Fiberglass strut brace

[claymore]

does anybody have any thoughts on the subject, I'v just started making a mould for my car, dont know if it'll work, but hey ho :)

[p fandango]

will fibre glass be strong enough? i've seen a nice carbon fibre strut brace for ours but it fits LHD's only

[claymore]

will fibre glass be strong enough? i've seen a nice carbon fibre strut brace for ours but it fits LHD's only

who knows, time will tell, it wont look like a normal brace, it'll be about 8 inches wide inverted "U" shape with a hole for the brake fluid reservoir filler.

[Tomcat]

Sounds interesting, let us know how you get on.

[RobbieH]

If you use normal DIY glass fibre construction methods (hand lay up, chopped strand mat and polyester/styrene resin) I'm not sure you have much success I'm afraid. Or, it would have to be very "chunky".

Commercial load bearing applications generally use woven rovings, directional layups made by machine, filament winding or the pultrusion process. Any hand layp process probably couldn't achieve the required fibre/resin ratio, fibre orientation and compaction levels (no voids, bubbles,etc) for the sort of strength levels needed for such an application.

Some of the pultrusions I have tested at work used carbon fibre and phenolic or epoxy resins via the pultrusion process and the strength of them is quite amazing. When they fail, they FAIL big style.

Some reading:
http://plastics.inwiki.org/Composite_material
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_materials
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-reinforced_plastic
http://hubpages.com/hub/Glass-Fiber-for-Fiberglassing
(http://www.pultrusions.org/articles/pultrusion_works.html).

[claymore]

So, if I make it in FG to check for fit etc. do you think Carbon fibre would be up to the job?

[RobbieH]

So, if I make it in FG to check for fit etc. do you think Carbon fibre would be up to the job?

I doubt even using carbon fibre and using a hand layup can get the fibre/resin ratio or compaction levels required. I think the best way would be to use a 3-D CNC filament winding process followed by vacuum curing in an oven.

[Tomcat]

Take it from me without vacuum bagging and oven baking your never going to get a decent product using carbon fibre, I've had several failed attempts at it. Can I ask why you want to make your own strut brace when you can by one direct from Volvo that's made for the job...and it's not that expensive(There's actualy one for sale on Ebay at the moment for £50).

[claymore]

Take it from me without vacuum bagging and oven baking your never going to get a decent product using carbon fibre, I've had several failed attempts at it. Can I ask why you want to make your own strut brace when you can by one direct from Volvo that's made for the job...and it's not that expensive(There's actualy one for sale on Ebay at the moment for £50).

I never do things the easy way....lol, I actualy dont like the look of the right hand drive strut brace, so even if i put a standard brace on I'll still hide it under a cover of some sort.

[PaulZX]

Good luck, either way pal..... ;)

[Wobbly Dave]

I don't understand what the advantage is over the aluminium one?

[t5_monkey]

Fiberglass doesn't have the tensile compression strength, CF is the way to go... but it would cost a bomb and only save you a kilo or two of weight.

You'd be much better off with a alu/steel strut and a can of tyre weld instead of a spare! (and a grand+ better off)

[claymore]

Fiberglass doesn't have the tensile compression strength, CF is the way to go... but it would cost a bomb and only save you a kilo or two of weight.

You'd be much better off with a alu/steel strut and a can of tyre weld instead of a spare! (and a grand+ better off)

It's not a weight issue, I don't have a spare wheel, theres two Bottles in the spare wheel well.
I just fancied trying something different.

[t5_monkey]

That's cool - i think the problem with a strut brace is you need tensile and compressive strength and a lot of stuff like Fibreglass (and CF to an extent) has strength but not in every way (tensile, compressive, torsional etc...)

What about a custom magnesium Machined one?