Looking for fender trim ideas

[Mastiff]

I'm looking for pics and ideas for minimal fender trim with nice paint. I want to get 37's under a 5" lift and I think I can do it if I trim up to the inner at the rear of the front fender and taper it in to the factory curve. On the front of the front, it looks like it would be easiest to just make a straight cut across.

I've seen lots of pics of mega cutouts where the person followed the inner all the way around. This is more than I'm looking for. I've also seen Ryoken's awesome job, which is way beyond my skill level.

I was hoping to find a body shop and just buy my way out of this, but I'm having a hard time finding someplace around here that seems right for the job. Maybe I can pull it off myself if I can see a good example to copy.

 

[blazinzuk]

Get the tires put em on find a place to flex on. Start slowly trimming away. When you are on a painted surface use a body saw and a couple layers of tape. A jig saw will work. Do not use a high speed wheel on any showing painted surface. Then use a flap wheel with very light pressure and very short periods on the metal to get it all smooth. Do not use a sawz all like I said no high speed cutoff wheels on any exposed painted surface. Go very slow

 

[Mastiff]

Get the tires put em on find a place to flex on. Start slowly trimming away. When you are on a painted surface use a body saw and a couple layers of tape. A jig saw will work. Do not use a high speed wheel on any showing painted surface. Then use a flap wheel with very light pressure and very short periods on the metal to get it all smooth. Do not use a sawz all like I said no high speed cutoff wheels on any exposed painted surface. Go very slow

I'm concerned about the details, like the fact that the factory fender folds in toward the wheel well and has an inner and outer skin (not counting the inner well itself). If I just saw that away, that fold will be completely gone and there will probably be a gap between the inner/outer skins. Abruptly losing the fold may look crappy too. It will certainly be visible since the paint is yellow.

I can snap some pics tonight and draw arrows if it's not clear what I'm talking about.

 

[Mastiff]

Here's the trim job on my CUCV. Not especially pretty. Can I do better?

Here's the pretty one

 

[blazinzuk]

There's no really way to get away from that. Thats why I say start slow you may just clear. Have you 're drilled your perches to move the axle forward? Or are you running zero rates?

 

[Deuling]

Don't trim, that's how you make it look good.


Don't trim.

 

[Mastiff]

I'm sure a person who knows body work could get the job done without it looking like a hack. You know, re-attach the inner and outer, maybe build in a small foldover so you don't see the seam, etc. I'm under the impression that opening fenders is pretty common in the hot rod world, where looks are critical.

I don't need it to be show quality, I just don't want a person's eye to go straight there because it looks like sh**. Hoping to find a middle ground I can pull off myself.

 

[blazinzuk]

Go away Adam

The key in my mind is to make everything gradual. No 90° cuts that bottom peice in your he inner wheel well can be folded back and or patched easily as you aren't going to ruin paint. A flexible black plastic could also clean it up

 

[Deuling]

I will continue to fight the good fight. Lol

 

[rompinstompinmudmonkey]

I don't have any close up pics but here are a couple side shots of my truck after my fender trim. I have about 5" of lift ,37's and a zero rate to move the axle forward 1 1/2". I did a slight angled trim on the front and rear edges of the fender.

 

[Mastiff]

Thanks. That's a cool looking beast. So do you have 5" plus the zero rate = 6", or 5" including the zero rate? Do you think that would be enough trimming to stay out of the sheet metal flexing?

 

[rompinstompinmudmonkey]

5" includes the zero rate. I can still hit the inner fender with the wheels turned at full stuff, but it doesn't hit very hard and I don't hit it very often