I have just finished my second season on the road and have never been happy with the aftermarket louvers I bought for my car. The louver angles don't align with the cut out. One popped out under the force of my knee and I have never put it back in as I've been thinking about alternatives. Suggestions?
Ralph,
What brand of industrial Velcro do you use? I've tried to use a quality (can't remember brand) product and have never had luck with durability of the adhesive that attaches the velcro to the objects that are to be stuck together. The hook & loop part works great. I can't imagine what I'm doing wrong as the 2 cases I'm referring to are: attaching very small surround sound speakers to oak paneling and attaching a small processor for A/F ratio to the back of my dash.
Regarding the louver attachment, does it make sense to epoxy the glue-side of one of the Velcro halves to the area in question?
BTW- I also recommend Finishline. I had mine powdercoated and they are flawless.
Ok... should have been clearer on the velcro attachement...
Attaching the velcro to anything - sticky side - usually has not held up well. I have an aluminum L bracket rivited to the top and bottom of the Finishline louvers. I then glued using Gorilla glue the velcro to the inside of the body of the car. Clamped it over night with a long stick to be sure it was flat. Next I put some foam tape on the L bracket and then the velcro to that. The foam was to build up the velcro to allow it to "conform" to any irregularities. I also glued all these to the L bracket with Gorilla glue. And finally I marked on the top of the brackets top left or top right... so even I would know which side there were for!
I slip them into the opening and pull them up tight... and they stay... never move! The actual velcro I used I got from Home Depot and they have it marked as industrial and able to glue to anything... (which of course the sticky part starts to fail in less than a month when used on a car!)
The louvers make great access openings to get to things when installed this way.
As Todd mentioned, I found that louvers can be mounted quite permanently with epoxy. Sadly, they can't be taken off and turned around very easily with that method.
The "L" brackets that Ralph mentions are part of the Whitby louver design but they are NOT a riveted on after-thought and are part of the aluminum stamping. The 4 brackets come predrilled with holes.
On #3928, I had NCPainter bond short bolts into the backside of the body and we secured the vents with a basic nut. I've heard others use velcro and even a glob of silicone on each bracket to secure the louver to the backside of the body.
When mine was done, I painted the bracket/bolt/nut with flat black to match the underside of my bedliner coated body. You can't tell from the engine bay how my louvers are mounted.
Here is an idea that Todd Buttrick came up with, to help mount the louvers and make them easily removable. Use the two pins on the back of the emblem above the louver to hold the top L brackets in place. The pins can be threaded so that a lock nut screws on and holds the L bracket/louver and the emblem in place. On the bottom, use velcro to hold the L bracket to the body.
These are Finishlines that have been annodized in black. They are held in by four camlocs.I bonded an aluminum angle to the body to hold the camloc receptacles. Ray
Re- sticky side of velcro. I too found it didn't stick well at all. I used some caulk gun adhesive,(liquid nails), that stiks like crazy. I have used it for numerous velcro applications, and never been disappointed. Good luck,Randy Richards
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