Where's that backplate thread? Ah bugger it.

[steve_earwig]

I'm sure not so long ago we were discussing the outragious cost of rear backplates but I'll be jiggered if I can find it

Anyway, I spotted this on the Toyotter sufferers club form (well feck, I was bored): http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/ ... read-this/

RAV4.2 front backplates - 30 quids inc G&T each, rears - 403 quid plus G&T EaCh! Jeezuz H!

And then there's the link off of there, where a chap has a wee small prang in a Nissan GTR which set off the pedestrian impact system, saddling him (or rather his insurance) with a bill for 11 grand. Christ on a moped! It's ok though, Nissan realised it was a mistake and gave him a jacket in compensation. Well, that's ok then

[DaiRees]

Loads of backplates threads.... here's mine viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17917

Cars are expensive things aren't they, and these days they're "beyond economical repair" long before they're actually knackered

[FarmerPug]

I paid the price for a pair of new ones then went and got them powder coated on top of that, a bloody rip off but a nice sound part of the car now

The price seems to stem from the cast bit that the calliper bolts to, but at the end of the day its just riveted to the tin. Im no good at metalworking but how hard would it be to fabricate them, would peugeot still have the dies used to press out the backplates?
If all else failed it wouldn't be too difficult to model the backplate up in CAD and get them 3D printed. The 3D printers acrylic material seems to be quite strong as it is and a lot more resistant to corrosion than the standard item.

[highlander]

If all else failed it wouldn't be too difficult to model the backplate up in CAD and get them 3D printed. The 3D printers acrylic material seems to be quite strong as it is and a lot more resistant to corrosion than the standard item.

Don't the backplates have to deal with a certain amount of heat? The stuff that comes out of a 3D printer is just resin. I'd hate for friction and vibration to melt and crack the backplates. If you made a CAD model, I'd be more tempted to take it to a metal shop with a computer-controlled lathe, and have a whole bunch of them fashioned out of a really good quality stainless steel. Then sell them on eBay.

[FarmerPug]

Quite true i forgot about the heat aspect, the plastic is probably not resistant enough.
Although it might still be an option for creating a mould or die.

But yes a cad model could be sent off to a machining shop witn the right sort of CNC milling equipment, i think it would be stronger if made from a block of steel or aluminium rather than just pressed.
is it easy enough to mill stainless steel, or is it too hard?

[highlander]

No idea, I'm afraid. I guess any metal can be milled, depending on the quality of the equipment being used. If it's cheap enough to be mass-produced for use by after-market exhaust pipes, it's probably not going to be prohibitively difficult or expensive to get someone to mill it.