AEV Highline Kit Installation Guide
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
Is this a hint that you might be selling your AEV Highlines? 
FIRST DIBS if so, I have family in AZ that can pick it up for me if you feel like getting those Genrights! haha
FIRST DIBS if so, I have family in AZ that can pick it up for me if you feel like getting those Genrights! haha
did they supply new fenders or just new fronts to match the grill higher? whats with the seam?
or they used OE fenders and just changed the ends out and you had to finish it?
or they used OE fenders and just changed the ends out and you had to finish it?
OP
this has been up for awhile .....i've not bothered to ask who made the hood.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1180977012093619/?surface=product_details
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1180977012093619/?surface=product_details
It's all about the tooling cost - if the shape of the fender is such that the part can be thermo-formed, the cost of tooling can be fairly reasonable. I recently did a JL-style grille for the JK and was able to arrange for it to be manufactured by thermo-forming and the tooling cost and per-unit cost was low enough that small production runs (25 parts) are possible (photo below).
If the shape requires injection molding, the molds would cost a lot more and it's likely that would only be cost-effective for large production runs.
Molds for fiberglass parts are pretty reasonable, a good rule of thumb is that a mold for a fiberglass part, assuming a quality master part exists for the mold to be made from, is that the mold will cost about 5x the retail cost of the part that will be made in the mold. At that cost ratio, fiberglass is practical for very small production runs (10 parts).
Ever since I did the CJ Grille Kit for the TJ I've had in the back of my mind that I would make a highline kit - I've got molds for TJ inner fenders, flat fenders, CJ fenders and related parts and those would provide a good starting point for making highline versions.
A thermo-formed JL-style grille for the JK:
OP
Shhhhh...this is my next project. I'm going to be taking the AEV flares from the new TJ and seeing what I have to do to get them reproduced and what it would cost.
If it makes sense, I'll organize a group buy for them, but first I need to find the proper production facilities to speak with and see what it would take. I'll have the flares (all in good shape) so I would think that's a start.
Make them a little narrower
And make them Rubicon/Sahara width.
Starrs
TJ Guru
You better find somebody with deep pockets my friend to invest in this venture haha. Would it be profitable? Probably lol but it’s gonna take lots of coin to get that up and running.
OP
It's gonna be expensive. You might be able to Thermo form them from a flat sheet, but still $$. I'd image even finding a press big enough to make them will be a challenge.
Hope you luck out though. I've been in plastics for 15 years, but all of that has been injection molding. If you go down that road let me know and I can help you out with some things to watch out for.
OP
What about 3D printing? Is that even feasible whatsoever?
What I need to get is some sort of ballpark for how much it's going to cost to have X sets of them made. If I knew that number, I could propose the idea of a "group buy" to see how many people would actually be interested. It would be crowd sourcing it of course, but from what I gather on the AEV Forum and everywhere else, it seems there's enough people that hunt for these flares, that reproducing them may or may not be possible.
I'm also not sure what kind of manufacturer I'd have to talk to. I've heard these are polyurethane flares, but I'm not sure how that compares to let's say ABS injection molding, etc.
OP
Well, we'll find out. I'm at least going to look into it and see what can be done. Millions is indeed unrealistic and if that is the case I may be well out of my league here.
What do you think @Mike_H, does that sound accurate?
Starrs
TJ Guru
I’m not sure how big of a batch he was referring too, but it wouldn’t be worth your while to make 30-50 sets. You’ll lose money for sure. It’s a big boys league with tooling, and trying to bring back an icon haha. I’m just repeating what the guy said who invented the thing.
3D printing would not be the best solution in my opinion, I use what is considered a very large printer at work and it's print volume is only 12x12x26 inches. We could build a printer with a print volume to print the flares, in which case Nylon would probably be the best material to use. But at the end of the day your still looking at about a 20-40 hour print per flare.
OP
That's what I figured as well. Someone had suggested 3D printing, but I know how long that takes, and I'd also mentioned that it would take a commercial size 3D printer.
So the next question is (and maybe you don't know, but hopefully someone does), who would I talk to about this sort of thing?
If I have the flares and I want to have a mold created for them so we could reproduce them, what do I even Google for that?
I've never sourced manufacturing like this before in my life, so I'm unsure where to start.
Again, this may all be a pipe dream, but I'd at least like to get a general idea of what it might cost. If I could do that, I could shop the idea around and see if there was enough interest from people to justify recreating them.