17 replies to this topic

[ad53ggz]

Hi hope this is in the right place first off, i am looking at getting light weight doors for the mini and have seen some in fiberglass and aluminum doors i was all set on the fiberglass one's but read somewhere on here that they can bow out at speeds over 60mph, is this true?? i plan to fit them to a mk4 car but with polycarb sliding windows if this is the case looks like i will just have to bite the bullet and fork out for the aluminium doors any negatives about these?? Thanks Aaron

[jack_marshall]

No idea about the fibreglass doors but the alluminium door skins I have seen have been poor quality with bad ripples and rubbish pressings along the swage line.

There is little weight saved with aluminium skins as they should be thicker. And they corrode just like steel if theyre put onto a steel frame.

[ad53ggz]

No idea about the fibreglass doors but the alluminium door skins I have seen have been poor quality with bad ripples and rubbish pressings along the swage line.

There is little weight saved with aluminium skins as they should be thicker. And they corrode just like steel if theyre put onto a steel frame.

Thanks for the comments, so far looks like fiberglass in winning so far

[Retro_10s]

is this for a road mini or a race mini?.. and doeds it have a good roll cage fitted?...

[ken100]

neither one's are as good as the original ones but the downside of them is that they rust like poo. In the long term fiberglass is best as it will never rust and will save alot more weight as ali doors skins dent very easily and still rust on the steel frame.

ken

[ad53ggz]

is this for a road mini or a race mini?.. and doeds it have a good roll cage fitted?...

Road mini mainly but will have a 6point rollcage with door bars

[Joshmini]

I wouldn't recommend fibreglass doors for road.
I would go for aluminium

Edited by Joshmini, 28 June 2008 - 10:53 AM.

[Tomf]

Personally i would go for fiberglass doors, however i have been told by alot of people that they do flex at high speeds, but when i get round to getting fiberglass doors i will be re-enforcing the whole frame to give it extra strength, but if that doesnt workin i would be looking at a way to secure the top of the door some how...

[ad53ggz]

I wouldn't recommend fibreglass doors for road.
I would go for aluminium

Is this from first hand experience? Sorry if this sounds stupid but could you explain your reasoning why aluminium would be better than fibreglass?? thanks

[dave-1275]

i would go for fibreglass as it is much ligher and removes the corrosion, you could always add honeycomb inserts to strenghten the door without compromising the weight!
its what my super-brainy-materials-friend told me to do!

[megabob]

in my opinion i would not use fiberglass as its too weak and alloy would be too pricy and hard to source, ive seen what happens to a mini at 30mph in a head on colision with a steel front and its not pretty.

your best bet is to get a good high quality carbon fiber like epoxy based poly vinyl ester resin, very strong and very light

[jwb_moto]

Do fibreglass doors have a fibreglass frame aswell? or are they just skin bonded to the original frame? if not what about doing the latter?

Edited by jwb_moto, 28 January 2009 - 10:52 AM.

[atom]

Having almost finished working on the fibreglass doors for the Domino, I can tell you that they're not that much lighter than the metal ones. The real difference is in the window material.

[kcchan]

Fibreglass would be very nasty if it breaks in the case of a side impact.

[1380rich]

i've got fibreglass doors and had no problem with them, they dont bow out at high speeds and are alot lighter than my old cut out steel doors

if you crash in a mini the door wnt make much difference lol

rich