lets get some iX mudflaps made. Who can help?

[bradnic]

Anyone have a real estimate on how many iX owners would want a set?

In the low hundreds of sets max I would say. Count me in for a set.

[garagistic]

We Have The Capabilities To Bring These To The Market. If Someone In So Cal Has A Set To Build A Mold Off Of This In So Cal We Can Help. Pm us

[BAlbertiX]

....Next thing to figure out is what process would be best to mold them. I'm familiar with injection molding but I think that would be much too expensive for the quantities involved. I'm thinking polyurethane casting might work out but I don't know much about it. Maybe I'll do a little research on that.

Can somebody give me some approximate overall dimensions of the mud flaps so I know what we're working with?

Agreed, injection molding these would be a waste of money. I had posted an $8k price tag earlier... after talking to my tool maker this week, he said over $20k and suggested finding a 150Ton mold machine.

I'd say solid model > 3d print > reverse urethane (or silicone) to build the mold(s), then pour material and heat cure to make parts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PXy36JCuoU It gets tricky given both sides of the part have features, but doable.

[z122643]

price them at BMW OEM price! Hey where else you going to get them?!

[BAlbertiX]

Hey everyone,

I work at a rubber and plastic injection mold company here in CT. StinkE30, if you send me one of the mudflaps I'll solid model it and we can go from there.

There are many options, just depends on how many we want to do and how much we want to invest. We could make a handful of wood/urethane epoxy molds, mix epoxy, close mold, pour in, heat cure, remove mold. Labor intensive but would do the trick. Let's say a $grand or two in equipment needed. Or, spend some real money on a steel injection mold frame, or rubber compression mold and do hundreds a day, $4k -$8k.

Anyone have a real estimate on how many iX owners would want a set?

[spdracrm3]

This Gold 2-door e30 that parks on my street that isn't well kept has both fronts and 1 rear flap OEM. The car is marked 325a I think which I don't know much about. I'll leave them a note. How much would a good offer for them be?

IX mudflaps are different than base models due to side skirts

[saurey]

This Gold 2-door e30 that parks on my street that isn't well kept has both fronts and 1 rear flap OEM. The car is marked 325a I think which I don't know much about. I'll leave them a note. How much would a good offer for them be?

[JeremyL]

I need someone to measure the mud flaps for me. Doesn't have to be exact. I just need some approximate overall dimensions.

[Blendercloud]

Sign me up for at least one set. Two sets if the price is right.

[Larzzz]

id be in!

[bradnic]

sub'd
praying for repros...

[JeremyL]

From what I can see in the pictures, the shape seems to be pretty easy to mold. So the next step would be to copy them somehow. I think the way to go would be to have them 3D scanned and then use the scan data to reverse engineer them in CAD. Since they're mirror images, it's actually only necessary to do the work on one of the pair.

Next thing to figure out is what process would be best to mold them. I'm familiar with injection molding but I think that would be much too expensive for the quantities involved. I'm thinking polyurethane casting might work out but I don't know much about it. Maybe I'll do a little research on that.

Can somebody give me some approximate overall dimensions of the mud flaps so I know what we're working with?

[aaron325ix]

thanks for doing that man. hopefully Jeremy can get back in here and have some good news on getting this going.

[StinkE30]

Alright, so these aren't the most detailed pictures, and the only camera I have is my phone...

That being said I think they will give everyone a pretty good idea what the shape is and what makes these different from non-iX mudflaps.

One difference is the shape of the mold that contours around the iX fender flare.











The other difference is instead of using a metal bracket to connect the flap to the car, the iX flap has the bracket built into the mold so it bolts directly to the car (as far as I can tell from the 10 minutes I was test fitting them).





The backs are pretty straight forward as well.





I know these probably aren't the most helpful pictures, but I hope they can provide enough information for someone to get something useful out of them.

[aaron325ix]

bump. lets keep this moving stinky!!