If you've followed Clinched for a while, you probably know we've always done things a little differently.
From the very beginning, we built everything around digital data. We never sculpted our widebody kits out of clay. Our parts have always started with hand sketches, measurements, digital models, CAD, and a lot of time behind a computer.
But when we started Clinched back in 2014, getting good 3D data from an actual car wasn't nearly as easy as it is today. If you wanted a vehicle scanned properly, you had to find someone with the right equipment, arrange the scan, bring the vehicle there, get the data, and only then start working. It wasn't something you could just do whenever you wanted.
2017 Changed Things for Us
A big change came in 2017, when Clinched became a SEMA member.
The membership gave us access to the SEMA Tech Transfer program, including OEM CAD data from U.S. manufacturers, and to vehicles that had already been scanned at the SEMA Garage. Even more important, we could bring vehicles into the SEMA Garage and scan them ourselves when we needed to.
For a small company like Clinched, that was huge. Suddenly we had data and equipment that would have been very hard to get on our own.
That setup worked for quite a few years. As we grew, we also built relationships with local scanning companies in Florida and a few other places, so whenever we needed a vehicle scanned, we had people to call.
But the same thought kept coming back: we really need our own scanner.
Why We Kept Putting It Off
It was never a question of whether a scanner would be useful. We knew it would be. The question was whether buying one made sense for us. A professional scanner is an investment, and for a long time it was easier to pay for scanning when we needed it.
But as our development process got more complicated, we wanted to do much more than scan the outside of a vehicle. We wanted to scan the areas around the wheel wells, capture suspension and chassis reference points, and record brackets, wiring, control modules, and anything else that could affect a widebody design and installation process. We wanted to scan our own finished parts, compare them against the original CAD, and check installation clearances.
And sometimes we wanted to scan something simply because it might be useful later.
That last part matters. When someone else charges you every time you scan a car, you naturally think about what you need to scan. When the scanner is sitting in your own shop, you can scan everything that might be useful. That changes the way you work.
So We Started Looking
Earlier this year, we started seriously researching scanners.
There's a huge market of entry-level scanners, and we weren't sure how good they really are. We ended up on the Shining 3D website looking at their commercial scanning equipment, and around the same time we started seeing a lot of ads for their Einstar line. To us, that was a clear signal: an industry leader putting its experience and software behind a more affordable scanner.
We reached out to Shining 3D, talked through what we actually needed, and chose the Einstar Rockit.
Why We Chose the Einstar Rockit
We don’t just scan the outside of a car. We also need data from the wheel wells, the undercarriage, behind the bumpers, and much more. So we needed a scanner we could easily carry around and under a car without dragging a cable behind it.
The Einstar Rockit checked those boxes. It's fully wireless, with a built-in Wi-Fi module and a swappable battery, and it weighs only about 425 g. It combines blue laser lines for fine detail, down to 0.05 mm, with an infrared mode for capturing larger areas quickly. It also has a reflective mode for dark and shiny surfaces, which matters when so much of what we scan is black plastic and painted body panels.
We also picked the Rockit over the standalone models with a built-in screen and processor. The Rockit sends everything wirelessly to a computer, and we already have a very powerful laptop for scanning, so there was no reason to pay extra for the processor and screen built into a standalone scanner.
On a personal note, my eyesight isn't great, so following a scan on a 16-inch laptop screen is much easier for me than on a small display built into the scanner. Before buying, I tried a standalone scanner, and once I was under the car or scanning a wheel well, there was simply no way for me to see what I was capturing. That's purely my personal preference, not a knock on the other models.
Now, about a month later, we can already say that bringing a scanner into the Clinched shop was a game changer. We're already using it in ways that would have been much harder, or simply not practical, before.
Our First Big Test: The S650 Mustang
One of the first projects where we really put it to work is our S650 Mustang GT Spider.
We're currently assembling the first Mustang GT S650 with our new S650 widebody kit and Spider Top. Because it's the first car in the production batch, we wanted to verify as much as possible before moving on to the rest.
That's where having the scanner in the shop became extremely useful. We could scan the actual car and compare it to the data we had before, a mix of factory CAD and scans from different sources. We could compare the scan against our CAD parts, check clearances, and look at areas we hadn't originally considered. And if something didn't look right, we didn't have to guess. We could simply scan it.
Honestly, we were blown away by the quality of the data. The difference is huge.
A Problem We Didn't Want to Ignore
One of the interesting things we found was the location of the engine control module inside the right-front wheel well.
Our widebody setup allows a much more aggressive wheel offset, which moves the wheel much closer to where this OEM module sits. It's exactly the kind of thing that's easy to overlook when you're focused on exterior bodywork.
We could have taken a few measurements and designed a relocation bracket from them. Instead, we scanned the entire area. Now we have the exact 3D location of the module, the surrounding components, the mounting points, the angles, and the available space, which is enough to design a proper relocation solution around the real vehicle.
And the goal isn't just to "move the box somewhere else." This is an important OEM component, so the relocation has to keep it protected and properly positioned while giving us the clearance our widebody setup needs. That's a much better approach than making a bracket and hoping everything fits.
More Data, Better Decisions
The biggest benefit of having our own scanner isn't really the scanner. It's the amount of information we can now collect.
A traditional measurement might tell us there's 4 mm of clearance between two components. A 3D scan shows how those two components actually sit in relation to each other across their entire surfaces. That's a completely different level of information, and we bring it straight back into our digital development process.
The scanner doesn't replace CAD. It gives our CAD better information. It doesn't replace engineering or experience either. It's another tool that helps us make better decisions.
And the simplest advantage is that the scanner is here. If we discover something on a car today, we don't have to book another appointment, transport the car, or wait. We scan it. If we change something and want to verify it tomorrow, we scan it again. If we want an area we didn't think of yesterday, we scan that too. It sounds small, but when you're developing products, that flexibility is huge.
Scanning and Custom Parts for You
This is also a new chapter for Clinched. We've added Services to our website, so you can now work with us on the full process, from 3D scanning your vehicle to designing and developing custom parts.
You can bring your parts or vehicle to our shop, or we can come to you and scan on location, even if that means traveling. We're flexible and ready. Contact us to talk about your project.
Stay tuned. We can't wait to share more of the new projects we're working on.
This is just the beginning.
