Heavy body wear from pebbles.

[alvitdk]

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I added vinyl "shark fins" in the area that was getting the most peppering. I have the rock guards from AP as well as side skirts. The vinyl has worked the best so far.

May I ask where you ordered them from? I only find them in the UK on Etsy with shipping almost as much as the guards. Certainly still cheaper than repainting but if there is a seller in the US it would also be faster.

 

[Orchardbike]

I made some for my Evora. I just created a template for the shape I wanted and bought some black vinyl off Amazon. They cost me next to nothing.

 

[BLUEMIRA]

May I ask where you ordered them from? I only find them in the UK on Etsy with shipping almost as much as the guards. Certainly still cheaper than repainting but if there is a seller in the US it would also be faster.

I did the same as Orchardbike did below. I made a template then carefully cut the vinyl to match. Was not expensive at all.
Porsche 911 turbos with the wide body have been using shark fins since the 90s for same reason. It works for me as a sacrificial piece and the black doesn't show chips as easy as I was seeing in the ppf. Plus, the fin covers where I had some marks in the ppf.

 

[Foxy87]

Min goes in for PPF tomorrow. I was planning to leave out the (gloss black) OEM side skirt? Is this a very bad idea?

 

[me73]

Min goes in for PPF tomorrow. I was planning to leave out the (gloss black) OEM side skirt? Is this a very bad idea?

It can be difficult for PPF to stick to the bare plastic. If that can be overcome PPF will help to resist pitting from rocks but how much that would bother you depends on your tolerance. It's not easy to put PPF on the entire part and removal is a lot of steps. How much do you trust your PPF guy to disassemble?

 

[NicolasB]

Min goes in for PPF tomorrow. I was planning to leave out the (gloss black) OEM side skirt? Is this a very bad idea?

Get it done

 

[me73]

Try printing rock guards from this forum. They are subtle but work great

I did a set in ASA from the files online and they were OK. The thickness of the guard, at 2mm, was thin enough that the ASA could flex to the rounded contour of the wheel well but the holes for the scrivets were too small so I had to drill them out a bit and the wall thickness in the recesses was so thin that I could easily poke through if I wasn't careful. So I rebuilt the parts making the guard 3mm thick, opened the holes up to 9mm and made the recess wall thickness 1.5mm. I printed them from 95A TPU this time. I have to print TPU very slowly to keep the quality acceptable so it took 2 1/2 days to print all 4 parts on one plate. But in the end they turned out great. Hopefully this helps with the stones.

 

[bman6074]

I did a set in ASA from the files online and they were OK. The thickness of the guard, at 2mm, was thin enough that the ASA could flex to the rounded contour of the wheel well but the holes for the scrivets were too small so I had to drill them out a bit and the wall thickness in the recesses was so thin that I could easily poke through if I wasn't careful. So I rebuilt the parts making the guard 3mm thick, opened the holes up to 9mm and made the recess wall thickness 1.5mm. I printed them from 95A TPU this time. I have to print TPU very slowly to keep the quality acceptable so it took 2 1/2 days to print all 4 parts on one plate. But in the end they turned out great. Hopefully this helps with the stones.

Nice, post pics.

 

[me73]

Nice, post pics.

 

[bman6074]

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Looks good

 

[me73]

I printed out a little piece that covers the area exposed within the side sill.

Lotus Emira Side Sill Rock Guard by bellylint

There's a small part of the body on the Lotus Emira that is exposed on the underside of the car. If not protected, this little painted section can get chipped with rocks. I've designed a cover for this body section that is held in with the stock screw. I printed this from ASA as it will...

www.thingiverse.com

 

[Stevie1464]

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They look great would you be interested in making and selling a set? Cheers

 

[me73]

They look great would you be interested in making and selling a set? Cheers

The shipping to the UK would be pretty expensive for a couple dollars worth of parts. It's probably better to find someone local to print the for you.

 

[me73]

In typical Lotus fashion the right side had a machine screw, the left had a tapping screw.

 

[Stevie1464]

The shipping to the UK would be pretty expensive for a couple dollars worth of parts. It's probably better to find someone local to print the for you.

No worries mate

 

[DriverMod]

Although I have additional PPF on that inner panel I’m not sure how far they wrapped it down, so I printed the little guards @me73 posted. Turned out great in PETG-CF. I oriented them standing up for a clean print.

 

[Stevie1464]

Although I have additional PPF on that inner panel I’m not sure how far they wrapped it down, so I printed the little guards @me73 posted. Turned out great in PETG-CF. I oriented them standing up for a clean print.
View attachment 83385

They look great. Would you be happy to share the file?

 

[DriverMod]

They look great. Would you be happy to share the file?

See post #31 above

 

[me73]

Notice how much more horizontal protection my side skirts provide, the lateral protection they also have at the trailing edge of the front wheel well and the length of the skirts. And despite this my ppf already has pellet pings all over, anywhere you see ARGH! there are marks on the ppf. I am sure some of it I can remove with tar and iron remover but most of them are nicks into the ppf, from about 2 feet away they are not noticeable and the ppf is doing its job of protecting the paint underneath. It's also surprising how far up the body work I am getting nicks on the ppf even the top third of the car above the hip line. Again this is about 10K miles of mostly canyons so the environment has a lot to do with it. I don't think a baby-ed street car would see this that fast.

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I just finished my 1700ish mile road trip. Sure enough, the PPF is peppered with pock marks along the surfaces the face the ground around the lower sill opening and the area in front of the rear wheels that you point out. I'm happy that I did the PPF!

 

[geoffbland]

I just finished my 1700ish mile road trip. Sure enough, the PPF is peppered with pock marks along the surfaces the face the ground around the lower sill opening and the area in front of the rear wheels that you point out. I'm happy that I did the PPF!

What about the the bottom of the B pillar inside the door opening? You can only see it when you open the door. I found that this was the area most affected by stone chips, it's strange how flying stones can even miss the door to hit the bodywork here.
I covered this section with 2 inches of PPF to stop it getting any worse.