New steel mexico front wings

[timsrs]

I am looking at getting some steel mex front wings to rid of the fibreglass ones fitted at the moment.

I have seen some pattern part ones which i think were made in china.

£230 + VAT

 

Has anyone had them or fitted them, if so what were they like, are they a good buy or not.

 

Is the metal thin so welding is made difficult.

 

Any information on them would be helpfull before i buy.

 

Many thanks

Tim

[SebringRS]

Fitted the new ones, one fit quite well only needed minor adjustment around the scuttle, but still sits too high , but the other side no chance

 

Best of getting some NOS ones mate, they may be really expensive, but worth every penny, as i had to rob one that was meant to go on the RS, to fit on the other side (luckily already had some) as we were in a hurry to get it done and out the barn, and that went on and needed no adjustment at all

 

Oh and the Mex flare is shorter on the repro ones compared to the NOS ones, we measured it

 

But yeah ive got one new Repro one drivers side and NOS passenger side, you can easily tell the difference if you look at them long enough. The new ones seem to rise up at the front, just above the headlight/grille area, where as the NOS ones slope down slightly to meet the bonnet

 

 

 

 

 

And without a conciderable amount of bending, the repro ones dont even come anywhere near the front panel, had to hold it in place with my foot while my mate welded it up, ive had to shape the front panel back to near enough how it should be again, whereas the NOS matched perfect and was welded straight on no fuss

 

Oh and the headlight surround on the grille wont fit to meet the wing (well mine didnt). We had to weld it in as best we could

 

Heres a few pics of us fitting them

 

 

 

 

 

But yeah NOS fits like a glove, and the Repro ones, unless you know or are really good at working metal, or have unlimited money to spend in a bodyshop, you wouldnt get them anywhere near as good as NOS ones.

 

 

This is just personal experience, but guessing most are the same as they'd of used to same, or similar presses. Ive heard of some with swage lines not meeting, door gaps being huge, and the most common which we had, sitting to high on the scuttle

 

 

If you see my car at the shows, come and have a peek, i know they dont look spot on but its the best we could do

[SebringRS]

On the plus side, they are good quality metal, they welded on nicely When i was DA'ing them the other week, i found the repro ones much stronger, they didnt vibrate as much as the NOS ones, but that must be down to it being newer metal maybe

 

 

All in all for me, next time (if it isnt a genuine RS/Mexico etc.) I'd go fibreglass, wish id of done that on the Brown one now Although it was a good thing using them i suppose, as i found out that NOS were better before doing the RS, hence why there are now 2 NOS mex wings ready to be fitted to the RS, purely to save time, and i suppose it sorta seems more "original" that way too

[jayremedy]

I think this has just answered the problem with the wings on my car I guess some poor repro ones sre fitted on mine. As the gap between the door and the wing is a bit big.

 

[john_3.0s]

In my experience the std wings arent much better but its always hard to say if your car is that straght or not, rember the chances are theyve all had a good smack in the front at some stage.

 

I spent ages fitting some pattern wings on a mk2 but with a lot of bending, tacking and fiddling they came out OK it just depends how much time you have but you can always tell they are patterns from the gap between the wing and top of the A post usually.

[timsrs]

Thanks for all the comments, my fibreglass ones are a pretty good fit, and now worried about spending over £500 and make it look worse.

 

I do like the idea of the steels and dont mind fettling them to get a good fit...

But if a good fit is impossible my cash would be best spent elsewhere.

[SebringRS]

Not impossible by any means, theres a fitting guide in Retro Ford a few months back, they were fitted to Bobs Tawny Brown Mk1 and look how they came out

 

 

 

 

 

If you got the time, you can get them to fit, we didnt have the time or the skill, so im just gunna adjust the bonnet to level it out and make it not as noticeable. I find mines more noticeable as its primer wings against painted bonnet, hopefully wont look as bad when its all one colour

[Skimmer]

Now this is interesting as i have a pair of genuine never fitted wings and going back to the Ford doo at santa pod a year or so ago i was told by several different apparent traders that id be better off outing them quick as the new ones were on there way and going to be cheap and fit perfect well i dont listern to rubbish like that as they wanted to give me something like a ton for the pair now it seem though i paid alot for them they might come back into vogue .....no disrespect to the lads who"ve brought and fitted them just nice to hear the true facts

[Vista]

just nice to hear the true facts

 

The true facts vary continually depending who you ask. The majority of people I've read reports from seem to have been happy with them. Personally (if I ever need a pair) I will purchase the repro steel ones long before I consider the price people ask for NOS ones. Though I agree that the traders offering you a few sovs for them were just chancers

[SebringRS]

Spose its all down to how good you are at making things fit If you have the time and the skill to do so, then yeah they'll fit perfect and look like any other mex wing out there, if i had to do mine again id make sure i didnt do it in such a small time scale and id get someone whos good at the job to do it But im pretty pleased with how mines come out concidering

 

 

I know most NOS wings arent the exact copy to the next NOS wing and yes they are bloody expensive, but just seems a better option when you compare spending time fettling to get the repro ones to fit, where (in my case) you could get NOS ones and have them aligned and welded on in under an hour

[jayremedy]

In my experience the std wings arent much better but its always hard to say if your car is that straght or not, rember the chances are theyve all had a good smack in the front at some stage.

 

I spent ages fitting some pattern wings on a mk2 but with a lot of bending, tacking and fiddling they came out OK it just depends how much time you have but you can always tell they are patterns from the gap between the wing and top of the A post usually.

