Bodywork/paint/fibreglass repair in Newcastle

[metalhead]

Lost a wheel over the weekend, has done some fibreglass damage. Can anyone recommend a repairer experienced in fibreglass and preferably specifically Corvettes in the Newcastle/Hunter? Recommendations for repairers further away will be considered too. Not a good weekend...

Thanks,

Andrew.

[toyvet]

Andrew --call me 0423251121--Jorge 

[craigh]

Lost a wheel over the weekend, has done some fibreglass damage. Can anyone recommend a repairer experienced in fibreglass and preferably specifically Corvettes in the Newcastle/Hunter? Recommendations for repairers further away will be considered too. Not a good weekend...

Thanks,

Wow that does not sound good, what happened ?

Andrew.

[wayne45]

Hope the damage isn't too bad.

[metalhead]

Damage isn't terrible, actually I think I was quite lucky considering what happened, but still not a good day...  Broke away a big piece of the wheel arch and destroyed the air dam.  It sheered all 5 studs (right front), not sure why, and most surprisingly to me, I had no warning anything was wrong.  I was travelling at around 80kmh at the time. Couldn't actually find the wheel when it happened, but went back the next day and located it eventually. Needless to say, I'll be replacing all the studs. Luckily I found someone who had Chevy wheel studs in their shed.  Had to remove the hub on the side of the road and take it to replace the studs so that I could get a wheel back on the car to get it home.

[Vettech]

That's very interesting, all 5 studs at once, bates some questions.
1. I assume a front wheel possibly left hand side.
2. Were you running stock for year tyre/wheel size combination?
3. If not what sizes ?

Thanks.

[mjs]

Sounds pretty bad, very glad you made it out undamaged !  If you find out what caused it would like to know.

There's a bloke called Leo ( Muscle Car Restorations - Mob: 0425200898) does a fab job.  He did the back to bare respray job on our car when we bought it, and is about to do an accident repair on it very soon.  He's been moving a lot of vettes through there for over 2 years, a lot of them Club guys.  Only problem he's in Campbelltown (Sydney).  You can see his work on his FB page below:

https://www.facebook.com/MuscleCarRestorations/

cheers
Matt

[craigh]

Damage isn't terrible, actually I think I was quite lucky considering what happened, but still not a good day...  Broke away a big piece of the wheel arch and destroyed the air dam.  It sheered all 5 studs (right front), not sure why, and most surprisingly to me, I had no warning anything was wrong.  I was travelling at around 80kmh at the time. Couldn't actually find the wheel when it happened, but went back the next day and located it eventually. Needless to say, I'll be replacing all the studs. Luckily I found someone who had Chevy wheel studs in their shed.  Had to remove the hub on the side of the road and take it to replace the studs so that I could get a wheel back on the car to get it home.

Your very lucky to not be much worse off.

For all 5 studs to sheer off is very unusual if there was no shock etc first. 

And at 80ks lucky no one hit u in the process as well as keeping it away from posts etc.

[bfit]

5 studs are not going to shear in one episode unless there has been an incident that has stressed the studs past there electric limit and/or they has been cracked  due to cyclic conditions
  In 40 odd years anything could have happened , I fit 1/2'' studs  to my Vette`s as it's a cheap safety feature considering the alternative  when it goes wrong .
My current upgrade is getting 14x1.5 mm studs available on the VF commodore.

[sirfixalot]

By the look of your aviata you have aftermarket wheels on your car do you run hubcentric rings in wheels to centre or are relying on the studs to centre the wheel ?

[metalhead]

Agree with all comments, it's a weird one, and yes very lucky. They must have suffered some stress in the past of some sort. Yes, I have larger aftermarket wheels, but they are lighter and slightly more inset than standard (so I doubt much if any added strain), and yes I have hubcentric rings.  All 5 nut/studs were definitely on the car when I left home ~20 minutes earlier - I'd been working on the exhaust, and getting in and out from under the car right next to that wheel, and I would have noticed. Nothing was noticeably wrong 3 weeks (and ~1500km) ago when I rotated the tyres. All 5 broke in the area where the stud is inside the disk. I guess maybe some extra stress due to overtightening sometime in the past 40 years, combined with possibly some moisture/grime and corrosion trapped in the space where stud passes through the disk have left them weakened, but to have them all go in such a short period and without some kind of feeling to warn me through the steering wheel blows my mind.  I'll be replacing every stud on the car, and plan to upsize them to 1/2" while I'm at it, though I will look into the VF studs you suggest bfit.

[bootlegger]

Ive had wheel studs break when they are slightly loose or if mags smaller than the hole they are in. If the wheel "works a little" eventually the studs snap.