Fiberglass Fenders - Legalities

[j3rk]

Simple query really, are fiberglass replacement front fenders legal.
I suck at finding anything in regards to the DPA pdf's and legal documents, yes I am looking for you to substantiate your claims not just 'my mate said they are'.

Background: Keen to put Z-tune style front guards on, not keen on the 2k + shipping price tag.

[Turbo2.6L]

By the time you prep & paint the fibreglass guards to a reasonable standard, they wont be much cheaper than genuines. Fibreglass is a pingpingpingping of a material to work with & get right.

[Buckets]

Background: Keen to put Z-tune style front guards on, not keen on the 2k + shipping price tag.


Being promoted from grad to full Engineer at work, then smiling at the pay-rise.
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000975353/Show20me20the20Money_thumb_500x270_72909_answer_1_ xlarge.jpeg

This answers your question... Genuine or GTFO it's not like your a pauper !

[j3rk]

Opportunity cost. Same reason I'll buy copy rims.

Copies = $700 landed. Real deal ~ $2500 landed.
Considering it's a 'look my car has an extra curve mod' I see no reason to pay premium.

[Risk10k]

Have you had a look at how much midnight purple 3 costs per litre?

[monk_13]

Legalities are much the same as CF/Fiberglass bonnets, IIRC.

Apparently they can be made legal through crash testing etc. Once it has been proven repeatedly that said CF/FB bits meet all the relevant regs, then those parts are legal.

Looked into it a long long time ago. Was also in QLD so all info may very well be a load of crap over here.

[j3rk]

^Monk - Yeah, I expect that to be the answer. Keen to hear/see the back-up logic there though.

Risk - Last I checked just short of $900/L. Regardless, this mod is down on my priorities list... but if/when it comes time I'd like to know what my options are!

[Buckets]

Monk's right in general I think. But I do think there is loopholes; for instance there's shops such as Biltz on the Gold Coast that make ADR approved Fiberglass (mostly copy) bits for cars and they are legal (& come with a ADR compliance sticker & letter) just because they came from that shop where as if you buy the genuine thing shops like Blitz are knocking off such as the Mazdaspeed Spec-R bonnet I wanted in my case the originals aren't ADR compliant even though they are far better quality than the knock off's.

I'd say that there's a pretty decent chance the parts you a buying won't be ADR compliant but really does it matter? Chances are something like the Z-Tune fenders won't be cop bait enough for them to ask any questions and if they do you can bullshit them and they'd be none the wiser as they wouldn't come across many GTR's to pick stuff like that.

[KyeBidz]

If you're going to go fiberglass, just keep your original fenders.

if (when?) it gets stickered, just treat them like any other mod and swap them out for stock to get over the pits.

[Jiblet]

Monk's right in general I think. But I do think there is loopholes; for instance there's shops such as Biltz on the Gold Coast that make ADR approved Fiberglass (mostly copy) bits for cars and they are legal (& come with a ADR compliance sticker & letter) just because they came from that shop where as if you buy the genuine thing shops like Blitz are knocking off such as the Mazdaspeed Spec-R bonnet I wanted in my case the originals aren't ADR compliant even though they are far better quality than the knock off's.

I'd say that there's a pretty decent chance the parts you a buying won't be ADR compliant but really does it matter? Chances are something like the Z-Tune fenders won't be cop bait enough for them to ask any questions and if they do you can bullshit them and they'd be none the wiser as they wouldn't come across many GTR's to pick stuff like that.

Blitz bonnets use the metal frame from your bonnet, remove metal top and replace with fibreglass. They still have structural rigidity. That's why they are ADR approved. That will hold up much better in a crash than a full FG bonnet.

Cops have stickered an ADR-approved 34GTR with the stock CF bonnet (or is it FG?). Go figure?

[monk_13]

Delving deep into the alcohol hazed memory banks here....

The old owner of Predator Motorsports in QLD (now well and truely dead and buried) got the CF bonnet on his 33 passed/complied. Basically he bought a shit load of different bonnets and sent them in for testing. One was found that passed whatever the requirements were, but then it had to be proven that the passing of the tests wasn't a fluke. Cue the purchase of another 5 bonnets (From hazy memory) of the same type, from the same manufacturer for even more testing...

Can get very pricey very quickly, as at one point I think he also had to supply a whole car so that airbag compatibility (Did 33R's even have airbags????) and crumple zones and the like weren't adversely affected by a metric shitload. Pedestrians loosing limbs and getting maimed in general, due to sharp broken edges were also a consideration, I believe.

I'll have a dig around, I might have the emails somewhere.

[Sfidz]

Why not just leave it as is and just put the money towards a proper set of wheels?
Not sure why you would put a cheap body kit on when the entire respray alone would cost upwards of 10k I would imagine for that paint/painting expertise.

[Ben Wha]

I thought there was a rule that fibreglass guards are fine on pre 1996 cars?

[Sfidz]

Not 100% on that rule but would not apply to this question as the car in question would be a 1999/2000

[KAMAKAZ]

genuine z tune guards are fiberglass too
no doubt they will be better quality/fit but thats a massive price difference

cant see that paint being $900p/l considering you can get house of kolour kandy paint for less then half that?

as for being legal, i have passed pits with fiberglass front guards and nothing was said
think it all depends on if they notice/who you get

swapping between stock guards/ztune ones isnt ideal, bound to get some damage from stripping the front end/re building over and over

since its not a s13 and you wont be lapping around with them unpainted i dont think it will be an issue

[j3rk]

genuine z tune guards are fiberglass too

Intrigued at the first part of information, always thought nismo were metal. Changes everything.

Cheers for the info guys, if anyone actually has the DPA documentation that would be appreciated for future reference.

[KAMAKAZ]

http://www.nismo.co.jp/en/products/competition/ie/r34aero.html

listed as frp

and you can clearly see there fiberglass not metal

http://i43.tinypic.com/24eq6iu.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/27yz892.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/23iw2gl.jpg

[Alt_F4]

FRP construction, white gel coated, unpainted
* NISMO R34GT-RZ-tune specialty parts are made of CFRP

[Tocchi]

cant see that paint being $900p/l considering you can get house of kolour kandy paint for less then half that?
my neighbour wishes that... still pretty pricey as of last month.


now that the genuine is also F/G it only comes down to "the place you are getting the copy, has anybody bought off them before? whats the fitment like? does it require a lot of work by the painter to get it ready for painting etc (they have pinholes on the cheaper kits)"

and so forth... if all the answers say "the copy sounds alright" then do it

[[FL0SSIN]]

If you need some prep work done on the copies gimme a yell, can do it after hours as long as you don't need it done in a mad rush