ACI l-88 flares, not great
 

As many of you know I have been working on a bunch of fiberglass on the Corvette lately. I’ve been dealing with the ACI L88 flares for the last few weeks and I’ve been struggling to get them to look the same. The main reason I’ve been having so many issues, a small oversight upon my inspection, is these two flares from the left to the right are not identical. They are cut and shaped drastically different around the edge of the flare. Right out of the box these flares need work to even have the same well shape for reference on fitment. I’m not sure if this is just a manufacturing oversight on my set or if it’s what’s common with these flares, but this has made my life extremely difficult and I would not recommend these to somebody else unless you plan on reshaping them from the start.

I have contacted ACI and am waiting for their response after sending in pics. I know they need to be fit, but for $750 I should have to do fiberglass work right out of the box to make these flares look symmetrical.

-Stroke

They need to replace them if its that bad..or refund your money ...other vendors are not like that

These flares are garbage. There isn’t hardly 3mm of contact surface between the flare and the body. Horrible design on the inside for mating to fenders. Glued them on with VPA and the next day I light tugged on the corner of the fender and it ripped apart like Velcro. It’s going to take a ton of filler on the back side to squeeze into the 1/2” gap between the flare and and fender. Even then... I still think that is absolutely ridiculous.

-Stroke

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...4919c388d.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...1ef7b38a4.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...87b39e97c.jpeg

i would lay up a couple or three layers of mat on back side of flares to bond them to the body. bonding strips on the body are 1 inch wide and the length of the fender. you do not have enough contact area to just VPA them on.

Thats what I intended to do. But first I have to fill the gap on the inside between the two pieces. I was thinking about using that kitty hair from Evercoat to fill in the gaps since it’s quite a bit cheaper. Then grind it back and laminate with mat.

Thoughts?

I would post this down in the body section where itll get better traction.
Using the VPA for initial setup may have been ok I would think that youll need to do some layered layups to achieve the strength you require.
Kitty hair paste should only be used as a filler not anything structural or relied on to bond

Just my 2cents,,,,,, My experience with ACI parts, they make garbage parts ,,, 35yrs ago, it was run by better staff,, today, they don't have the same quality, ,, I wouldn't even consider anything from them today, ,,,, that's my experience, ,

At this point, you will have to basically build your own fit up to make them work,,,,,:willy:

:eek: No, absolutely not. As I indicated in your previous post, you need to use glass matt on the front and back. As was mentioned above, likely 3 or more layers on the front and back to smooth it out and make it look good. VPA is not going to work for this, throw it away. If you glass them in correctly they will be there forever. Leave the Kitty hair at the store. The glass matt done correctly will fill in the areas you are worried about. Just need multiple layers.

At this point, grind out all of your VPA, reattach with tape or some other method and glass small areas until you get the entire panel attached. Once it is attached, reglass over the entire area multiple times until you get the shape you are after. Sanding with 80 grit between each layer.

Also, based on your top picture, it does not look like you sanded down the fenders before trying to bond them. You need to sand them down with 80 grit so there is something for the glass to bond to. They will not bond if they are not sanded.

Thanks for the advice everyone. All four flares have been initially bonded with VPA. All four flares will ALSO have hand layup on top and bottom for additional strength. The issue I had was just not enough contact area with the VPA and flare. That’s all filled in now and I can lift the car by the flare and it’s just as solid as can be.

-Stroke