To flare or not?

[MARTIN AIDE]

I know it's a personal taste thing and all but I have my 87 ragtop in for paint and wondering if I should have the rear quarters flared out a bit more at the same time.I have a tail and 7 and 9 inch fuchs already so it seems like a natural thing to do but on the other hand Idon't want to ruin the car.
opinions please...Thanks,Marty

[eimkeith]

Alas, poor yorik, you will lose sleep over this - it's the most excruciating, fundamental part of building our 911 -

to flare or not to flare...

either way is great!

[Noah930]

I have a turbo, so you know how I feel about 911 voluptuousness (izzat a word?).

[Paulporsche]

Marty,

Who is doing your body and paint work?

Have you decided on what to do about your other projects?

[barney911rs]

Don't ask Keith, they flare everything. Just wish I had the $$$$$ to send my car to Keith for some "tweeks". Personally, unless you are going for the complete turbo look cab, I would not do it.

[afterburn 549]

Justdoit !!! you will kick your self later ...................if you do not DOIT

[the]

I wouldn't.

[CRNT918]

Only if you make it a slantnose!

[TRE Cup]

just the back? uh... great for a personalized choice, but bad for residual value if you ever sell. Really , either keep it stock or go to turbo look. With or without the tail, you will end up with a smaller market when it comes time to sell and no increase (perhaps decrease, who knows how the buyers will feel then- e.g. long hood guys are putting usa headlamps back on their cars!)

[MARTIN AIDE]

I'm not so much concerned with resale value as it has 212 ks and I wasn't thinking any more than an inch and maybe the fronts rolled a bit.bad move?Marty

[relayswitcher]

I've run across this same event in my life many times and not just the Porsche. I find it's better to flare at the back & front of the car as to alert traffic coming from both directions even in daylight hours. Last time I had to flare I was pulling my boat back from the Colorado river. I saw one guy who must have misunderstood the concept and had placed "Flowr's in the front & Flowr's in the back and they worked fairly well until the started to wilt.


Yes, I'm joking. I couldn't resist.

Leave your car alone and as is, you'll give people a reason to offer you less for it when time to sell...why? because it's now not original. Of course I didn't believe that 12 years ago when I flared the rear wells of my '76 Targa. Looks good and I did it so I could comfortably run 16" tires instead of 15s" 16" won't fit the back with the normal flare from '77 years back. They rub on the wells on turns. Also, I flared because I added a '76 , same year, whale tail fin. Cars with tails, with the exception of the little '72 duck tail, looks dorky without flared wells. Don't you think it balanced out "well"? oop, there I go again Of course your car is much newer and bigger in those areas. Leave it alone, I say. BUt if you really want..... Flare Flare Flare.
Regards, RelaySwitcher

[Noah930]

OK, so I amend my previous post: if you flare the rear, you should similarly flare the front, to balance the look. I love the sexy widebody look. To Whale Tail/Tea Tray spoiler or not is your call (I've seen a Turbo Look without a tail, and it looked great). If you're a decent driver, people won't be able to tell if you've done the full running gear Turbo Look conversion or not.

[Jack Olsen]

Here's another vote for going one way or the other (but not half way). Keep it as it is, or flare both the front and rear -- don't just widen the rear.

[relayswitcher]

I flared only the back because they are the '78 911 SC metal flares which is how the cars came that year....and not the bigger 930 flares which YES, you should do front and back it you use those. But on your newer car isn't it already set up like mine is now? IF you go bigger then you need to realize everytime a tire goes, you will pay big bucks for tires AND rims. If the $$ doesn't matter then do what makes you happy. Again, I'd leave it all alone. Doen't matter the mileage, this is about the body wells.