Fender Design Challenge

Fender is a part of automobile that frames a wheel well. Its primary purpose is to prevent sand, mud, rocks and other particles on the road being thrown into the air by the rotating tyre.

There are 2 types of fender designs

1. Half bumper type

2. Full bumper type

Half bumper type fender are usually prefered because the design provides flexiblity to manufacture 2 fender in a single blank thus reducing cost.

There are 5 mounting points on the fender :

1. Drip mounting points : Drip mounting area of a fender is the mounting region near the engine compartment which is mounted with the help of fasteners, the sheet metal designer must consider the fact that the drip mounting sheet metal must be atleast 10 mm away from the engine, as shown in the master section image below. The drip mounting area is designed considering the master section below with desired draft angles as shown.

The drip mounting sheet must maintain a gap distance of atleast 200mm at the rear end so that the cow top can accomodate the wiper motor and equipments to mount on it and 150 mm at the front end so that the bumper area can accomodate the head light housing unit. The ribs are provided near the mounting points to provide sufficient strength to the sheet metal.

2. Sill mounting points: Sill mounting points of a fender is located below the front side doors of a car.

3. Bumper mounting point : Bumper mounting points mount the fender on one side of a bumper.

4. A-pillar mounting points : A-pillar mounting points are used to mount the fender onto the A-pillar of a car.

5.Baffle mounting points : Usually the baffle mounting is done through push button riveting with a fender in most cases, rather than mounting with fasteners as in the other mounting points.

The final image of a car fender prepared by me is shown below