decided to try and sort out my bumpstrip situation today as i wanted to get rid of them but wanted to keep the arches and as u probably know, part of the bumpstrip is attached to the arches..

This is my first time at plastic welding but thought i would stick some pics up of how i did it;

sorry about the picture quality, was taking them on my phone

1. Drill out, or prise out with a flathead, the 4 rivots under the arches. Use a bank card or similar to pull away the little bit of bumpstrip from the wing. Should be left with this:

2. Next cut off the bump strip from the arch:

you'll be left with this:

3. Now you need to cut up the bumpstrip you just cut off and make a segment that fits into the gap on the arch. doesnt matter if its a bit too small as you can fill in the gaps later.

I then stuck a bit of glue on behind it to keep it in place.

4. Next get out a soldering iron and some offcuts of plastic and start massaging the edges together using the offcuts to fill any big gaps. Start on the back first to make sure its secure then work on the front on making it look nice and neat.

5. I then filed it down to make it a bit neater, gave the whole arch a good coat of back to black and trial fitted it onto the car..

Then just use re-attach them onto the car using a rivet gun and appropriate sized rivets. and job done!

Hope this helps :)

Edited 27 December, 201015 yr by richoco

Good guide mate, I'll be doing the same to mine. I might give them a quick skim of filler and repaint using textured paint though :)

nice idea, I've never seen this done before. I think i'll be using this guide to do mine when i get round to it :)

rivet them on the sealant does not work they will fall off eventually when your not expecting then to and you will loss them.

only telling you due to experance got a rivet gun for £4 at aldi a month ago

Pinned!

rivet them on the sealant does not work they will fall off eventually when your not expecting then to and you will loss them.

only telling you due to experance got a rivet gun for £4 at aldi a month ago

yeah thats a good point. just bought a rivet gun from tk maxx for 3.99 haha so will update the guide in a sec

You can also use MK2 front arches for this, and cut them to length. Alot easier!

i did this but skim'd and painted mine.

i then stuck mine one with pinkgrip foam.

i use this in the building trade and it never fails.

two years mine have been stuck on my gt, and still going solid

just did this this morning worked awesome good how to man looks sick

just a quick question , I've got a Mk4 . but I'm wanting plastic arches to give it that Wide arch style ( if you know what i mean ) is there any what would fit ? or would i litterally have to get a wide arch kit?

anyone know were you can buy these arch trims? or got a part number for them?

hi mate do you need the sills to fit these arches? and you wouldn't know if mk2 polo saloon arches fit ?

cheers

mark

You dont need the sills to fit them but as you can see in the pictures there is a slot where the sills fit in so may look a bit odd without them. Could always blank them in the same way as described for the rub strip.

Think mk2 ones can be cut down to fit yeah but haven't done it myself so not certain.

Hi guys id like some gt/g40 arches for my mk3 but just wondered if i remove the bump strips if it leaves holes down side like on french things like the saxo or are the just stuck on with strong double sided tape like on mondeos, if i remember right the bump strips on mk5 (6n2) left holes where they clipped in. thanks

The Mark2 and 3 Polos bump strips are only held on by double-sided foam tape, so no nasty holes to worry about .

good guide rich, where's one on the engine and exhaust

how do you fit the plastic side skirts on a mk3 coupe?