Trimming fenders

[john baldwin]

Decided against rolling front fenders either with a bat or the Eastwood tool for fear of paint damage, fender distortion and creating a moisture trap.
Decided to remove metal rather than roll (from forums here) but wasn't confident in my ability with a grinder or reciprocating saw. Was about to purchase some snips and give it a try, but then thought better to contact Roberts Custom Metal here in RI having had a good experience with him producing a chimney cap. He also does major frame-off restorations of antique autos.
He took a look and concluded snips would be the easiest to control, so after heating the rim from 10 o'clock to 2, taping, marking, cutting (with short blade snips-better for a radius cut) filing and painting the exposed edge...presto...clearance! Took about 1/2 hr. total...1 1/2 to BS...
Now ready to lower. Hopefully this will help others in their decision?

[moneymanager]

How much of a lip did you leave?

[john baldwin]

About 1/4"

[KTL]

Nice work! What wheel and tire do you have on the car?

[john baldwin]

Kevin,
Running 205/225's on 7 & 8" x 16...currently. Need new tires so considering selling the bbs and looking for 8 and 9 x 17" fuchs replicas...or modifying existing bbs....

[80-911SC]

and you had to trim that much off with a 225 on the rear ??? i run a 255 and didnt roll it ...

are you sure your offsets are right ?? I have a 225 on the front and barely had to bat it ....

runnin 7.5 and 9 inch 17's

[Canada Kev]

I think he only did the fronts. A lot of people have clearance issues even with 205s on 7 inch wheels on the front, sixes seem to have room. I currently have 225s on 8 x 17 inchers and I had to roll a little bit. The area where the fender meets the panel just to the rear of the bumper bellows often needs to be trimmed so as to not snag the tire. I believe there's not usually an issue with wide rears fitting except with ultra wide tires. Then you also have to watch the oil lines on the passenger side. I have 255s on 9 inch wheels with lots of clearance and had easily fit 245s on factory turbo nines.

[john baldwin]

Kevin,
You're right...trimmed only the fronts. Offsets on the BBS match stock fuchs in that width. Didn't want to find out I had a clearance problem AFTER I lowered it...and since it was such a quick and easy fix....

[tevake]

That is sure a clean looking cut line. Could you tell us a bit more about the heating, were you able to tape while it was heated? after?
I am needing to do this myself. Want to avoid the moisture trap of a rolled lip.
Did the snips have offset handles?

Cheers Richard

[john baldwin]

Richard,
Heated the lip for ~ 30 seconds, from 10 o'clock to 2, sweeping the heat gun back and forth through the arc, about 10" away on the lowest setting. Put the tape on afterwards...not in any big hurry...and then scribed the cut line in a gradual arc (notice the "points" on the ends of the cutoffs in the picture) on the blue tape with a Sharpie.
The snips had offset handles...these happened to be right handed. Used the same snips on both sides of the car, starting at 10 o'clock, which put the starting point on the passenger side wheel well near the door and driver's side wheel well near the bumper.

[porschenut]

When I did mine, I taped it off and used a Dremel with a heavy duty cutoff wheel. It was real easy. I also cut it a bit closer, about 1/8". I don't think I'd bother with trying to roll the metal, which distorts the fender lip slightly and usually cracks the paint in the process. Cutting can provide even more clearance than rolling, so the decision was a no-brainer for me.

[KTL]

That's excellent results- clean cut and fast. I did mine years ago with a carbide bit in an air powered die grinder. What a mess..........

Thanks for sharing John. Proves that with the right tools specific for the job, you can get great results.

[Bill Verburg]

I did mine w/ a high speed body saw

[GaryR]

Did you take a file/Dremel/die grinder to the edges after he was done? I would assume they are quite sharp after cutting with tin snips.

[tobluforu]

Originally Posted by GaryR

Did you take a file/Dremel/die grinder to the edges after he was done? I would assume they are quite sharp after cutting with tin snips.

I was going to cut as well, but was told not to due to the sharp edge?

[john baldwin]

Took a file to the edge after cutting...just to take off the burr. Edge wasn't sharp; snips certainly were and the blades, being short, made it easy to follow the curved line on the tape.