Fender modification question

[bmgmd]

What equipment has been used to grind or shave down the inside fender lips rather than rolling them?

A die grinder? A Dremel? Any pneumatic tools?

Thanks in advance.

Brian

[RarlyL8]

A grinding wheel works just fine. Use masking tape, draw a straight line, take your time. Use touch up paint on the raw edge when you are done.

In my opinion cutting the lip off is WAY better than rolling the fender.

[911pcars]

I agree. The trough created by rolling the lip upward is a great repository for moisture and dirt.

Lay a wet towel on the fender during the grinding process to reduce any heat created by the grinding process. Don't grind off the entire width of the lip.

Sherwood

[criv911]

I cut mine with Weiss brand curved tin snips. You need to get right and left hand snips, so the metal curls in a coil. This method is very easy to do and goes very quickly. Buy these at any HD, Lowes etc. They are used by roofing and siding contractors.

[DRACO A5OG]

A body shop guy told me of an old trick they use and charge their clients an arm and a leg.

Aluminum Bat, Yes an aluminum bat.

Raise the car so you have about 6" clearance.

If you are concerned about chiping the paint place a plastic piece on the fender or on the bat itself where the fender and bat will make contact.

Put the bat inside the 6" space then use the bat to bend the lip by pulling towards you and up. The fender should bend very easily.

You do risk cracking the paint so you have to really need or want to do this.

I placed 17" on my baby so I had no choice. I did not crack the paint.

As far as moisture and dirt. Yeah I can see that but I live in sunny Socal so I am not worried as much. It just mean I have to detail under the fender too :-)

[Dixie]

I wouldn't grind the lip. First, it's easier to roll the lip. Second, rolling will not break the galvanic coating. And rolling is a lot easier than it sounds.

Here's the "tool" I used.



And here's the rolled fender lip. No paint lost.

[Zeke]

Yes, but he says he wants to grind them, not roll them. So, grind away, but don't grind more than half of the width off because it will start to get weak after that. If someone puts any pressure on the wheel arch, the real narrow lip will kink or crack.

I put 1/8 th" welding rod in my narrow car, rolled the fenders about half way and then dinged them up over the rod with a body hammer against a taped up dolly.

One thing to note: when rolling fenders, you don't have to go very far down each side from the top of the arch to prevent rubbing. Look at the tire first, it's only about 15" of rolling in the rear that does the trick.

[DRACO A5OG]

Oops my bad, but won't cutting (grinding) off the metal weaken the fender???

Well it's your baby Grind Away :-o

[Won]

I've meant to post these pics for a while, here we go:





My reasoning for cutting the lips off instead of rolling was:
1. Less chance of dirt/stuff getting caught under the rolled part
2. If I absolutely had to roll it, I would have used the Grady Clay method (or Milt's method, just a few posts up), and I didn't feel like going hunting for wires.
3. In the end, cutting AND slightly rolling the lips gave me plenty of room for 225/50-16 tires on 7 inch wheels.

You would have much better control with the tin snips compared to a grinder. As you cut the metal gets wrinkled a bit, which you can easily straighten out with a 1.5" PVC pipe or a baseball bat. As you can see from the pictures the lips could have been cut a little more. Dress the cut edges with a file and treat them with your favorite product for rust prevention. It's easier if you clean out all the dirt that accumulated right on the lips over the years BEFORE you start cutting.

[911pcars]

No disrespect intended, but this is a case for grinding the lip (~4" abrasive disc) and not using aviation snips. With snips, you end up having to grind or file the ragged edge anyway to dress and contour it. And unless you're real good, there's no easy way to remove an additional 1/16" (1.6mm) with snips. In addition, grinding will not distort the metal like snips will. You just have to make sure to minimize the localized heat created by the grinding disk. Hand filing the cut edges is going to take awhile too (even though craftsmanship is not measured in labor hours).

Choose your clearancing method wisely. Once the lip is rolled, there's no return. The lip cannot be unrolled, easily cut or ground. And if additional clearance is needed at a later date .......

Sherwood

[WolfeMacleod]

The baseball bat method I've alway heard of was to actually roll the bat slowly along the fender by spinning the tire. The bat rolls along the lip and gently does it's thing, and creates a nice, smooth line.