Author Topic: Possible group buy for billet aluminum sill plates for the Solstice (Read 19572 times)

Sly Bob · « **on:** November 02, 2009, 09:43:38 PM »

I have been talking to a couple of our vendors on the site about replacement billet aluminum door sill plates to replace the ones on our GXPs. Looking to get some input as to whether those that would be interested in a group buy would prefer a smaller, less expensive plate or if covering the entire plastic piece would be the most popular option. Either one will have a brushed aluminum finish.

Those with a NA Solstice would be able to put the small plate over the Solstice lettering on the plastic sill with double sided 3M tape or cover the whole sill outboard of the carpet with an aluminum piece.

The Solstice or the GXP logos will be CNC machined into the plates along with the horizontal lines, 3 on each side.

I am leaning to the smaller plate as that's where this all started.

This is the SS sill plate that got me thinking about this.
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This is the original sill plate from my GXP. I was thinking of getting a billet piece to replace the stock piece of paper thin aluminum. The replacement would have the GXP logo on it.
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This is a rough idea what the smaller GXP sill would look like. You have to use your imagination a bit.

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And finally what a fully covered sill would look like. Would likely have a larger radius on the lower 2 corners but my Photoshop skills are exceedingly bad.
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What are YOUR thoughts?

DeepBlueGXP · « **Reply #1 on:** November 02, 2009, 10:32:11 PM »

It would have to be something that didn't have deep groves as it will fill up with dirt.

Sly Bob · « **Reply #2 on:** November 02, 2009, 10:44:01 PM »

The grooves wouldn't be THAT deep Joe you have to remember that this is inboard of the rubber on the door seal. It wouldn't get any dirtier than your sill gets now. Cleaning it shouldn't be a concern.

MRZ - Performance · « **Reply #3 on:** November 02, 2009, 10:48:05 PM »

I just emailed you back about the door sills

BigSal · « **Reply #4 on:** November 02, 2009, 11:14:04 PM »

I like the look of the full sill.

chuckdoc · « **Reply #5 on:** November 03, 2009, 07:54:22 AM »

I am only interested in a lighted sill plate.

hammy221 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 03, 2009, 09:11:10 AM »

Quote from: chuckdoc on November 03, 2009, 07:54:22 AM

I am only interested in a lighted sill plate.

ME TOO!!!!

DragonSolGXP · « **Reply #7 on:** November 03, 2009, 12:05:16 PM »

I think I would go for the replacement inserts (smaller as pictured). Do the stock ones just come off (double sided tape) and the old ones stick down? The manufacturer would need a sample "sill" to get a good fit.

Casey Designs · « **Reply #8 on:** November 03, 2009, 06:12:46 PM »

I also emailed you about the sills.

Sly Bob · « **Reply #9 on:** November 03, 2009, 08:05:15 PM »

Quote from: MRZ - Performance on November 02, 2009, 10:48:05 PM

I just emailed you back about the door sills

Thanks, emailed you back...

Quote from: Casey Designs on November 03, 2009, 06:12:46 PM

I also emailed you about the sills.

Email returned, thanks Larry.

Sly Bob · « **Reply #10 on:** November 03, 2009, 08:07:57 PM »

Quote from: DragonSolGXP on November 03, 2009, 12:05:16 PM

I think I would go for the replacement inserts (smaller as pictured). Do the stock ones just come off (double sided tape) and the old ones stick down? The manufacturer would need a sample "sill" to get a good fit.

Yes, the aluminum insert on the GXP is glued in and as many in a colder climate that have had the aluminum lift on them can attest to, the piece will peel right off.

I had thought that double sided tape would be the best solution but one vendor suggested drilling a hole and screwing it down through the plastic. That may be the best way to mount it.

Sly Bob · « **Reply #11 on:** November 03, 2009, 08:14:42 PM »

Quote from: chuckdoc on November 03, 2009, 07:54:22 AM

I am only interested in a lighted sill plate.

