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Front Air Dam Feeler


NikoFab
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Official Group Buy Thread located here:

 

 

 

Gentlemen,

 

Now that many of you have gotten to see my work, I'm being asked more often "What's next Nick?!!" I have a couple of projects that I am considering. This is the first of several group buy feeler posts that I will be putting out...Front Air Dams

 

As with the Rear Hatch Spoiler group buy, the viability of a project depends on several things:

  1. Interest/Demand - are there enough members interested in a product to warrant research and production?
     
  2. Cost Effectiveness - can an item be produced at a price point that benefits the members, and proves worthwhile for the fabricator?
     
  3. Quality - can a product be fabricated with HIGH QUALITY for the price point desired?

Having been active on the boards for a while now, I know that there's a demand for front air dams. Seems members are always looking for them. However, to my knowledge, these are already available in the aftermarket. Problem is I don't see/hear a lot of you purchasing them. My question is...why? Price point? Quality? Material? What is it?

 

The answers to these questions would help me a great deal in researching and developing a quality and cost-effective product for you guys, so please offer up your opinions on this. As I get more feedback, I can evaluate all the criteria for developing one of these, and move forward with posting a true group buy. Of course if you're interested in me pursuing this, please let me know so that I can gauge the "demand" factor.

 

Cheers,

Nick

 

 

Members Interested: please see official group buy thread...link is at top of post.

Edited by NikoFab
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I have an interest in 1 or 2

Reasons someone wouldn't buy one:::

To have 350-400,500 dollars laying inches from the ground,just waiting to hit

Something. Why not bandaid their old one till the next hit.

 

To have another vendor making these would do great things to the price.

Must be quality,,,and of a good urethane,, "no carbon fiber",,they will break

The instant you hit the first cat,,,and then the 2nd cat and 3rd cat.

 

My opinion

Build a good urethane air dam,and reinforce the bottom of the airdam.

In my sig pic that air splitter made that airdam so rigid it was amazing.

So in Theory ,, if either a metal/aluminum strip was incorporated/mounted

To the bottom of the air dam,,,it would be some cheap Insurance to the structual

Stiffness,,so to speak.

 

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im interested in buying a new one, the materials are good but the thing that prevents me from buying is the high base price and its something none has control over but the mass price of shipping and border costs for us canadians

 

Ok good observation regarding the shipping. I've actually started my DBA and set up a Fedex account which helps discount shipping...so that may help.

 

What do you consider high base price?

 

Nick

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I have an interest in 1 or 2

Reasons someone wouldn't buy one:::

To have 350-400,500 dollars laying inches from the ground,just waiting to hit

Something. Why not bandaid their old one till the next hit.

 

To have another vendor making these would do great things to the price.

Must be quality,,,and of a good urethane,, "no carbon fiber",,they will break

The instant you hit the first cat,,,and then the 2nd cat and 3rd cat.

 

My opinion

Build a good urethane air dam,and reinforce the bottom of the airdam.

In my sig pic that air splitter made that airdam so rigid it was amazing.

So in Theory ,, if either a metal/aluminum strip was incorporated/mounted

To the bottom of the air dam,,,it would be some cheap Insurance to the structual

Stiffness,,so to speak.

 

Good call. I agree regarding carbon fiber...urethane of some sort would be best. I like the idea of re-enforcing the bottom lip for sure...could be easily done.

 

Nick

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Some may say the whole purpose of urethane built air dam,,is so it

Flexes,,,,and yes that is what we all have had,,,and we all have broken airdams.

I had hit several things with that air splitter/dam ,,,and it held up great

Just sayin from my experience.

Maybe someone else with a splitter has some input.

Edited by quikconq
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Id be interested as long as its not fibreglass or carbon fiber, urethane would be awesome if its reinforced, i have a 3 piece airdam, but its all cracked and missing pieces, kinda hard to find one in good shape these days, id consider a 1 piece as long as it fits like an oem one thats ready to paint and not have to play with body filler and what not.

 

Danny

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Some may say the whole purpose of urethane built air dam,,is so it

Flexes,,,,and yes that is what we all have had,,,and we all have broken airdams.

