Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Wheel pant repair-enlarged (for RV).

 A neighbor brought a wheel pant over after running over something, probably a chunk of asphalt.  Initially he just wanted it repaired, but then a friend of his suggested that since he had an oversized tire, enlarging the pant some would be great.



I sanded the paint off the damaged area and applied some UNI on the outside to get the original shape restored.   After it cured, the Fein tool cut multiple slits longitudinally and one laterally in the glass to increase the clearance where the tire rubs.


Cardboard and hot glue held the "fingers" in their new position.



The wheel pant was turned over, and was held nicely by an empty case of Shiner with a couple pieces of box tape on the flaps to keep the pant secure.  One layer of BID covered the slits on the inside of the pant.  After it cured, I decided that the raised hump needed to be a bit rounder on the sides, making the enlargement less noticeable, so I added two more slits on the sides and curved the bottom cut a little, which added more radius to the enlargement.  Additional BID strips were applied on the inside of the pant to the last two cuts.

Isopropyl alcohol removed the hot glue.  Sanding with a small DA sander and starting with 60 grit, the edges of the slits were rounded.   Then a mix of wet micro balloons and a little flox was buttered into the gaps between the slots.  

After the micro/flox cured, it was sanded down and checked for bumps.   It felt pretty smooth.  The neighbor did a test fit and will do some flying to make sure it's okay before taking it to the painter.



1 comment:

  1. Ingenious! Cutting the slits to get bendable fingers was especially nifty. PK, Tampa

    ReplyDelete