A lighted sill is an option that one of our vendors that I contacted is considering offering and it isn't a vendor that has talked about offering it in the past.

Sly Bob · « **Reply #12 on:** November 04, 2009, 04:15:26 PM »

We may well have a prototype for the door sill plate next week for all to see!

Lithium Lotus · « **Reply #13 on:** November 05, 2009, 04:27:20 AM »

I want door sills that illuminate

melissadunagan · « **Reply #14 on:** November 05, 2009, 02:14:09 PM »

I would like the large one the best. I would what it to Solstice on it or just plane.

FieroVin · « **Reply #15 on:** November 05, 2009, 03:19:33 PM »

I think I like the smaller one best, but I'm sure both would look nice.

Sly Bob · « **Reply #16 on:** November 05, 2009, 07:19:48 PM »

The word Solstice or GXP will be available as will Sky and GT as well if our friends in Europe are interested.

SOLster · « **Reply #17 on:** November 05, 2009, 08:43:19 PM »

hi Bob...

I hope you don't mind me suggesting another option for your project. If you were to CNC the name or logo onto the aluminum surface, depending on the size of your cutting tool, you most likely won't have sharp tight corners on the graphics as displayed. You will most likely get rounded corners, only on the inside corners of the logo, and in which will be determined by the size of the cutter. You can get close to a sharp inside corner with a real tiny cutter but that will take you all day just to finish those corner details.

One way I can see how you can get the crisp sharp corners in the insides of your logo, is to perhaps have the sills in two separate pieces. You would have the main sill body with a water-jet cut out of the logo in the center (negative) and another water-jet cut out of the logo itself (positive) to be fitted into the cut-out opening of the main sill. This would allow you to keep the crispness and hard inside corners of your graphics and possibly offer another option of having a laser cut logo out of acrylic to be fitted in and potentially lit up from the back. I would suggest having the face of the acrylic sand blasted to give it an opaque appearance for two reasons instead of clear. One would be that the opaque finish will hide scratches more than polished. And two, it allows even disbursement of light on the graphics.

This option would mean more work for assembly, different methods of machining, and additional materials involved than your fist idea of CNC on a aluminum blank. But it will offer the lit option and the graphics will be more precise as a trade off. Something to think about. Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

rudy

Sly Bob · « **Reply #18 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:48:26 PM »

You make some great points Rudy. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Sly Bob · « **Reply #19 on:** November 06, 2009, 11:08:34 PM »

Can't wait till next week to see the prototypes. They will look SO good on our cars!

TomatoSoup · « **Reply #20 on:** January 30, 2010, 06:59:37 PM »

So... did this die?

1LILNDN · « **Reply #21 on:** January 30, 2010, 09:09:51 PM »

Like to see this come about

1LILNDN · « **Reply #22 on:** January 31, 2010, 08:55:41 PM »

For Show Quality door sills ,what about a lighted version w/GXP or SOLSTICE . was wondering if that was a though or not .Kind of like the DDM under Hood and Trunk Lights

Sly Bob · « **Reply #23 on:** February 01, 2010, 07:55:36 AM »

This died because of licensing issues. The Solstice, GXP, Redline, Sky and any logos that are a GM trademark can't be used for something like this without paying large amounts of money to GM. The quantities that would be made of these wouldn't have covered the cost.

Believe me when I say that no one is more disappointed than I that this died. I really hope that some time in the future we can revisit this with some different designs.

Uranium-238 · « **Reply #24 on:** February 01, 2010, 08:11:55 AM »

I wonder if we could just modify the stock metal sill guards to form the cover over the light and still be within copywrite laws? Drill out the lettering, and modify the design so it would fit. Granted, it wouldn't be as nice as what Larry had planned, but it's better than nothing.

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Author Topic: Possible group buy for billet aluminum sill plates for the Solstice (Read 19572 times)