done on my sons baja is to strengthen the guards and bonnet. I was considering getting a metal flange that follows the inside contour of the guard where it meets the body so spreading the stress along the whole flange rather than just at the bolt holes similar to the type of thing in my buggy where the body bolts to the floor pan.

Well I'm the opposite the thiner the better around the bolt holes. If you happen to collect a fence or tree which oftens happens rallying or screaming through the bush as I do i found that they just pop at the bolts and don't destroy the hole gaurd. I average a set of gaurds about once a year and these gaurds are torn off at least twice to three times in their life. I will have many people arguing with me that i can't drive but if you go hard you have to expect breakages.

my old guards were super thick and very nice.

but my new wider guards arent so thick. but i must say car110 has a point i recently ripped a guard off and it ripped thru the bolt holes.

20 mins of fibreglass and it was fixed.

definatly big washers to spread the load and another layer of matt wouldnt go astray

where did you get your cheetah kit from wes?

Another thing I've done is to fibreglass plastic bowls (don't laugh) inside the front guards as headlight bowls as per the original wings with drain holes and cable holes instead of leaving the back of the headlight itself open and ready to get damaged by flying stones etc.

I've got galvanised headlight buckets that fit into my guards....protects the back of the headlight and shouldnt rust....the headlights mount to them too instead of just into the fibreglass

yaks. thickest in melb in 2.5 mm thick (fiberglasS) which seems so thin even with the gel

Yeah - My guards are really thick. There is no flex in them. They are a lot heavier than the original guards that's for sure. I removed the guards on a 66 recently and I was surprised with how light they are in comparison. My car is actually heavier than the original vehicle even with the valances, aprons and bumpers missing because of the weight of my guards and engine cage.

B.

if it's too rigid wouldn't it crack more easly even that thick? considering the weigh of them aswell

Years ago at VW Action in the UK (early 80's) a manufacturer of thick fibreglass guards had them on show and was inviting the public to have a go at breaking them with a club hammer, I don't recall anyone breaking them but I do remember they were about half inch thick.

the vw an audi center sells the cheetah kit for $1200!!!!!!
so far autoparts online and fiberfab is cheapest at 720...

Have you asked Custom Offroad?

custom off road won't get them until before christmas they sell em for 990!!

go second hand dude.

u will only scratch it anyway!!!!

true but no 1 has got one to give a set away... or they do but they don't seem to keen about it. anyway my son just got sick got hospital bills to pay so it's not going to happen anytime soon. but won't hurt doing some research....

my second option is to modify my stock fenders for now. any one know where i can go in South eastern subs of melb or around melb?