Cale, Bill, Mani and I ended up rolling our fenders today. We used an Eastwood fender roller, a heat gun and a hammer to get the job done. Originally, it was just going to be me and Cale, then Mani and Bill joined us, so it turned into a mini-mod day.

Here are some pics of our cars.






I looked at a couple of video clips on youtube to give me an idea of how this works. Here are the links to the clips. I couldn't really find any DIY on the s2ki forum.

Using an Eastwood fender roller.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=W_IWvZFb-TU

This is the baseball bat method. Fast forward to around the 5:30 mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDTK9IjKIYU&NR=1

Here's the setup for the fender roller.



(Note that the finished job looks much better in person than how they look in these pics.)

There are four plastic clips and two metal screws on the outside edge that hold the fender liner in place. The plan was to put the fender liner on top of the fender lip and then roll it. The fender lip will then hold the fender liner in place.

I unclipped the four plastic clips and made a small cut on the fender liner right above the fourth plastic clip. This way, I can keep the lower fender liner in its stock location. The tires wouldn't rub that low anyway.

I then used a heat gun to heat the paint to prevent it from cracking (Use enough heat and often to make sure the paint doesn't crack). Work one section at a time, and in case I didn't say it before, keep heating the paint over and over. I ended up cracking the paint in two small spots since I didn't keep heating the paint during the rolling process. Leasson learned. I used touch up paint to fill the small cracks and that seemed to work. I'll see how that holds up long term.

I first rolled the three metal tabs first, one at a time. Make sure you use enough heat! The I worked one section at a time to roll the fender lip slowly. I think if you roll a small section at a time a little angle at a time, and by regularly applying heat, you'll lessen the changes of cracking the paint. Here are some pics of the process.

Here are the "before" shots.









Here's Mani in action.





Here are some "after" shots.





You'll notice that the plastic liner melted a bit in some spots.







Mani made a hole in one spot from too much heat.



Here's a shot of Mani's fender. Mani went a bit aggressive with rolling the very front mental clip and ended up not just rolling, but pulling the fender out a bit. I think he was happy with the results though since he proceeded to roll the other front just as aggressively and ended up pulling the front parts of the fender out a little. He said he did that to balance the aerodynamic effects on both sides. You can't really notice the wavy part unless you look at the fender in person and up close.



In the end, I think we were all happy with the results. Cale and Bill didn't roll their rears. I did a bit (just in case I run 275's in the rear in the distant future) and Mani did a lot (he has low offset wheels).

Anyway, I hope this helps anyone who's thinking about rolling their fenders.

 

Very Cool

 

nice

at first i though eastwood was a baseball bat company

 

you guys are

Just put a 5 inch lift on your cars and they will not rub guaranteed.

 

nice

I need to do the rears on my car this week

 

^I didnt do my rears. The roller wouldnt work!

It was too "long" for my car (coilovers)

 

wow really what did you do then?

My wheels should be in thursday and I need to roll my rears by then. I think I might just cut the inner lip out on the rear. I will jsut use some offset snips and trim it flush. Any other ideas?

 

I dont really need to roll my rears. Im using 255s on 9inch volks with a 63 offset. (im running the same wheels on the front, so I deff. needed to do the front)

 

I have the same coilovers as Cale too, but I did roll my rears. The lip's not as accessible as the front, but it can be done. Another option is to use a hammer. I taped up a hammer with duct tape and hammered part of the front fender. It worked great. Just make sure you take it easy. If I wanted more clearance for the rear in the future, I'll just use a heat gun and a taped up hammer. Hammer time!

 

Looks good guys Did one of you buy the fender roller?