Loose Wheel Arch

[snowjoke]

I've noticed my rear right wheel arch is loose. Anyone know how to fix it?

[daveh_rav4]

Hi...

I had the same problem with my Freesport 4.1 Rav4 (same colour too!). If your wheel arches are held on to the body by the same method as mine... then try this: The arch'es are held on by plastic 'serated' clips {>>>>> which locate into holes in the body of the vehicle. It could be that the clip(s) have slipped out of the holes one or two notch'es, allowing the arch to slacken from the body leaving a gap. Apply an appreciable amount of pressure to the arch with the palm of your hand (where the gap is, or agaist the clip location if you can see it)... but not so much pressure that you sink the body panel!!!, the arch clips should then pop back into the body holes pulling the arch in tight. It worked for me. B) :)

Hope this helps....

DaveH

[anchorman]

TBH I think they have been off at some stage, probably to facilitate a body repair. I think I can see a bit of overspray further down the one in the first photo.

Dave could well be right and its worth a try but as it relates to more than just one and the way they look a little distorted I don't think you will have much success. The fitting of them came up the other day and is detailed in the attachment. As you can see they rely partly on adhesive stickers. Once they have been removed fully they will not noramally go back any better than what you have. My feeling is that if you want them to look perfect you will have to have new ones fitted and unfortunately they are not cheap.

moulding.pdf

[bothwell_buyer]

or try a sticky gooey substance??

Don't try mig welding as things might get a bit fiery!

[snowjoke]

Thanks for the replies.

Hi...

I had the same problem with my Freesport 4.1 Rav4 (same colour too!). If your wheel arches are held on to the body by the same method as mine... then try this: The arch'es are held on by plastic 'serated' clips {>>>>> which locate into holes in the body of the vehicle. It could be that the clip(s) have slipped out of the holes one or two notch'es, allowing the arch to slacken from the body leaving a gap. Apply an appreciable amount of pressure to the arch with the palm of your hand (where the gap is, or agaist the clip location if you can see it)... but not so much pressure that you sink the body panel!!!, the arch clips should then pop back into the body holes pulling the arch in tight. It worked for me.

Gave this a try, but unfortunately one or two of the clips just aren't sticking on their own. There's no danger of it coming off since it's secured underneath with three screws. I've stuck some Bostick on the pink clip in the picture and along the rim at the top - seems to be holding so far, but there's more of a gap lower down now...

TBH I think they have been off at some stage, probably to facilitate a body repair. I think I can see a bit of overspray further down the one in the first photo.

You might be right, although I can't see any overspray myself (although tbh I don't really know what it would look like) or other signs of body repair... but maybe they just did a really good job fixing it!

Dave could well be right and its worth a try but as it relates to more than just one and the way they look a little distorted I don't think you will have much success. The fitting of them came up the other day and is detailed in the attachment. As you can see they rely partly on adhesive stickers. Once they have been removed fully they will not noramally go back any better than what you have. My feeling is that if you want them to look perfect you will have to have new ones fitted and unfortunately they are not cheap.

Thanks for that. The instructions aren't the easiest to make sense of, but it seems that the part is held on by two screws, a rivet and four clips, with adhesive tape covering the join. I think it's some of the clips that have gone for some reason.

I was fitting my rear mudguards today (finally!) and you need to undo the screws to put the mudguards over the top, and the whole panel came loose, now attached just by the rivet at the top. Here's what I could see (looking from the rear forwards):

Not sure if these look standard? The lower clips seem to work more or less, but come loose with very little jiggling.

or try a sticky gooey substance??

Don't try mig welding as things might get a bit fiery!

We'll see how the Bostik holds up... if well, I might put some more in, perhaps just a long line along the rubber bit would cpver up the gap. Seems a bit weird though having parts of the bodywork held on with bits of plastic and sticky tape (but what do I know about cars? ).

[three5]

Thanks for the replies.

Hi...

I had the same problem with my Freesport 4.1 Rav4 (same colour too!). If your wheel arches are held on to the body by the same method as mine... then try this: The arch'es are held on by plastic 'serated' clips {>>>>> which locate into holes in the body of the vehicle. It could be that the clip(s) have slipped out of the holes one or two notch'es, allowing the arch to slacken from the body leaving a gap. Apply an appreciable amount of pressure to the arch with the palm of your hand (where the gap is, or agaist the clip location if you can see it)... but not so much pressure that you sink the body panel!!!, the arch clips should then pop back into the body holes pulling the arch in tight. It worked for me.

Gave this a try, but unfortunately one or two of the clips just aren't sticking on their own. There's no danger of it coming off since it's secured underneath with three screws. I've stuck some Bostick on the pink clip in the picture and along the rim at the top - seems to be holding so far, but there's more of a gap lower down now...

TBH I think they have been off at some stage, probably to facilitate a body repair. I think I can see a bit of overspray further down the one in the first photo.

You might be right, although I can't see any overspray myself (although tbh I don't really know what it would look like) or other signs of body repair... but maybe they just did a really good job fixing it!

Dave could well be right and its worth a try but as it relates to more than just one and the way they look a little distorted I don't think you will have much success. The fitting of them came up the other day and is detailed in the attachment. As you can see they rely partly on adhesive stickers. Once they have been removed fully they will not noramally go back any better than what you have. My feeling is that if you want them to look perfect you will have to have new ones fitted and unfortunately they are not cheap.

Thanks for that. The instructions aren't the easiest to make sense of, but it seems that the part is held on by two screws, a rivet and four clips, with adhesive tape covering the join. I think it's some of the clips that have gone for some reason.

I was fitting my rear mudguards today (finally!) and you need to undo the screws to put the mudguards over the top, and the whole panel came loose, now attached just by the rivet at the top. Here's what I could see (looking from the rear forwards):

Not sure if these look standard? The lower clips seem to work more or less, but come loose with very little jiggling.

or try a sticky gooey substance??

Don't try mig welding as things might get a bit fiery!

We'll see how the Bostik holds up... if well, I might put some more in, perhaps just a long line along the rubber bit would cpver up the gap. Seems a bit weird though having parts of the bodywork held on with bits of plastic and sticky tape (but what do I know about cars? ).

Hi,

Don't worry about the use of glue ( sorry, adhesive ), as this branch of technology it has improved incredibly in recent years. As examples, the Lotus Elise chassis is extruded aluminium sections bonded together and they stick all sorts of aircraft parts together.

Not wishing to cause you any grief, but I had the same problem on a Vitara. An articulated HGV caught the end of the bumper with the structure that hung down at the back of his trailer. It looked as though only the bumper was damaged, but the poor fit of the wheel arch extensions after the repair suggested to me that there had been some minor distortion of the rear wing area. Apparently, insurance companies are prepared to leave small amounts of distortion after a repair as it does not affect the structural strength of the bodyshell. Symptoms were just the same as you describe, plastic section not quite fitting the wing edge properly.

I know it's annoying and detracts from the enjoyment of the car, but doing the sort of repair that would make it perfect would probably involve stretching the bodyshell back to it's original dimensions. VERY expensive and by no means certain not to cause structural damage. Don't know what proportion of cars go through their life without a some sort of body repair, but i doubt if it's a lot.