God damn rivets.

[Waspy]

go to your nearest wicks and get a bag of m6/25mm roofing bolts(nuts included). personally I would never trust any kind of silicone/glue stuff to hold an arch liner on. if it was to come of on the motorway with a motorcyclist behind you or a car then it could get pretty nasty.

That's exactly why I shied away from glues of all kinds. Something mechanical seems safer. Then again, rivets keep failing.

[VW BUSH]

go to your nearest wicks and get a bag of m6/25mm roofing bolts(nuts included). personally I would never trust any kind of silicone/glue stuff to hold an arch liner on. if it was to come of on the motorway with a motorcyclist behind you or a car then it could get pretty nasty.

That's exactly why I shied away from glues of all kinds. Something mechanical seems safer. Then again, rivets keep failing.

your miles wide of the point.
if the rivet holes are crusty or worn so that you cant be sure of their purchase then you can help support them with a soft sealant that can be pealed off both faces with ease.
if you have concerns of the plastic falling off then you should repair the wheel arch with new metal and use the correct rivets and boots.
whacking some bolts through not only looks gash (proton esq) but will come loose as the arch rots away leaving you with bigger holes and nuts stuck on, i've seen it done with plastic screws and push clips so you can take the arches off if it helps.
Your cars at the end of the day

[VW BUSH]

Kind of rivets you using? Ideally you want small stainless steel ones that fit perfectly in their holes before stretching them.

Bog standard (probably ali) rivets which fit snug before riveting. I think the problem is due to rust around the holes. The arches are generally in okay nick, not too much rust. But I would imagine the use of aluminium rivets it has sped up corrosion :\ solutions? I don't really want to glue them on tbh.

Quite right about the rivets steel corrodes ali as it is generally the least noble, another reason why shrink wrap helps.
All that stressing of the plastic over time breaks the paint surface in the rivet holes making them rust, if the ali is in contact with this rust it will not last long in a salty wet setting....
I have some of the VW rivets but I am not sure what they are under the black coating

[Waspy]

Kind of rivets you using? Ideally you want small stainless steel ones that fit perfectly in their holes before stretching them.

Bog standard (probably ali) rivets which fit snug before riveting. I think the problem is due to rust around the holes. The arches are generally in okay nick, not too much rust. But I would imagine the use of aluminium rivets it has sped up corrosion :\ solutions? I don't really want to glue them on tbh.

Quite right about the rivets steel corrodes ali as it is generally the least noble, another reason why shrink wrap helps.
All that stressing of the plastic over time breaks the paint surface in the rivet holes making them rust, if the ali is in contact with this rust it will not last long in a salty wet setting....
I have some of the VW rivets but I am not sure what they are under the black coating

Yeah I have seen the VW rivets, but not sure about material either. Might give the shrink wrap a go, with washers and SS rivets.

[gazareth]

go to your nearest wicks and get a bag of m6/25mm roofing bolts(nuts included). personally I would never trust any kind of silicone/glue stuff to hold an arch liner on. if it was to come of on the motorway with a motorcyclist behind you or a car then it could get pretty nasty.

m6x20mm I was meant to say just done this to my golf this morning. they worked a treat and you can barely see them due to the slight recess in the plastic where the rivet head used to sit. bag of 18 zinc plated with nuts included £3

[gazareth]

go to your nearest wicks and get a bag of m6/25mm roofing bolts(nuts included). personally I would never trust any kind of silicone/glue stuff to hold an arch liner on. if it was to come of on the motorway with a motorcyclist behind you or a car then it could get pretty nasty.

That's exactly why I shied away from glues of all kinds. Something mechanical seems safer. Then again, rivets keep failing.

your miles wide of the point.
if the rivet holes are crusty or worn so that you cant be sure of their purchase then you can help support them with a soft sealant that can be pealed off both faces with ease.
if you have concerns of the plastic falling off then you should repair the wheel arch with new metal and use the correct rivets and boots.
whacking some bolts through not only looks gash (proton esq) but will come loose as the arch rots away leaving you with bigger holes and nuts stuck on, i've seen it done with plastic screws and push clips so you can take the arches off if it helps.
Your cars at the end of the day

protons are probably one of the best cars ever made. btw I didn't mean put bolts through on the top edge of the arch trim. just to replace the rivets with bolts.

[Sgt_Lemon]

I think a lot of people are underestimating the strengths of some adhesives. At the bottom line it comes down to force of hold and surface area. A big weak link is the arches themselves are plastic, how tight can a fixing be if the shear strength of the material is so weak. With any bolt down method the arch could still just be pulled away as the force is spread between a tiny area causing the plastic to tear from the hole to the edge. With an adhesive covering a majority of the surface area the same force applied trying to pull it away would be spread across the whole arch and it would take much more force for the arch to come away from the body.

[VW BUSH]

go to your nearest wicks and get a bag of m6/25mm roofing bolts(nuts included). personally I would never trust any kind of silicone/glue stuff to hold an arch liner on. if it was to come of on the motorway with a motorcyclist behind you or a car then it could get pretty nasty.

That's exactly why I shied away from glues of all kinds. Something mechanical seems safer. Then again, rivets keep failing.

your miles wide of the point.
if the rivet holes are crusty or worn so that you cant be sure of their purchase then you can help support them with a soft sealant that can be pealed off both faces with ease.
if you have concerns of the plastic falling off then you should repair the wheel arch with new metal and use the correct rivets and boots.
whacking some bolts through not only looks gash (proton esq) but will come loose as the arch rots away leaving you with bigger holes and nuts stuck on, i've seen it done with plastic screws and push clips so you can take the arches off if it helps.
Your cars at the end of the day

protons are probably one of the best cars ever made. btw I didn't mean put bolts through on the top edge of the arch trim. just to replace the rivets with bolts.

I credit you more than that
Just makes me think of the Satria GTI, which btw had electronics made of spider webs and cling film and broke down in the garage after being fixed