Does anybody have any experience with the poly fenders? What is the longevity? The durability? The looks of them, and so forth? I am interested in getting some of the single axle fenders for my Star, I would like to go with the stainless steel but my budget wont let me right now. Thanks, Peg
I've dealt with them recently. "Minimizer" is the manufacturer, based in Minnesota if I remember correctly. (Go to Minimizer.com) I installed a set of full tandem fenders and a single radius set on a steerable lift. All total, they cost about $1,700.00 as opposed to about $2,500.00 for the stainless setup. At first I was reluctant with the way the composite material bracketry was acting just sitting in the garage. You could wiggle those fenders back and forth enough to think that within 6 months they'd fall off going down the road, but I was impressed with their durability once I stared at them in the mirrors for several thousand miles and they didn't seem to move at all. The fact that you don't have to polish them is also beautiful, unless you're into that. They just introduced a poly chrome version (I like to refer to them as "Polish Chrome" ) that's shiny. The black poly version I dealt with turned out to be phenominal in my opinion. They could be hit, struck, and if they break Minimizer will replace the part free of charge. The only thing I ran into that was a problem was the bracketry they sent me to install the single radius fenders over the steerable axle were the wrong configuration, so I ended up slicing and dicing, and "electrically gluing" them together to fit the application. The fabricator for Minimizer was impressed with my "alterations" and had me take photos and draw a simple sketch so he could copy it for making the right ones to sell. All in all, they're a good investment. Depends on the individual's personal preference to shine vs. brine.
Thanks Lowboy, I was thinking about going with these http://nationalfleetproducts.com/ instead of the minimizer's. They are about half the price, but as they say you get what you pay for. I really like the look of the single axle fenders versus the full tandem, with that being sad when I decide to do this I am only going to purchase one set at a time and see if I like them. If I dont, at least I wont be out as much money as having to put both sets of fenders on. I was also wondering if they will work (enough clearance) for a hendrickson suspension on a Star Car?
G'day D6peg, We have used the poly guards for many years and they are very durable. They do go brittle after quite a few years and crack, but I would still use them before metal ones because if they get hit with a loader or anything they flex. The only problems we have encountered is that we do not have a lot of clearance under the bodies and because we do a lot of off road work there is not enough room for the wheels to oscillate. The other problem is that if they are mounted to close to the wheels, it makes it harder to change them, because the tyre will get caught behind the outside lip. If the wheels rub against the guards they will wear a hole through them fairly quickly. We are fitting our trucks with a rubber belt system which allows more flexibility for off road work. Here is a link to a manufactured one, but we made our own. http://www.bmackay.com.au/dp/rubber.htm Rn'R.