Ordered new wheel flares

[FormTA]

So today I ordered the only fiberglass wheel flares I could find in the states. I ended up getting them off Ebay. They are inexpensive so we'll see what the quality is like. I have gone through all of the original urethane originals in my stash and all of them have shrank and curled right where they meet the body. Even with the expensive original style welting (I got it from a guy on Hitmans site years ago who had original designed extrusions made for a short run in different colors) I cannot make them fit without huge gaps. It's crazy too because I have my originals and they used to fit perfectly but 15 years of sitting and there is no way to close the gap. I tried heating them up and rolling the edge back but it eventually curls up again. 

Anyways, that is why I wanted to go with fiberglass, so I could contour them for a better fit. I figure the replacement urethane ones will probably like garbage too so I'll post pictures and give an update once I get these new fiberglass ones in.

I have been running my car without flares for over 3 years now. I figure it's about time to get them on the car.

[FormTA]

Yes, that was the guy! His product is phenomenal!


No, it's the thin area where it touches the body. The area the welting slides over. Think of a piece of paper with the edges curled up. You can't get them to lay flat. If you us any backer the welting won't fit on and  if it did I would touches h the body and hold it away whatever the thickness is of the backer. It really stinks because I have nearly perfect original flares. I have been noticing that most cars are this way with poor fitting flares but it drives me nuts when I worked so hard to have a perfect body and paint and then these eye sores would be on there. So, I'm going to try fiberglass.

I'll try to get a picture of my original flares to show you. At least it may be something you can look for when purchasing originals for your car.

[roadking77]

With the fibreglass ones even if they dont fit right you should be able to 'tune' them in with some finess.

[FormTA]

Have you seen the cheap sets on eBay from India?

Yes, but those scared me. $400 and no idea what or when you'll see them. That's why I went with the USA ones. The are the only two options for fiberglass ones I could find. There used to be a bunch of options but not now.. 

Ya, Kerry,  that is why I want to try these. I can add, subtract and contour them to my liking. I just hope they are close to original shape to start with.

[TammyTA]

I have a set of those eBay flares & they fit up nicely.  I've only test fit them so far but am pretty impressed.  Only wish I'd have paid extra to have the inserts with the mounting studs.  Mine will be screwed into the wheel well lips.  Hope yours are up to snuff.

[FormTA]

Thanks! I'll let you know how they fit up. They claim they are pre-painted black, we'll see, I plan to paint them anyway.

They show them with mounting studs, so hopefully they are there and in the right location.

[FormTA]

I'll get some pictures but these fiberglass flares are useless to me. The contour is way off. The rear is so bad I can't even chop them up enough to make them fit... The rear also have no mounting studs. The front are closer but the mounting studs they have molded in are no where near the 77 or 79 fender holes. I haven't pulled the chin spoiler part out yet but I assume it's just as bad. The finish is like a rattle can finish bit that really doesn't matter but I thought I'd include that info. Also quite a few craters from air bubbles in the finish too.

Like I said, I don't care about the finish I was just really hoping they'd fit as close as my originals so I could grind them to a really close fit. I guess I'll have to go back to making my originals fit to the best of my ability.

I will post some pictures later of my originals and these $300 paper weights.

Now, that said, if you only had these to work with and the body of the car was stripped, you could use filler on the body to change the contour and may chop up the flare and make the rear work. The front you would have to drill new holes and see how far off they are (which is quit a bit but probably possible.).

In conclusion, if I didn't have originals and my body wasn't in paint I would try to make them work. You'd still have to fiberglass in some studs for the rear though.

[b_hill_86]

Luke, sorry to hear that. I think the spare set of 79-81s I have has welting on them still but if I were to remove it can you tell from pictures how they’d fit? As in, whether or not that edge you described before is curled or not? If not you’d be welcome to check their fit on your car and see if they’re usable.

[FormTA]

Thanks! I wouldn't want you to remove it as it might make it harder for you to sell. I would like to hold them up and see though. Are the ones you have front or rears? I can't remember what you told me. I will post a picture in the next day or so of what part/area is curled.

[b_hill_86]

I have all 4. Pretty sure one has welting coming off already but I’m not opposed to removing the others.

[roadking77]

Luke, I am understanding you to say the new fibreglass wheel flares you got are junk? I had to read through twice as I thought you were talking about the originals you were replacing. I certainly hope you can return and get ALL of your money back! I know guys have had bad luck with the nose piece but you would think someone could make a wheel flare at least close. Thats really too bad.

[FormTA]

Kerry, I edited my post to clear that up. Ya, these fiberglass pieces are basically junk. My front fenders are pieces I picked up from Florida back in 2000 and were basically mint, zero rust or damage so I know the contour is correct. Now the rear could be off a bit because I put a patch panel on one side the other is factory.  But the flares are just way off.

[Zach]

Been watching this post, what are the year differences for fender flares? I’m in need of 4 for my 77, I have the front splitter, but can’t find any good sources for reproductions.

[b_hill_86]

70-78 and 79-81 for the flares. The center piece changed a few more times I believe

[roadking77]

Not sure about the rears, but the fronts are def different from 77 to 79.

[FormTA]

Ok, so this is my original front flare. Sorry it's tough to photograph black on black.

The mounting pad I believe has curled and it pushes the flare away from the body.







I have no idea how to fix it. I tried to heat it up and it moved back a few days later. I may try it again but maybe with a torch..??

[b_hill_86]

Not sure about the rears, but the fronts are def different from 77 to 79.

Front and rears are one style 70-78. 79-81 front and rears are a different style.

[FormTA]

I did take a torch to that front left flare. I really moved the mounting flange a lot. We'll see if it moves back after sitting.  I may bring it into the house to heat up for a few days too.


