Bumper rubbers
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:27 amI've been talking to a mate of mine about the possibility of re-making the rubber strips for the bumpers on Firenza, Magnum, Viva GLS and possibly others (Chevette, is that the same?). I know this has been looked into before, but I wondered whether the new "emerging markets" might mean that although we have to buy it by the mile to get a competitive price, it might be so cheap in China or somewhere that it is still economical. Well, it's not. To make it the same as the original Vauxhall part would be very expensive indeed, because of the channel moulded into the rubber.
But... he did suggest it would be possible to make a strip that looks the same from the outside, but has a different fixing method. The idea would be that instead of the channel that accepts bolts that slide into position, the rubber would have a thin channel into which you'd slide a metal strip which has the studs already spot-welded to it. This would mean that we'd need to measure the various different bumpers to get the bolts in the right place (or people would need to drill their bumpers to suit the strip), but it should result in a cosmetically identical strip which fixes to the bumper in a similar way.
So, I have two questions:
First of all, is anyone else interested in this? Is there a need for bumper rubbers now?
Second, would the different fixing method put people off? I suspect that those who want them are more concerned that it looks OK from the outside than bothered about how it's fixed to the bumper as that bit is largely unseen.
I don't have any idea of pricing yet but I'll post this information when I do. As with everything it's all based on quantity required, so the more we can get (and I'll post this on the DSG and VDC forum as well) the cheaper it might be.
But... he did suggest it would be possible to make a strip that looks the same from the outside, but has a different fixing method. The idea would be that instead of the channel that accepts bolts that slide into position, the rubber would have a thin channel into which you'd slide a metal strip which has the studs already spot-welded to it. This would mean that we'd need to measure the various different bumpers to get the bolts in the right place (or people would need to drill their bumpers to suit the strip), but it should result in a cosmetically identical strip which fixes to the bumper in a similar way.
So, I have two questions:
First of all, is anyone else interested in this? Is there a need for bumper rubbers now?
Second, would the different fixing method put people off? I suspect that those who want them are more concerned that it looks OK from the outside than bothered about how it's fixed to the bumper as that bit is largely unseen.
I don't have any idea of pricing yet but I'll post this information when I do. As with everything it's all based on quantity required, so the more we can get (and I'll post this on the DSG and VDC forum as well) the cheaper it might be.