Composite Engine Shields

Look interesting, although i'm very happy with my subaxtreme man has it taken a beating and i took it off the other day and no cracks like some people getting pretty distorted though.
 
Excellent find, Waggaclint!

At 135 euro not a bad price, provided we can get it shipped to Australia or US for a reasonable price. Love the video demo with the sledge hammer! The company appears to be in Tallin, which is the capital of Estonia.
 
Looks very impressive but IMO durability would be an issue. Composites have incredible strength for weight but its impact resistance cant be compared to steel. Note at 0:53 the cracks left from the sledgehammer.

Looks great for light offroad duties but I need something that gives a bit more protection...Thats why I ditched the cast alloy & got a steel guard.
 
From their website:

"Маterial

Shields are made from the new generation material. It is the composite material. The similar material is used for the military purposes in manufacture of helicopters and rockets. The last Boieng 787 for the civil aviation for 50% consists of the composite materials. Formula 1 race cars are completely built from the composite material. There are a lot of composite materials, and in every single application a special type and a special combination of composites are used.
From a technical point of view, in the composite are used various fibers from fiberglass, carbon or kevlar (it is also used in armour vests). These fibers are multi-layer and they are permeated with various resins – either epoxide or polyester resins with different properties."

No way would I touch it if it were made using fibreglass or polyester resin! Seriously old technology. Carbon fibre, Kevlar & epoxy resin has been the only way to go for more than a decade!
 
waggaclint said:
Well I got a message back from them and they also do a g-box shield as well https://www.autokaitse.ee/engine-shield/subaru/subaru-forester-2008-gearbox-shield and engine shield https://www.autokaitse.ee/engine-shield/subaru/subaru-forester-2008-benzine-engine-shield and they ship to Aust the shields are 135euros each and the shipping is 35euros..
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35 euros for shipping half-way around the world seems quite fair. The gearbox shield sounds interesting also. But I don't like the open transition from engine shield to gearbox shield.

So, are you going to order 'em up, Waggaclint? :poke:
 
At $211 landed here (the approx conversion of 170 Euros), that's a pretty competitive price. About half the cost of the alloy ones (if you have to pay freight, like I do).
I seriously doubt fibreglass with polyester 6mm thick could withstand that sledgehammer impact. There has to be some carbon fibre and/or Kevlar in there somewhere. I also doubt it would be such a low price if it was all carbon fibre, so it's probably a mixture- which would explain some of the surface cracking at the point of the hammer impact.
I wonder how an alloy guard would stand up in the same test. It would certainly leave a dent. I was also surprised at how little it deformed. If I hadn't already ordered an alloy one, I'd probably be chasing one of these...

C00P
 
Escher said:
35 euros for shipping half-way around the world seems quite fair. The gearbox shield sounds interesting also. But I don't like the open transition from engine shield to gearbox shield.

So, are you going to order 'em up, Waggaclint? :poke:
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Nah I won't be gettn one as I've already got a alloy one on mine hey, just thought I'd put it out there for others...
 
Hi there
If You need some direct information about those engine shields then i can just go and ask the guys for info and maybe take some pictures if needed :ebiggrin:


Tanel
 
NachaLuva said:
No way would I touch it if it were made using fibreglass or polyester resin! Seriously old technology. Carbon fibre, Kevlar & epoxy resin has been the only way to go for more than a decade!
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^ Actuallly no. Epoxy is substantially older technology than polyester; both materials have advantages and disadvantages and both will remain in common use for the foreseeable future. The choice of reinforcing material is also not a straightforward case of "X is better". Here too it is horses for courses.

There are various different epoxy resins. In general, epoxy is stronger than polyester on a weight for weight basis, but weaker on a cost for cost basis. If ultimate strength for a given weight or volume is your aim, epoxy is superior. (This is why it is used for weight-critical applications like aircraft components, where every extra gram costs you money over the 20-50 year working life of the aeroplane 'cause it's weight you have to lift up with expensive fuel but can't sell as payload.) Epoxy also tends to be more durable. On the other hand, because polyester is much cheaper, you can afford to use it for tasks where epoxy is impractical because of the cost, and if weight is not a critical issue you can use a thick layer of polyester for the same strength as a thin layer of epoxy and still achieve a lower cost.

Similar considerations apply to the reinforcing material. Weight for weight, carbon fibre is the strongest and the most expensive. It also tends to be brittle. Glass is the weakest but also the most flexile and the cheapest. Once again, you can achieve (almost) any desired strength using either material provided your task is not weight-critical. Also, you can combine different reinforcing materials in creative ways to take advantage of their different qualities. One common method is to use a single layer of (expensive) carbon fibre together with multiple layers of glass.
 
C00P said:
I seriously doubt fibreglass with polyester 6mm thick could withstand that sledgehammer impact. There has to be some carbon fibre and/or Kevlar in there somewhere. I also doubt it would be such a low price if it was all carbon fibre, so it's probably a mixture- which would explain some of the surface cracking at the point of the hammer impact.
I wonder how an alloy guard would stand up in the same test. It would certainly leave a dent. I was also surprised at how little it deformed.
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That all fits with my thoughts pretty well.

I don't think it is designed to stand up to being bashed against big rocks during serious off-roading, or for sledding along deeply rutted sand. It looks as though it's intended to protect against loose objects (e.g., a brick-sized or smaller rock). For that purpose, I should think it would be plenty strong enough - and less than half the price of a cast aluminium one.

I'm thinking I might get one. I'm struggling to justify the expense of a Subaruextreme cast alloy guard. Hey - I've done maybe 30,000 kilometres with the factory plastic guard and 240,000k with no guard at all and never had a problem, so it's a bit hard to see the sense in spending $500-odd on one. Besides, I don't much fancy the idea of using cast alloy: surely it would be pretty brittle!

So I'm thinking that this composite one might be a good compromise.
 
Tannin said:
I've done maybe 30,000 kilometres with the factory plastic guard and 240,000k with no guard at all and never had a problem, so it's a bit hard to see the sense in spending $500-odd on one
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The OEM plastic one also protects well against water splashing up into the engine bay, something the others pretty much ignore

Tannin said:
Besides, I don't much fancy the idea of using cast alloy: surely it would be pretty brittle!
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Yep, it sure is brittle. The cast alloy guards should be considered "consumable"...they crack very easily. I couldnt get rid of mine fast enough! :puke:
 
waggaclint said:
Stumbled across these the other day, they look like a good thing

https://vimeo.com/ravolar/engineshield

More info HERE

Ive contacted them on facebook to see if they have any aussie dealers etc
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:cool:

xg9req.jpg


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