Wheelarch woes

Are there any UK based members on here who can point me in the direction of someone who deals in Hiace body panels?

I have a '93 Hiace camper conversion that was imported from Japan in 2012 and our salt encrusted roads have done their worst to the driverside rear wheel arch and I could do with tracking down a repair arch.

I have spent much time on Google and made a few phone calls without much success, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

You mean this? (Dutch site)

http://www.euro-autoparts.nl/artikel_info.php?artikelnr=8193592&kiesmerk=TOYOTA&kiesmodel=5344&kiesgroep=&zoekwoord=&sorteren=produktgroep,%20omschrijving,%20cadeon_nr&weergave=thumb

They are available from the manufacturer Klokkerholm, we used them for our van as well. But they are aimed at left hand drive vehicles, so the edge is there because they assume you have a sliding door on that side.
Anyway, you should still be able to use the wheel arch.

I would contact Klokkerholm directly, and see if they have a UK supplier:

http://www.klokkerholm.com/xCMS/Default.aspx?id=85

Thanks for the reply Hiace4wd, that looks to be just what I need. The rust isn't extensive enough for the front edge, where the sliding door would be, to cause a problem.

I'll get in touch with them.

Get them to rustproof the van, I think the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) are not really rust proofed, perhaps someone else may know for sure, but that is what I've heard.

As far as I know they are all made in Japan, also my European version, and I don't think they would build with different quality. If they would, then they would at least keep the highest quality for themselves

Anyway, mine has seen a lot of gravel roads in his life, and was rusting quite bad on all the lower edges.

I read on some Bongo forums a while back that the JDM didn't need the cost and weight of european wax proofing.

There's a whole section of the manual devoted to where to put the wax that I read, which also implies it's not a universally applied thing to do.

I guess it could be, but then, the weather in Japan isn't much better. They have a rainy season and a lot of people live near the coast with salt air. So I'm not sure if a car has an easier life in Japan, apart from people in Japan taking much better care of their car, and the roads are probably better.

I'll take a look at that site as both the bottom of my front doors are bubbling badly, need to act on them but just back from holiday and £££ has gone

Yes they also have front door lower panels. However, they don't have the inner parts, just the outher shells. Also check if any water is staying in the door.

Hiace4wd wrote:

Yes they also have front door lower panels. However, they don't have the inner parts, just the outher shells. Also check if any water is staying in the door.

Excellent, cheers buddy, and yes the drivers does as its always dripping after a rain storm

This Body repair Manual I came across a while ago may be useful.

It identifies all the areas to rustproof with wax to stop any more rust, obviously don't add it to bits you're going to have repaired though!

/http://rg.to/file/3fd302fcf08c1b8c560efdf27e6c7208/Body_Repair_Manual.zip.html

Copy/past the link but avoid the leading '/' character. This avoid the site adding an adfly advert fest if I'd added a clickable link.

I don't think the Japanese do as much rustproofing as us Europeans. Apparently they don't use salt on their roads, so most imported cars come in pretty much rust free. A dealer I was asking about body panels said they'd never had to do bodywork on any of the cars they'd brought in.

Camper949 wrote:

I don't think the Japanese do as much rustproofing as us Europeans. Apparently they don't use salt on their roads, so most imported cars come in pretty much rust free. A dealer I was asking about body panels said they'd never had to do bodywork on any of the cars they'd brought in.

From the Bongo forums (I was looking at Bongos before I decided the Hiace looked much cooler) I learnt that the imports are all pretty much rust free, the important first thing was to immediately rust proof it for the UK roads.

Models for export arrive covered in wax, I've been to car shows in the UK, Germany and Russia and certainly all the Nissans came with really quite thick tough wax.

In Japan when it freezes they use chemicals on roads not salt, that does not damage or corrode the vehicles there. Living close to sea would affect mostly upper bodywork. That's what I have read anyway I'm only here because my wheel arches need weld or repair.