About ten years ago Volvo Cars could see that car manufactures began to introduce rear wheel arch liners made of non-woven fabrics or some kind of laminate which are mostly common today. Volvo Cars have also seen that competitors now are beginning to develop the front wheel arch liners more and more and expect a development equal to the one for the rear wheel arch liners. This is why we are set to optimize the front wheel arch liner.
For development of mechanical products such as car parts, a discursive method is most suitable to follow. For example systematical concept development which we have used in our work.
From a technical point of view, our results shows that the penta laminate used for the wheel arch liner on Mercedes Benz S-class is by far the best material. Unfortunately it is rather expensive which of course affects its result in a negative way when cost is taken in to consideration. When including cost, the solid plastic is actually rather economical.
After assessment of the result in total we are however convinced that Volvo Cars should concentrate on further research of penta laminate and open negotiations with different suppliers regarding a material of this kind.
Regarding the geometry, the tests and studies that Volvo Cars have performed earlier on splash shields clearly shows the usage of the part and further research done by our selves does not point at any problems with a splash shield integrated in the wheel arch liner.
Source: Linköping University
Author: Torstensson, Martin | Pettersen, Hans