I had hit several things with that air splitter/dam ,,,and it held up great

Just sayin from my experience.

Maybe someone else with a splitter has some input.

 

Well Quik, to those who are concerned....ANYTHING will break if it gets hit hard enough! LOL

 

Urethane is going to offer the most natural maleability without sacrificing design integrity (i.e. it doesn't look like folded paper mache after a few hot summers).

 

Nick

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Id be interested as long as its not fibreglass or carbon fiber, urethane would be awesome if its reinforced, i have a 3 piece airdam, but its all cracked and missing pieces, kinda hard to find one in good shape these days, id consider a 1 piece as long as it fits like an oem one thats ready to paint and not have to play with body filler and what not.

 

Danny

 

Hey Danny,

 

That's the goal here...to develop something that requires minimal additional work (paint, finish, etc). The 3 piece are very cool....but would require a lot more work to manufacture....hence more cost. As such, I agree that CF is not the way to go. There are some who swear by FRP, but again, one good shot and it's done. Urethane holds up better.

 

Nick

Edited by NikoFab
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No to the 3 piece , no to grp or cf , not the desired materials , has to flexable and absorb some impact unlike the Mookeh airdam which is ok but one little tap and its cracked , and my spidey senses told me this would be your next mission ( if you choose to accept) and you shoulda called your D.B.A the "Lexan Texan". :)
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No to the 3 piece , no to grp or cf , not the desired materials , has to flexable and absorb some impact unlike the Mookeh airdam which is ok but one little tap and its cracked , and my spidey senses told me this would be your next mission ( if you choose to accept) and you shoulda called your D.B.A the "Lexan Texan". :)

Scotty I would have replied to this about two minutes ago, but I had to pick myself back up off the floor! LOL! Lexan Texan...has a good ring to it!

 

That's kinduv what I was figuring, but wanted to get the membership's take on things...after all, they're the ones shelling out the hard-earned dollars.

 

Nick

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Anyway back to the serious biz ,i would imagine its not a cheap thing to make , research and development , making a mould bla,bla and bla , i could go on , the market is there , i would buy one and would pay the right price for one made of the right material meaning NOT fiberglass ! , also not a cheap item to ship either .
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Anyway back to the serious biz ,i would imagine its not a cheap thing to make , research and development , making a mould bla,bla and bla , i could go on , the market is there , i would buy one and would pay the right price for one made of the right material meaning NOT fiberglass ! , also not a cheap item to ship either .

 

Well I'm not about making something crappy...so you can rule that out. R&D is actually the fun part for me, so no worries there. As far as shipping, I'm already taking measurements and weights to get an idea of how much we'll be looking at...and I think having a Fedex account will help with that cost some. I've got some phone calls in that I hope to hear back from the next few days. Then I'll have a much better understanding what this is going to take...both $$$-wise and time-wise.

 

As always, thanks for the input Scotty!

 

Nick

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Urethane or nothing.

 

Cost, less than current prices. $249 was the price for the MK1 FRP. But that really depends on what kind of hook up you can get. $200 could be a possible target price.

 

Looks, factory one piece... no "splitters".

 

-Robert

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I don't have a need for one but if the price is right I'll get another. I would like it to be breakproof or reinforced if that is possible. I would like to get some type of molded cover that hugs the bottom lip of the airdamn to take the scratches, something that is disposable or can come off and be repainted easily. I currently have two SQs with an aluminum air splitter but it seems like I have more trouble getting up and down the curb. I already had to weld/fix one air splitter already.
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Ok good observation regarding the shipping. I've actually started my DBA and set up a Fedex account which helps discount shipping...so that may help.

 

What do you consider high base price?

 

Nick

well im kinda broke since my steering is done for so this might just be a cheap mans opinion but the 240+s&h from starionpartsfactory is a bit high i would like it at 175-200 + s&h would be ideal if you can still make enough money from that to make it worth while and then i have to buy paint on top of that to.

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I'm "IN" Nick... no doubt about it LexTex! I would definitely like the added feature of the splitter reinforcement! Of course in the materials mentioned for the base dam, as for the slpitter? (not sure, but I do know that Brians held up great; "tried to buy it from him ;) ")
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