Gauging interest: S15 Aero rear spats

[craig8585]

Hello

Just trying to gauge the interest in rear Aero spats. As usual, the more people interested the cheaper they will be but please only register interest if your serious about wanting a set. The purpose of this thread is to work out the production cost and the viability of them.

They will be made of GFRP (fiberglass) and will come with a pure white gelcoat, ready for prep and paint. The original spats are held to the bumper by brackets underneath and sticky foam tape along where they meet the bumper. I will make identical brackets for these, and they could be also be applied with sticky foam or an adhesive such as Tiger Seal.


The cost is likely to be relatively high as they require 2 moulds to be made (left and right!), which doubles the set up cost and the amount of people wanting them is going to be relatively low. I don't want to guess the cost at this stage as a lot depends on the amount of people interested.




List..

1. Marcus
2. Fruitbooter
3.
4.
5.

 

[Fruitbooter]

1. Marcus
2. Fruitbooter (Jay)
3.
4.
5.

Sounds good Craig, ill be deffinitly interested if its below £150 pp and I can pay next month...

 

[Marcus]

Nice Craig! I will have to ask few finnish S15 owners about their need for rearspats

 

[craig8585]

The more people, the cheaper they become

 

[B9NKO]

Im definately interested Craig!!

1. Marcus
2. Fruitbooter (Jay)
3. B9NKO
4.
5.

 

[Sideways Simon....]

me too..

1. Marcus
2. Fruitbooter (Jay)
3. B9NKO
4. Sideways Simon
5.

 

[Alexo]

1. Marcus
2. Fruitbooter (Jay)
3. B9NKO
4. Sideways Simon
5. Alexo
6.

 

[Marcus]

I have two intressed owners from Finland. They can confirm after some kind of estimate of price is made

 

[dil]

1. Marcus
2. Fruitbooter (Jay)
3. B9NKO
4. Sideways Simon
5. Alexo
6. Dil
7.


will take a set pending price!

 

[craig8585]

I'm sorry guys but it's not looking likely that this one will happen now for several reasons listed below..

1. The cost is going to be too high becuase both moulds will have to be split - which means made in 2 peices, and that will increase the price further. Because of the way they follow the lines of the bumper, the trimming will have to be extremely exact or they will look rubbish. And because of the way they are made, it will be very difficult to attach them neatly around the top edges.

2. The current GB I'm running (exhaust manifold/ABS heat shields) is not going as well as expected. 17 other people registered serious interest and only 3 have paid, so I've currently got £1000+ tied up in this until people buy them. If the same was to happen with this I would make a serious loss and I'm not prepared to take this risk again.

3. I will have to risk damaging my own car by removing them.


Appologies to everyone who was interested in this. You can't win them all I suppose.

 

[dil]

No worries man, If it does go ahead in the future let me know!

 

[Fruitbooter]

Never mind Craig, the reasons youve said below are very understanding and not worth the risk like you say.

I hope some come available online soon as I really want some!

 

[Marcus]

Thats too bad, but i understand you..
I hope also that someone will make these in shortly

 

[craig8585]

Has anyone got a price for these from Nissan yet? They can't be that expesive.. surely?!

 

[Marcus]

Has anyone got a price for these from Nissan yet? They can't be that expesive.. surely?!

I have asked from Nissan Finland / Autokeskus, and the price was +700€ with 5 months shipping I think that is "little" bit too much

 

[craig8585]

Have you tried Feast Japan (on here) RHD Japan or Perfectrun etc? They may be able to source them a little cheaper from Japan or Australia.

 

[DeanS15]

i can have these made as i recently made contact with a guy that is making a bodykit for me. he used to work in custom bodywork, but now works for himself on a smaller scale - hence any cost would be his own which he would recover on the finished product. he could have some of these made in no time at all, and test fit them on my car and put up lots of detailed pics of the fitment and finish - i have seen his work and it looks fantastic!!
i'll be getting my kit from him tonight so i can post pics of that work of his - this would give an indication of the quality that could be expected.
i'm happy to follow up on this as long as it is ok with craig.... i know there is a demand for them now but understand the reasons behind craig abandoning this. no-one should lose money for trying to 'hook people up' with a hard to get product and i do feel badly about whats happened

 

[dil]

i can have these made as i recently made contact with a guy that is making a bodykit for me. he used to work in custom bodywork, but now works for himself on a smaller scale - hence any cost would be his own which he would recover on the finished product. he could have some of these made in no time at all, and test fit them on my car and put up lots of detailed pics of the fitment and finish - i have seen his work and it looks fantastic!!
i'll be getting my kit from him tonight so i can post pics of that work of his - this would give an indication of the quality that could be expected.
i'm happy to follow up on this as long as it is ok with craig.... i know there is a demand for them now but understand the reasons behind craig abandoning this. no-one should lose money for trying to 'hook people up' with a hard to get product and i do feel badly about whats happened

nice one! more info when you get it!

 

[craig8585]

Your welcome to do this if you want to Dean. I would ensure he knows the in's and outs of it though beforehand and the fact that there are only 6 people currently "interested".

When I had my meeting with the bloke who was going to make them for me, he pointed out several complications with them that I hadn't even thought about. It will take me forever to try and explain them all on here as it's way easier to describe it in person with references to drawings etc, but basically both mouds would have to be split. Underneath the spats there are 3 metal brackets pop riveted onto the spats which would have to be manufactured, and would have to be exact or fitment would be poor. Where the spat meets the bumper, the trimmimg would have to be spot on or again, they would look crap. They are normally held onto the bumper by double sided foamm but as they will be 'hollow' how can you attach them? Maybe build up the inner edge with resin, or bond them to the bumper. There were a few other bits he pointed out too.

All in all, we decided that they would be too time consuming to make properly with good fitment at a good price, and I wouldnt want to sell anything that is poor quality, whatever the cost. If your man is willing to do them he will have to sell them at a fairly high price to make up for the time spent on the mould and the detail required in trimming and finishing touches, but that would obviously be up to him and at his risk.

I have detailed photos that I could PM you if required too.

 

[DeanS15]

it would mean that the metal bracket that drops down would have to be incorporated into the mould and be part of the fibrglass piece. i had the spats mounted to my rear buimper with the double sided foam tape and an m6 bolt with a large penny washer on the back that fits behind the lip of the original bumper - this worked perfectly. as they are a permanent addition once painted and fitted (and the non aero rear doesn't look anywhere near as good), plus removing them is not required in order to remove the bumper then they could be permanently fitted with sikaflex or similar as the original foam padding isn't the greatest anyway as once water gets into it it begins to lift away....i will talk more with the guy later on, he is very experienced with fibreglass and carbon, he showed me his own moulds which produce well turned out parts and has made his own diffusers/bumpers/rear trunk etc from a mixture of f/glass and carbon for his skyline. he can also produce fusion and vacuum moulds to make perfect carbon finish parts....in other words, with what i have seen that he is capable of, the spats shouldn't cause him too much trouble