I am going to torch (from the back side) the lip that meets the body on the rear flare to see if I can move it back so the welting will contact the body.

I'll let you all know it gos

[5th T/A]

Luke, sorry your replacement flares were junk. From my limited experience it seems a lot of reproduction parts are poorly made. With your skills I am confident you will get the originals to work. Then you share your resolution with TAC.

[roadking77]

Far from a chemist here, but there are many different types of plastics, I think some can be heated and reformed others tend to have a memory and will go back even after altered.
Is there any way you can put the bolts in on the bracket? That may help pull it tight against the fender. I think I had to do that on my 77 but it has been a few years since then.

[FormTA]

Pretty sure they are urethane which you can heat and form. I may not have heated them enough before so they returned to their prior state. This time I heated it really well with a torch (at a good distance so I didn't burn it)..

It doesn't matter how tight it I tighten the bolts, The angle of the pad that the bolt plate sits in it just at the wrong angle and actually pushes the flare away from the body. Yesterday I was Abel to move that pad about a 1/2 inch with heat. I'll check it today as see if it is staying.

I really hope it us. But that still leaves me with the issue of the curled lip/edge that meets the body. I will try heating that up really good and maybe clamp it flat with paint sticks. I will be trying all sorts of hacks on my flares as they are my only option at this point.

I know it's a common problem with these urethane later model flares st I have a few like this and I see poor fitment on other cars, I just chalked it up as bad fitting welting or poor fender repair. Bit I know my fenders are 100% original contour and my flares did fit before I took them off years ago.

[FormTA]

Sorry, no that was,weird.  Didn't mean to post that twice. It was to show the original mounting pad on out from the lip

[FormTA]

B_Hill-86 (Brian) brought over a set of flares he had and we tried them on the car nd they fit so much better.  Not perfect but drastically better fit than my originals.  I have about a 1/2" gap on my original front and there was only a small area that had a gap on the fronts he had. I think I can heat them up or manipulate the welting enough to close the gap in this area.

I continue to post my progress with these flares.

A big thanks to Brian for bringing them over and we worked out a deal I think we were both comfortable with.

[5th T/A]

Luke, I am happy to hear you have decent wheel flares. It’s great when TAC members help each other.

Also, I hope your son is moving in the right direction with his recovery.

[FormTA]

He is, Slowly but surely.  Had a CT scan of his arm the other day and the blood clots are dissolving.  Half of them are gone. They won't take him off IV antibiotics until those are 100% gone because they probably have the infection in them, but we are headed in the right direction.  Thanks for checking on him!

Ya, I think u have a much better starting point now with these flares.

[FormTA]

So after comparing the flares I got from Brian and the sets I have I figured out what's going on. Basically when the flares were original installed they were soft and pliable. Once attached to the car the welting and the soft flare conformed to the panel.  Eventually the urethane takes on the memory of being pressed against the panel and the curl or shap sets in. All of the flares I have have a good curl to them and I have tried to heat them up and get it out but until I hot these from Brian I didn't realize there should be zero curl, it should be straight.  These from Brian are really soft (at least this one I'm working on now). They do have a bit of curl but with a heat gut I was able to straighten this one out to almost flat. I'll try to get comparison pictures with my other flares but here is this one. Also, the welting on the originals has much more of an angle so it contacts the body before the flare does.  I have put my welting on a pice of aluminum and am trying to get the little flap to bend over. We'll see.

Here you can see how most of the welting is angled towards the body except the bottom.

I was able to get almost all of the flare flat. I will get a straight edge on this one and one of my others to show what I'm talking about.




Brian's were metallic blue. Someone painted them but did a great job. This paint is really on these. I wet sanded them with 400 and 320 grit. They were originally black so I worked hard to remove all of the paint in the wheel area so when stones chip it you won't see blue paint. Not so much on the other sides. The condition of these suggests they were removed a long time ago and stored well as to not deteriorate/get hard.

I used a heat gun to remove the pin strips too.





Wet sanding them used the current paint to fill in any stone chips too but there wasn't many on this one.
I will spray them with epoxy and then wet sand that and then shoot a coat of epoxy thinned as a sealer and topcoat right away with black single stage paint.

[b_hill_86]

Glad these are working out for you man!

[roadking77]

Does the bottom part of your fender have the dip? There should be a slight dip between the centre ridge of the door and the bottom of the car from front to back. I believe thats why the flair is not straight.

[FormTA]

Yes they do. Actually my fenders came from either California or Florida (my doors came from one and the fenders the other) and were pretty much 100% rust free and I just primed and painted them. Basically zero filler and all curves are factory.

But the curve I'm talking about is not that direction its the other. I'll have to post a picture, basically if you were to push the edge of a piece of paper to your table it will curve one way ot the other. If you just gently touch it to the table it will sit perpendicular and not curl. This curl is what my flares did and with the welting applied it sits really far away. Sorry that is the best explanation I can come up with. I'll post pictures of what I'm trying to get across.  I think this whole journey might help.others too.

[FormTA]

So, I spent 4 hours wet sanding the other side I got from Brian. The paint was cracking so I figured it best to remove it all. I'll probably do the same to the one I thought I was done with too, just to be safe
 Interesting these were black originally.

Here is the one I just finished sanding.








Here is why mine don't seem to fit. You can see it curls up and holds the ruler away.





This one, the ruler is flat because there is no curl. I did heat up the one from Brian to get flatten ot the last 10% because I want the best fit possible.

[FormTA]

So, I ran across this video of the 2023 Trans Am nationals and I saw quite a few front flares that fit poorly like my originals.  I wonder how good was the fitment when new. Maybe I am being extremely picky.  Anyway, I will continue to try to get the best fit possible.

Here is that video if you want to watch it for fun. Really amazing cats.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BzHcQ1Ocwt0