So, I went and bought some replacement wheel arch liners for my 250 (just the one thankfully...), and discovered something interesting! I bought normal Megane ones and didn't consider the wheel arch extensions (they are just stuck on plastic parts afterall). Well unfortunately, the liners for the 250 are wider and do in fact cover the wheel arch extensions. An hour wasted and a lot of swearing later I'm going to have to go to Renault to order the correct ones! So yeah, don't make the same mistake as me Anyone know how much Renault charge for them? I just need the rear section on the passenger side.
Seems the passenger side to break is quite common, Mine has done it twice now and I've given up replacing it
I paid just over £40 for a 3rd party version of the part from ebay. I thought I'd give it a shot since the Renault ones break so easily. Waste of time really! My driver side ones are cracked too, though they're not missing bits like the passenger side!
Yeah i think my drivers sides ok but the passenger one is missing half the bottom, Saying that some of the arch extensions on the passenger side and side skirts have also started to come away along with the paint coming off the top of the door trims. No wonder I'm wanting something German and M
I think they're just poor quality plastic. You're more likely to pick up stones at the passenger side of the road, so that's probably why they get hit more. Also, if you've fitted wider wheels (or wheels with a slightly different offset) so they might catch occasionally!
Yep, I drove through a puddle probably about an inch deep (at most), one meter long, going about 40mph - blew a large hole right through the rear of the front n/s arch liner. I am fairly certain the arch liner was in good condition (other than being 4 year old plastic). The liner is such thin and brittle plastic, I am not surprised that this appears to be a common occurrence. When i get around to ordering my new one I may try reenforcing it, perhaps something as simple as covering the back of it in duct tape, nothing to lose really.
Some of the Caterham guys cover the interior of the fireglass rear arches with some sort of protective paint to stop stones causing spider cracks (fibreglass cracks really badly and just gets worse over time). I'll find out what they use, but given how easily these arches break, it might be worth covering them in the same stuff.
So, apparently they've used two types of stuff, the one is standard underseal paint that you'd get from Halfords, and the other is called Soflex Liquid Rubber, and is available in B&Q. I guess even a thick covering of plastidip might help a little. That said, if it's cold out and plastic is brittle, it might not do much to help anyway
