Fuel tank metal surrounds rusted

[rabbituk]

Today I've sorting out the rusted rear bumper brackets and noticed that the metal surrounding the sides of the fuel tank has also perished with the aft bits missing in places. Is it necessary to have these or is shoring up what is left sufficient? Presumably it is there to act as a guard from road debris.

[ITSv40]

Working on the principle of Volvo don't fit things for the fun of it, yes, it is desirable to have the guards in place. Is it essential, no not really. Given how simple it would be to fabricate a new guard, I would replace. The rear guard and tank straps on the C70 had started to look a bit scruffy, so I removed them and had them sandblasted and powder coated. The attachment shows how simple the rear guard is.