MSSLGECKO Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Just want some people who have mounted a tire this exact size on their 3/4 EA81 [wagon, hatch, or brat] to describe and/or show photos of their fender trim jobs. I am putting on the Cooper Discoverer LT (size in title) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tin Soldier Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Just want some people who have mounted a tire this exact size on their 3/4 EA81 [wagon, hatch, or brat] to describe and/or show photos of their fender trim jobs. I am putting on the Cooper Discoverer LT (size in title) I did a 26.5 on a 3 inch lift and I had to trim bottom of the front fenders both in front and behind the wheel. Otherwise it rubbed when I turned the wheels. I used a dremel with a cutoff wheel and it took about 15 minutes per side. Then I used a hammer to bend the sharp edges back and make it look clean. I don't have any pix available atm. I was probably only about 4-6 inchs up from the bottom of the fender tho. Didn't take much. To the untrained eye it looked unchanged when I was done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSLGECKO Posted January 8, 2005 Author Share Posted January 8, 2005 Well, I think I am going to just trim so that it looks like the wheel well just goes a little more forward than stock. (Trim the bottom corner at the front of the wheel well.) But I don't have anything (like a dremel) to cut it with. So, I'm just wondering what I'm going to do. Did u get rubbage when you turned just a little bit? How far over did u have to turn to get contact? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tin Soldier Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Well, I think I am going to just trim so that it looks like the wheel well just goes a little more forward than stock. (Trim the bottom corner at the front of the wheel well.) But I don't have anything (like a dremel) to cut it with. So, I'm just wondering what I'm going to do. Did u get rubbage when you turned just a little bit? How far over did u have to turn to get contact? I found more rub on the back of the fender then to the front of the car. And basically I just followed the curve of the fender and brought it back more. I had some rub on the inner plastic fender, but I figured it wouldn't hurt and eventualy it did wear out of the way without hurting my tires. My tires generally only rubbed a full turn. The eastiest way to check to put the wheel on and check when it's turned. I would imagine a sawzall or grinder could do the same, or even a hacksaw if that's all you have. A dremel is only like 20$-30$ at walmart with the bits. It's small so you can be more precise and make it look nicer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 i run 25.5s on a non lifted hatch. with very minimal trimming in the front, and none in the rear. no rear mudflaps tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSLGECKO Posted January 11, 2005 Author Share Posted January 11, 2005 I'm getting the tires mounted tomorrow morning. Then I'm driving to Bozeman (200 Miles) then I will use a dremel to 'adjust' as necesary. I would like to avoid cutting off the lower section infront of the front wheels because w/ my bumper I feel that it may look a little more choppy than I want. And I really don't want to trim the rear. I want to retain my mud flaps all around. I'll see how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 This is the trade off for big tires. Cutting fenders and bashing in your wheel wells on the unibody. Trying to cut out a larger arc or following a curve is very tough. I would suggest keeping cuts straight that you can mark with chalk and follow easily. In the end it will look sharper IMHO. On the front I followed a line in the moulding of the fender. Very easy to keep it straight. Here's an example of clean, straight cuts on the front fenders: For the rear I only had to cut the front 1/3 of the fender there by the door. What I did was open the door up and trim the unibody/fender following again a line/seam in the unibody. Then when you close the door you have that cleam OEM look still. Also the door still seals properly. Look at where the gasket on the door lines up to the unibody before you cut Behind the tire there I just "rolled" the fender in a bit with the BFH, no cutting needed. Here's a pic of the rear wheel stuffed up: What you can't see in the photos is something up front you need to bash in. Rip out all the plastic crap up in your wheel well. Then you will see a large brace arching from the bottom of your wheel well upto the top running perpundicular to the wheel well. Need to take the BFH and fold it over. I folded mine over then pounded it in so it was not sticking out at all. This was to make 30"s fit with some rubbing. I since bought 29"s and they fit well with the clearing I had done for the previouse tires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSLGECKO Posted January 12, 2005 Author Share Posted January 12, 2005 I'll see how it turns out. Went great. I made it 200 miles down the road on fresh tires and an unexpected fender trim job. I got the tires on this morning. I love them. I haven't gone offroading or anything yet, but they look right. The tires filled up the fenders just how I wanted them to. The rear has no rubbage that I have seen (haven't flexed it out much) and the front wheels made contact front and rear. I was going to do some pounding and bending as a temporary measure until I could cut how I wanted. However, lacking in time to spend hammering at my car (I was jury-rigging my heater fan), I took the car over to a local body shop. I took the car over at 11AM to talk to the shop about the 'adjustments'. The guy gave me a hard time - asked Why I would do something like that(lift a Sube), said That's for Jeeps. It was all taken lightly. Not everyone see these things [ever]. Anyhow, I took the car over at 1PM and talked with Will (the dude who was actually doing the work on my car) and showed him where it was contacting the front and told him I wanted the curve of the wheel well to just continue a little more forward instead of the slight curl around it does. The rear of the wheel touched on the mud flap mount and the area behind it. The mounting surface was removed and a tiny bit of fender was removed. I am going to find a digi-cam somewhere and post some pics. It looks stock to anyone who doesn't know any better. Anyhow, I'm out - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSLGECKO Posted January 13, 2005 Author Share Posted January 13, 2005 Alright, I got some pic.s taken of the Subaru w/ it's new tires. The tires are Cooper Discoverer LT 27x8.50R14. The trim job on the front fenders is very subtle (how I want it) Front Wheel : Rear Wheel (No Trimming) : Let me know what you all think of the new look! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A DOG Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Sick. I want to get the Cooper Discoverer STT. I can't wait to see the turbo suby in action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Spiffy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSLGECKO Posted January 13, 2005 Author Share Posted January 13, 2005 I like that you wouldn't know that it was adjusted at all just looking at it. It looks almost perfect. These tires made the car for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanislru Posted January 16, 2005 Share Posted January 16, 2005 I dig the new look, those tires fill it out nicely. Were did you get those fender pieces above the mudflaps? Are those stock ones, I have only seen older subes like that in the JY here and most of them were crushed, the salt on the roads and in the air here destroy cars pretty quick. Nice clean looking car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSLGECKO Posted January 16, 2005 Author Share Posted January 16, 2005 If you're talking about the Black Rubber piece on the rear fender, then it came w/ the car, just look around, I'm sure that someone on the board could help you out. I really want a piece like that on the front fender, I think it would look damn slick. - Anyone have any good ideas of how/where to make/get one of those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tin Soldier Posted January 16, 2005 Share Posted January 16, 2005 If you're talking about the Black Rubber piece on the rear fender, then it came w/ the car, just look around, I'm sure that someone on the board could help you out. I really want a piece like that on the front fender, I think it would look damn slick. - Anyone have any good ideas of how/where to make/get one of those? Saw a guy use some of that black lawn edging as fender flares on a truck. Turned out nice and it was flexible enuff to not get hurt if you hit something. I think that is what I will do on my next suby. As a note I think I have some of those rear flaps laying about here if someone wanted them. I had two sets, but I may have already sold one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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