Thanks, understand now, had never used exploding rivets before, ordering some now.
@raider89 … G’day Dan, I’m not sure if our cars are different, or if I’m missing something from your posts…..
on my car the two countersunk head socket cap screws that are in the middle wear strip go right through the splitter and appear in a bracket on top of the splitter that helps support the front tow ring (which effectively ties the toe ring, splitter and crash box together).
DavidF had previously mentioned the same set-up.
he posted…
“On my diffuser (SR3 XX), the corner skid plates are riveted in (with 5/32 rivets I believe). There were no flat-head Allen cap screws holding these side plates. The center plate does have two long M6 flat head screws with nylock nuts on the top, easily accessible on each side of the tow hook.”
Here’s a picture on my car showing the bracket, and the two threaded bolt ends that you can see are the countersunk bolts that come from underneath the wear strip and through the splitter…. Surely that’s the same on your car?
I can’t believe anyone would want to replace these with rivets (as suggested by some including GroupA…?) as a rivet will never be able to adequately tie all these parts together as intended… again maybe I’m missing something?
in terms of your original question, when I purchased my car the original wear pads looked pretty well rooted. I purchased 5 new wear pads from Radical ready to change them when I got the car delivered from the UK to Tasmania.
When the car arrived, I took the wear pads off, and then decided that they weren’t as bad as I had first thought, so I went to a local plastic supply company, and purchased some High Density PE sheet (2 and 3mm thick). I then used the new wear pads that came with the car delivery as templates, and made three sets of these….
To fix them to the car I simply use the best grade of Sikaflex adhesive that I have at home. To be clear, they are not bolted/riveted to the splitter using the wear pad fixings, they simply stick onto the original wear pads.
I’ve completed 6 events, and only had one experience where one was ‘peeled off’ (front centre wear pad) during a race weekend…. No problem, as underneath the wear pad remained in place to do it’s original job…. And I simply stuck a new one on when I got home after the event.
None of the old wear pads that I reinstalled with these over the top have touched the track since… and I still have the completely new wear pads ‘in stock’ at home.
Here are some pics I took just now to show the current condition…. Still look ok and look like they are doing their job. (Sorry I couldn’t get better pics… the car isn’t very high off the garage floor right now)
The center front diffuser pad has two 4mm hex head cap screws, but they dont want to back out when unscrewing and zero access to back side within the diffuser. The other four attachments are not screws, but some kind of rivet (without center pull head for some reason). No idea how to get these removed and reinstalled.
The two corner front diffuser pads do not have screws, but those same goofy rivets. No idea how to get thee removed and reinstalled either.
Right, so this is the same as mine. Rivets everywhere except those two long flathead screws. Use a 5/32 drill and some upward force to remove the heads of all of the rivets. The shanks of the rivets will be pushed into the front of the splitter and you will never see them again.
The two Allen screws should have a nylock nut on each side of the tow hook above. Remove the nuts, and the screws should screw or push out.
Fasten the new rub plates with new small head 5/32 rivets and reinstall the long M6 flat head Allen screws with the nylock nuts.
(Note: I am pretty sure they are 5/32 rivets, but check the size of the holes on the new rub plates.)
As noted above, they are peel rivets - easily drilled out with 5/32" bit. Exact rivet from McMaster shown below. Like a dumb butt, figured out the two screws in center pad.
I also thought about gluing new pads to existing ones, but they are already worn unevenly. I was surprised the new factory pads were only 5mm thick, for whatever reason, thought they would be thicker. If going to glue some, would suggest after replacing wear pads with fresh ones for uniform thickness and flatness.
I ordered some 1/8" HPDE boards, will cut to size, and try this added layer for sacrificial surface. Certainly significantly less expensive than the factory dense wood shapes assuming it works well.
