Rolling Fenders - Urban Legend?

[peter carroll]

Saw a mag. article today that said rolling fenders with a baseball bat is a urban legend and that it doesnt work. Please tell me it does, because I am realy counting on it. I am sure I recall that some of you guys swear by it. My car is in primer so I certainly cant hurt the paint . Thanks

[914GT]

I'm sure it's been used. I think the trick is to make sure to roll it through without stopping. It's basically a poor man's way of doing it. Pro shops use tools like this:

[Bleyseng]

Forget the baseball bat, I used a front shock which worked great! Its metal against metal so go slow but I pulled out the rear and front fenders so the new AX tires would fit right.

Geoff

[mskala]

It does work. I actually used different sizes of PVC pipe
and other softer wood because it was available. Roll along
the tire.

[mike mueller]

Originally posted by peter carroll
Saw a mag. article today that said rolling fenders with a baseball bat is a urban legend and that it doesnt work. Please tell me it does, because I am realy counting on it. I am sure I recall that some of you guys swear by it. My car is in primer so I certainly cant hurt the paint . Thanks

what mag. ??? must be written by a bunch of idiots that have never worked on a car before

I've actually had best luck using a sledge hammer and different thickness pieces of wood to "massage" the rear wheel openings for my 16x7 phonedials

I too have heard that "pro"-style tool works great, not too sure how well it would work on the rear fenders of a 914...the fenders taper in once you get past the middle of the well (looking from the top of the car)...it's the rear section of the rear fenders that cause the problems with rubbing mostly....

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Concentric and I did it on his 74...

Of course it works... Hot rodders have been doing this for 50 years... Solid 4 inch thick aluminum baseball bat vs. a couple mm thick sheet steel.. Who wins?

[LarryP]

Urban legend my ass. I did it too; you should have seen the bondo some prior owner left me pop off.

[914GT]

Originally posted by mike mueller
I too have heard that "pro"-style tool works great, not too sure how well it would work on the rear fenders of a 914...

That tool no doubt wouldn't fit on a 914 without an adapter, and like you say probably wouldn't roll the desired area on a 914 anyway. I was mainly trying to show there are tools more sophisticated than a baseball bat. But as we all know, sometimes the simplest of tools and techniques work the best.

[jhadler]

I'll chime in here and also say that the "baseball bat" technique definitely can work. A friend of mine who ran his Honda in ITC would jack up his car, stick the bat between the tire and the fender then drop the car. "Ooops! The car fell off the jack! Darn it!", then he'd do it again. "Ooops! How did that happen!?! Darn it!", then again, and again...

The joke here is that fender flares are not allowed, but if the car just keeps falling off that pesky jack...

I have 225/45-15 tires on 8" wide rims under my rear fenders after a little massaging with the "fenderizer". The same size wheel and tire fits under the stock front fenders just fine.

Fenderization:

2x4 with rounded off end.
Lift car
Mount desired wheel/tire combo.
Insert fenderizer between tire and fender, rounded end UP.
Lower car till fenderizer is pinched in snug, but not tight.
Press end of fenderizer down as far as you can.
Repeat.

Make sure to move the 2x4 fore and aft often. Don't repeat at a given spot untill you've done the full fender, then repeat all over. The result, a nicely blistered fender that is over an inch wider than stock. Minimal paint problems at all.

On mine, the paint cracked, but I think it was because I wasn't patient and I did it outside when it was kindof cold. If you do it when the paint is nice and warm, you might avoid the cracking all together.

-Josh2

[spunone]

Any body have pics of this process Thanks I'm a visual kind of guy

[sean_V8_914]

[peter carroll]

I cant wait to get started! Thanks and I will try to find the name of the magazine. Pete

[Zeke]

Peter, if your car is in primer, why bother with the bat? Take a 2 foot piece of 1/8 welding rod and bend it to fit the arch of the wheel opening. Lay it up on the top side of the lip and take a nice wide face hammer and beat the lip up 90* using a piece of heavy steel or body dolly as backing on the outside. The rod will keep the lip from being folded over on itself so you will have a nice edge but maximum tire clearance.

It's hard to get as nice of job with a bat. If a car is painted, you probably shoudn't beat on it with a hammer. But, I've done that too using a piece of Nylon between my dolly and the paint. Going slow and not missing (LOL), it can be done.

[peter carroll]

It was Hot Rod Magazine where I saw the article. Does the process only make the horizontal lip vertical or can you actually make the fender bulge out a bit? Thanks, Pete

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

It can do either--depends on how you do the job.

As was mentioned already, it's a great way to find any bondo in your fenders... It'll crack and fall out.

--DD

[J P Stein]

Here are 225 X 45 X 15s on 7 inch wheels.
I didn't do this just for the hell of it, but because that's what I needed to get the things under there at full suspension compression. The static ride height is about 4.75, doughnuts to ground at both ends. Also needed 7 mm spacers in the rear to keep the tiar off the inner fender...I run -2 deg camber at both ends. I ain't much for the jacked 4X4 look. ......

A test fit of the tire wheel combo prior to the flare. See, it "fits"....you just can't turn the wheel. .......


A test fit of a 9 X 23 X 15 cantilever slick on 7s. It "fits" , but it don't .....tires flex , but what the hell. .......

[J P Stein]

oops, the first pic is wrong. ....try this. ......

[Rich Hilgersom]

PICS

http://quickhonda.net/fenderRolling.htm


The metal setup above in 914GT's post is $224

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=6159&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C503%2C504%2C514&KickerID=63&KICKER

-Rich Hilgersom

[mike95125]

Proof! From reputible people.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Well, I reconnize the guy in the middle... Glenn Sager of the D&G swap meets. That looks like his shop in SB, too. Mikey, are you one of the other two in the pic there?

--DD