Slab siders, what are wheel arches for anyway?

[dieselnutjob]

Been meaning to post this for ages.

 

I currently have two cars with no arches, the 806 of many dents and the 604. The only other candidates I can think are Berlingo, DS, GS and CX.

 

What exactly is the point of wheel arches? Surely for a given track width you could just make the car 2 inches wider inside by making the body two inches wider and not having 1 inch wheel arches on each side.

 

This is especially evident with vans.  Surely a van that's two inches wider inside would be more useful.

 

What other slab siders are there?  How stupid are car designers?

[Negative Creep]

I'm guessing they aren't used much as it makes it harder to change the wheel and debris could get stuck up there?

[dieselnutjob]

I don't mean covered wheels, just a body that is wide enough to cover the wheels without an arch tacked on as well.

 

Compare the rear arches and efficient use of width on this

 

with this

why didn't they just make body wider instead of the roof extension things over the rear wheels?

[Richard]

Renault Savanna.

[vulgalour]

 

Moulded wheel arches tend to be stronger than slab sided ones and since it's an area that can be prone to knocks it does make sense to make them on more modern cars.  There's also the aesthetic to consider, a slab-sider can look unfinished.  With some, the arches are so vestigial as to be of little real point like the marvellous little Citroen AX.

 

[dieselnutjob]

ooh and early espace

 

it's a French thing

[dieselnutjob]

1. having a huge arch sticking out surely makes it more prone

2. I bet a flat side is easier to beat back to the right shape

 

since it's an area that can be prone to knocks 

 

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I like the box arch setup on Novas. Still think the 5 door with round arches looks way too fussy in contrast.

 

 

 

Thinking about it, the Rarri F Farty has no sticky out arches. Must have been influenced by an A40.

 

[vulgalour]

There's probably also a materials cost saving to be had.  Make the car 2" narrower all over and you save enough steel to afford the pressings for the complicated arch and make a profit.  Probably.

 

It's likely mostly a style thing.

 

 

In fact, the more I've tried to think of slab-siders, the more I've found that actually do have an arch of some sort.

[vulgalour]

It's okay, I remembered Bristol.

 

 

 

 

[chaseracer]

Some have both...

 

 

[Luxxo Waftybarger]

First Honda Inshite? Not really shite though sadly.

[vulgalour]

Austin Princess too, as spotted in the background of one of those Bristol pics.

 

[mercrocker]

Yep, who needs wheel arches...

 

 

Whaddya mean, flat tyre?

 

 

 

 

[chaseracer]

Austin Princess too, as spotted in the background of one of those Bristol pics.

 

 

A feature of Pininfarina design at the time, it would seem...

 

 

Peugeot 404

 

 

 

Austin Cambridge

 

 

 

Errrm...

 

[mercrocker]

....Annnddd....He drew that Nash as well.

[D Spares & Tyres]

[Guest Breadvan72]

I iz confuze.  Most of these cars that are said to have no wheel arches appear to me to have, er, wheel arches.  

[Dick Cheeseburger]

In this one, Pete Postlethwaite muses over whether to keep the flat arch, or to burn the fucker out and fibreglass a sticky-out arch in.

[John F]

The Vauxhall Calibra is sitting on the fence, having generally flat sides but with the tiniest of lips around the arches.

 

[Junkman]

 

They then added some:

 

[Junkman]

Same here:

 

 

[Taff]

so are we having a go at wheel arches or flared wheel arches or no wheel arches?

 

Won't someone explain the party line? I have so much outrage to express once I have correctly identified the best bandwagon

[Asimo]

First Honda Inshite? Not really shite though sadly.

 

Not flat sided: 

 

Proper flat:

[mercrocker]

so are we having a go at wheel arches or flared wheel arches or no wheel arches?

 

Won't someone explain the party line? I have so much outrage to express once I have correctly identified the best bandwagon

I misunderstood the gist of this as well...It seems to concern slab-sided cars with mere cut-outs for wheels rather than any styled arches or stylistic appendages for same. Possibly.

[jonny69]

I had this same thought when I was a child when I was convinced I wanted to be a car designer when I grew up [sidenote: I still want to be a car designer but that fucking dream was shattered years ago]. A lot of 70s and 80s cars had developed moulded arches as part of their styling and I wondered if it would be more efficient and the lines cleaner if they were moulded in smooth.

 

Anyway, a few I observed back then are the Mk2 Astra:

 

 

Carlton:

 

 

Can't actually remember any more. You're asking me to recall happy thoughts from nearly 30 years ago.

[John F]

It's about cars that don't have any flaring around the wheelarches.

[Des]

I don't mean covered wheels, just a body that is wide enough to cover the wheels without an arch tacked on as well.

 

Compare the rear arches and efficient use of width on this

 

with this

why didn't they just make body wider instead of the roof extension things over the rear wheels?

You could try and convince the makers to widen bodies to meet the existing extremities, but as soon as you turn your back the wankers will just stick a set of bulbous curved donks onto what you achieved anyway. Imagine the bloated horrors we'd end up with.

The blue car above, you need to flip it to understand what the arches are about.

 

 

It may be used as a car, but its primary function, like so many, is the the display of some gaudy augmented wheels, BECOZ ALOY RIMZ INNIT!

This inverted view demonstrates the similarity to low self worth thick tarts employment of a Wonderbra to present all they have which may garner interest.

[Taff]

I misunderstood the gist of this as well...It seems to concern slab-sided cars with mere cut-outs for wheels rather than any styled arches or stylistic appendages for same. Possibly.

 

thank god no-one mentioned fender skirts.

[mercrocker]

^^ There is actually one on the Nash I posted (cos I mis-understood..)