Thread: fender flares?

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can someone tell me how to make fender flares?

Why would you want to? Nothing says 1970's (worst styling period for custom cars ever)more than fender flares.

I would recommend you try to buy premade bolt-on flares, even if they are for a different body.

I have made them by wrapping a thick piece of foam rubber around the tire, with the edge sticking out beyond the fender. Cover with wax paper, grind the body, then lay fiberglass from the body, out onto the rubber, until it's at least 1/8 inch thick. Trim to shape, bondo, sand, paint.

Originally posted by Don Hulgas
Why would you want to? Nothing says 1970's (worst styling period for custom cars ever)more than fender flares.

thats your opinion .......
Some may think diffrent .
And if the guy wants fender flares ,who are you to tell him it looks bad ?
T L

vettedreams ,
It just depends on how you want to go about it , and what type vehicle you are wanting flares for .
Many styles you can go with .

Stick with metal to metal , and glass to glass , as fiberglass doesnt bond very long to metal for any length of time ! The expansion and contraction of both materials are different and eventually cracking will occur.

If you are wanting metal flares , you can use 1/8"-1/4 " rod and form and tac weld it to the 1/4' s and fenders , then fill in with sheet metal , welding as you go .
Or make cardboard/ poster board paper templates then transfer patterns to sheet metal and weld to 1/4's and fenders .

With Fiberglass flares use cardboard templates and masking tape , then glass over the flares , then trim and bond to the glass , or wood templates , and glassing over them to make flares , then bond to vehicle .


SprayTech

Unlike some modifications u will literally be stuck with that one. Can u tell us what your plan is? Im interested.

Yeah, what paint said. I've used the same method myself and it works fine on 'glass cars. If you want flares on the Vet, done correctly they still look good. Try to find some pics of the old American Custom "Turbo" body kit option. It was hot in the late 70's-early 80's, should still be some of these cars around. Eckler's ( I think they have a new company name now) also used to make a couple of different styles.

Wow! Thanks for all the replies. I"ve got a 1947 Chevy Business coupe chop top, 4.5" s I"m told. It also has a 1979 Camaro front clip and rear end. I"ve gone through the chassis, built a 383 TPI engine. The thing is that the tires and rims were put on the chassis without the body on, so when I put the body on to motivate me again the tires stuck out past the rear fenders. The first thought was to make flares. The tires stick out about 2.5". The more I look at it the better it looks like it is.

Would it be possible to get rear wheels with a more backspacing in order to move the wheels in???? Or, narrow the rear end.

Another option, if you know a good sheetmetal welder, would be to split the fenders, and widen them.

I have a 48 (the same thing) and have a 79 Z28 Camaro front clip too. I hear these are too wide for 46-48, how is yours? Also you can buy 2 inch widened rear fenders for your car. Either that or make your own because it would be easy with these fenders. Can you post some pics of your car, I am interested in seeing how it looks, etc. I want to air bag mine with my 79 front clip too, 383 stroker or 400 SBC, etc. Rear end I am not sure on yet.

Split the fenders.The bulging fenders were the look of those cars anyway,a good custom add on for that car would be to accent that look by a couple inches.

Oh yeah, widened rear fenders on these cars are nice anyways because the front fenders stock stick way out and the rear barely comes out so widening the backs kind of even the front and rear a tad more or at least help not look like such a drastic width. See what I mean here?

How much more clearance do you really need and want? 3 inches on each side would be PLENTY I am thinking. If your going to cut and reweld them then might as well go a tad bigger than 2 inches and go with the 3 and be more on the safe side too. What size tires are you trying to fit in the rear and what backspacing too?

The tires are already about 1" away from the frame rail and I really did not want the added $ for the narrowed rear. Could the split fenders be hammer/ dollied into shape? How far apart should the cuts be?