Offering a combination of aesthetics and durability, Boyd manufactures custom door spears to decorate and fortify automotive armrests.
As automotive trends evolve, more people and companies are shifting their focus from just on the exterior of a vehicle to the interior. After all, that’s where we spend most of our time. Decorative accents and trims can breathe a new visual identity into the vehicle, giving it a distinct personality.
Door Spears: Durability Required
As an important component, armrests are a crucial element on the door panel that can add style and comfort to vehicles. Their ergonomic design reduces fatigue, making rides relaxed and comfortable. A metal insert known as a door spear or armrest insert lends shape, strength, and support to the armrest. At the crossroad of aesthetics and functionality, door spears must be durable to hold up against heavy utilization. They endure extreme shifts in temperature, face ultraviolet rays from the sun, and battle scratches, chemicals, and moisture. They need to remain affixed even as the door is slammed open and closed. However, choosing the right type of door spear is never easy, as there are several factors to consider like utility, style, material, decoration, and cost.
Whether it’s a commercial van or a tiny hatchback car, the type and utility of the vehicle will significantly impact your armrest design and style. In commercial vans, armrests often act as handles, supporting the entire weight of the passengers. Superior strength becomes a vital prerequisite. On the other hand, in a personal car, boundaries start to blur between functionality and appearance. The armrest needs to be durable, but also blend in with the car’s refined interiors.
Door Spear Material and Design Options
The trends in door spears have evolved over the years and expanded to embrace different materials. Depending on your style inclination, they can be custom-manufactured in varied materials like aluminum or stainless steel. Molded plastic, fabrics, leather, vinyl, and metals are also employed. While plastic can be cost-effective, metal inserts can be extremely elegant. Decorative accents can also be added, enhancing the aesthetics of the car. Be it a brushed or woodgrain finish, embossing or etching, door spears can be dressed in several textures and finishes to complement the material and design.
As a vertically integrated manufacturer, Boyd can build door spears that fit all forms and functional requirements. From highly-decorated to more subtle designs, our engineering support team can help you incorporate a multitude of materials and decorating options. Door spears might be small, but the creative flexibility at Boyd is truly vast. Our decorative capabilities include custom roll-coated bases and top coats, in addition to screen, digital, off-set, and pad printing.
Resilient Inks and Topcoats
The printing process at Boyd is supported by color chemists and lab technicians who custom color-match all applications. They ensure that the ink’s chemistry allows it to be flexible to match the tooling profiles it will be subjected to, yet remain hard for scuff and scratch considerations. Depending on the material and construction, appropriate coatings are applied at the end for door spears to retain their appearance and performance over years. For example: metallic door spears can leverage urethane, epoxy, polyester, or hybrid topcoats.
Plastic Injection Molding
Injection molded backing for door spears can also help offer support, strength, and durability in tough environmental conditions. It can also aid with resistance to chemicals and corrosion. Injection molding is a process where plastic is heated, melted, and injected into a cavity to conform to the intended shape. Even for large scale production, it allows design flexibility that most processes cannot. You can create complex forms containing sharp edges, curves and bends at competitive prices. Our extensive plastic molding capabilities allows us to construct this sturdy backing and the door spear under the same roof.
