Fender flaring?

[Snowman]

I'm trying to go through all of the options I have to put bigger tires on my soob when it's time to put summer tires back on. Something that I haven't seen on a subaru before but is commonplace on prerunner trucks with big tires is fender flaring.

 

Odviously, we can't just go buy some nice flared fiberglass fenders like those guys can, but I read an article in an offroad mag that described how to lightly flare your stock fenders. They did this on the rear of a chevy pickup. I would like to get some opinions on why this would or would not work on a subaru, or if there is a better way.

 

They did this by cutting with a grinding disc between the inner and outer fenderwell, then placing a bottle jack between two-by-fours on the inner and outer fenderwell. After using the jack to push the outer fender out about an inch and a half, they welded in new sheetmetal to fill the gap that was created.

 

This seems quite intriguing to me, at least for the rear, where it is impossible to chop much of the fenders off. It might also look very cool if it were done to the front as well, and the whole car wouldn't be covered in mud after wheeling.

 

Could this work on a subaru, or is there something that I'm totally missing here?

[GeneralDisorder]

You don't want you car covered in mud after wheeling?!??! What kind of sicko are you anyway? Hehe

 

Subarubrat used 80's toyota fender flares on his brat.... maybe you could find something similar for your car.

 

GD

[incognito]

talk to subarubrat

 

beware: bushwacker or any fenderflare AINT cheap.

 

front and back is like 300 bones.

 

I saw that and went flareless.. you get way muddier when running offset rims that poke out 2" anyway

[Dante]

I've been looking at this, too. So far the only affordable option I have seen is the "universal" flaring JC Whitney and other auto-parts places sell in pieces or by the roll. It's ugly, but then my car ain't pretty as it is

 

I'll probably go without unless/until the State Patrol tells me to fix it...

[northguy]

If you need to borrow a sawzall, let me know. I can hook you up.

[Dr. RX]

The best way is to remove the fender, use a forming bag and mallet, then smooth the surface with an english wheel. After i get my garage built, I plan to get an english wheel and a forming bag and several different shaped mallets. But that is still some time off. The front is easy, the rears, it might be better to fab a flare then weld it and cut out rhe old fender.

[mtsmiths]

If you look at a Cherokee, there is the same basic profile as the EA82 body style. There's some differences, but if the flares are fiberglas (I don't know if they are, or ABS), you could easily make fillets to make the stiffening crease lines match up. The thing I like about the Cherokee flares is the squarish shape which matches the overall body style better than a pure 1/2 circle.

 

Just a th'ot, haven't measured or slapped one up against my wagon or anything. Should be pretty cheap at junkyards, God knows there's enuff dead Cherokees around.

[hassey]

They are 1989 Toyota Bushwacker flares. And thats the same as subarubrat used.

The idea and the instructions came from me and my web site.

And there are about $300.00 for a set of four

 

I guess it also depends on what you are putting them on the 1989 bw flares match up pretty close to the conture of the Brat with just a little triming/notching. need to cut half tear drop shape on front fender flares so the doors will open The hatch and wagon will work too with a little more triming

 

Hassey

[bushbasher]

If my long travel suspension goes through, I may cut right past the bottom corner of theback doors, then weld in a piece to cover the exposed gap between the 2 layers of sheetmetal on the door. Then a sheetmetal flare welded to the body. I may not need to go this far, but this is the plan if I do. There is quite a bit of room before you hit the rubber door seal.