 

I'll check that out, it's the same on the other side but the gap is smaller. I wish I had the time and the space to fit some new ones. But right now time is the reason I bought a car on the road instead of restoring (which would have been my preference) I do feel like a cheat compared to most of you guys, but someone has to buy them It really doesn't bother me too much, but nervous to turn up at meets in it I'm very sensitive

[SebringRS]

They arent that bad mate, ive seen worse The stripe helps aswell i suppose

[joe1600]

From my personal experience the new repro wing don’t fit at all well, i spent ages trying to get it to fit around the scuttle and door but the profile and shape was all wrong, even the guy at the body shop gave up. In the end i got a Nos mex one and it went on no trouble. Cost twice as much but made the car that much better. spend the extra money in my opinion

[puddy]

Not impossible by any means, theres a fitting guide in Retro Ford a few months back, they were fitted to Bobs Tawny Brown Mk1 and look how they came out

 

 

 

If you got the time, you can get them to fit, we didnt have the time or the skill, so im just gunna adjust the bonnet to level it out and make it not as noticeable. I find mines more noticeable as its primer wings against painted bonnet, hopefully wont look as bad when its all one colour

 

I spoke to the guy that helped fit those in that article ,

 

one of Toby kents mates,

 

and he said they were a pig to fit in a proper body shop.

 

I think they even had to cut bits off of them !

 

puddy

[timsrs]

Bit the bullet and bought some from Cleveland panels, as i think shortly they will be very hard to purchase....

 

thanks for all the info...When fitting the wings at what areas would you weld the to the body, Where are they welded from the factory.

Are they spot welded along the rain gutters at the top ???

[SebringRS]

Spot welded on the wing band, we've just plug welded them and gunna grind them down

 

Then where the front panel meets it inside, plug welded or spot welded there too And also in the headlight area there are extra bits to weld there.

 

Bottom of the wing by the door, theres an extra "flap" that welds underneath

 

And we put a few on the inside down the back of the wing where it meets the splash gaurd/door area

 

 

 

When you see the panel them places should make sense

[SebringRS]

Not impossible by any means, theres a fitting guide in Retro Ford a few months back, they were fitted to Bobs Tawny Brown Mk1 and look how they came out

 

 

 

If you got the time, you can get them to fit, we didnt have the time or the skill, so im just gunna adjust the bonnet to level it out and make it not as noticeable. I find mines more noticeable as its primer wings against painted bonnet, hopefully wont look as bad when its all one colour

 

I spoke to the guy that helped fit those in that article ,

 

one of Toby kents mates,

 

and he said they were a pig to fit in a proper body shop.

 

I think they even had to cut bits off of them !

 

puddy

 

 

Yeah in the article in the mag it showed them heating, re-shapping and cutting

[deadly456]

Hi i have 2 new genuine ford RS mk1 wings and one was 5mm longer than the other

[Skimmer]

Just re read this and noticed the price ive also got a new never fitted pair of standard wings and a set of mex lips and when i advertise them for 500 quid i had silly offers though there still cheaper after the vat is added .......sorry to go on but as i said before all them apperant traders got it very wrong

£230 + VAT

 

 

 

 

Tim

[Skimmer]

Thats interesting if a proper body shop struggle

 

 

 

 

I spoke to the guy that helped fit those in that article ,

 

one of Toby kents mates,

 

and he said they were a pig to fit in a proper body shop.

 

I think they even had to cut bits off of them !

 

puddy

[timsrs]

Yes i think it's down to the car alot of the time. Cleveland said they sell quite alot of these wings,(with no bad reports) and for the forseable future that's it...

This might of been sales patter, but though best to get some sooner rather than later when they could be all gone.

 

i do hope fitting is fairly easy, i am sure they will need some adjustment.

 

There is alot of mixed feeling on fitting out there, think in time i will be adding my own opinions..

[SebringRS]

I got one of the first runs of them from Rally Design, so they may have tweaked them again since as i know there was a wait for the second run of them

[timsrs]

How long ago did you get yours from Rally design.

I take it thay have only done 2 batches.

What problems did you have fitting yours BTW ???

 

I got one of the first runs of them from Rally Design, so they may have tweaked them again since as i know there was a wait for the second run of them

[SebringRS]

Pretty much as soon as they were released, so gotta of been end of 2010 start of 2011?

 

And scuttle's were too high, front panel was no where near reaching the wing, had to bend it to fit then re-shape it afterwards. Door gaps were the best part, they were perfect And around the headlight panel, that wouldnt fit in enough to weld it up, so had to weld it elsewhere to fit that part

 

Passenger side we offered up, but needed way too much fettling to get it to fit in the time we had, so the passenger side is a NOS wing, fitted straight away with no adjusting

[timsrs]

Hi...So you think the second batch had these issues ironed out.

Can you see any difference between the two wings

 

Cheers

Tim

 

Pretty much as soon as they were released, so gotta of been end of 2010 start of 2011?

 

And scuttle's were too high, front panel was no where near reaching the wing, had to bend it to fit then re-shape it afterwards. Door gaps were the best part, they were perfect And around the headlight panel, that wouldnt fit in enough to weld it up, so had to weld it elsewhere to fit that part

 

Passenger side we offered up, but needed way too much fettling to get it to fit in the time we had, so the passenger side is a NOS wing, fitted straight away with no adjusting