108 replies to this topic

[Ruts]

Hi all, I have a fellow forum members hatch arriving next week and the owner wants me to fit a new set of rear flares and cut the guards to fit 15x10 hotwires.The car is owned by Rob350hatch and is already fitted with a full set of flares. Rob has purchased a set of extra wide rear hatch flares and wants me to fit and paint them. The previous guy who put the flares on did a s$#t job of cutting the guards as well as not taking enough of the inner guards to clear big wheels. The job will be done so I will not have to paint any of the car except the near flares as they are not painted. I'll again add all photo's along the way so watch this space, HERE WE GO AGAIN!

Ruts

Edited by Ruts, 08 October 2011 - 07:53 PM.

[eyepeeler]

Cheers Ruts in advance for doing that. I will be cutting the guards on my race car soon and it will be good to see how you go about it.

[madmax]

will be paying attention on this one

[Tyre biter]

...Rob has purchased a set of extra wide rear hatch flares and wants me to fit and paint them. The previous guy who put the flares on did a s$#t job of cutting the guards as well as not taking enough of the inner guards to clear big wheels...

Oh crap - Wish you'd done this thread about three months ago Ruts.
See, I've ordered and paid for a set of Hotwires (15 x 8 and 15 x 10) but I don't have "extra wide" flares for mine nor did I consider exactly how much needed to be taken out - just cleaned up a previous owner's work and took a little more to do so thinking that should be right...
Like others, I will be watching this one with interest, but unlike most I imagine that I will be one of only a few if not just myself who is now sh%#@ing bricks, hoping I have jagged it somehow...
Cheers, TB

[Ruts]

By the look of the your car TB your doing just fine.

[Tyre biter]

Ruts,
Thanks - I hope your best estimate is correct - fingers crossed...
BTW - Did you make it to W2W or following that, PRD on 29th Sep here in Canberra or elsewhere?
Cheers, TB

[Ruts]

Car has arrived work starts tomorrow

[Tyre biter]

Ruts,

If I could jump the gun a tad - I've searched but no luck - do you have any tips or methodology to install the rubber beading about the edges of the flares?
Just that I am looking at doing this the next few days and am interested to learn any lessons from those like yourself who have done this before is all.
I am guessing I'll need to cut across the tail of the beading in order to get it to curve nicely?
If so, is there a specific place to do this - ie; either at each bolt hole or between the bolt holes, or not cut at all?
Do you secure the beading with masking tape or similar during this job or even for all time?
Anything else I should be thinking about?
Thanks in advance of whatever advice you can lend.

Cheers, TB

[Ruts]

You have the right idea TB. What you do is bolt the flare on the body with NO piping but do not tighten the bolts completely. You have to leave enough room between the flare and body to slid the piping between. You should be able to rattle the flare against the body that way you pull the flare out a tad which helps the piping go in. At every point where there is a bolt you cut a slit in the piping about 2mm wider either side of the bolt and leave about 5 to 10mm down from the piping. What you are actually doing is cutting a rectangle shape out at each bolt location. You then slide the piping in until the piping bead sits on top of the flare. When all the piping is in and you are happy how it sits you go ahead and tighten all the bolts. That's how I do all mine. Hope this helps and if you have trouble understanding what I'm trying to say then drop me a line and I'll take a few pictures for you.

Ruts

[Ruts]

Forgot to mention, USE THE SMALL PIPING NOT THE LARGE it looks a better and it's what they used from the factory.

[GML-31]

most rubber/foam shops stock both piping sizes

[Tyre biter]

Forgot to mention, USE THE SMALL PIPING NOT THE LARGE it looks a better and it's what they used from the factory.

There are two sizes???
Ruts - thanks for your advice and tips - much appreciated, and yes your instructions are understood thanks.
On the size thing - since it does seem to matter after-all... I think mine is the small size (of course it is) given Grant-76LXSS350 has 8mm wide piping - mine is definitely smaller than 8mm so maybe a break for me.
Cheerio, TB

[Ruts]

Ok here we go. As stated this car belongs to a forum member and although it has flares already fitted and some guard work already done you can follow the same steps as if you are starting from scratch. Rob's car is a nice LX hatch with flares fitted and is currently running a set of 14x8 hotwires all round. The plan is fit a new set of rear flares which Rob managed to get from a guy who makes the hatch rears 20mm wider than the standard rears. When finished the car will have a set if 15x10 hotwires on the rear and with plenty of room for tyre clearance. I'll explain everything the best I can along the way and like the last post when I cut the sedan rears if anyone has any suggestions to help me along the way then I am more than happy to take on any CONSTRUCTIVE advice or criticism . Please keep in mind that there are many ways guards can be cut and then way I do is not the only way it can be done. Anyway here is the first instalment.

The car arrived and the first thing I did was put in on my new hoist so that I can now work at a reasonable height. Yeeeehaaa no more sore back and knees. Gotta love this garage.

 

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Got the car up to a good working height

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When the car was up I could see that someone has tried to guard and bend the guards in the past. Rob said that even with the 14x8's the tyres would rub.

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This car is also fitted with the ugly large flare piping which I will be changing front and back

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Take the wheels off

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Now the plan is to take the standard width rear flares off and replace them with extra wide rears. I must say that these new rears are the goods. These are some the best quality rear flares I have seen in a long while and to top them off they are 20mm wider than standard. Might save $$$ on getting diffs shortened.

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With the original rears removed you can see the difference between the two

 

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By the time they go on we will be able to fit these without having to shorten the diff. Nice 15x10's

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When I said that these flares are good quality, how many of you have seen a set on of flares that can held against the body with one finger and still fit perfectly. Check this out, look at the fitment against an unflared body the flare being held up with only one finger

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[Ruts]

Ok, the first and biggest problem we have with this project is that we wanted to fit the new flares without have to fill and paint the original holes and 1/4 panels. The problem with that is that the new flare would not line up with the old holes without some major work to the inner guards and new flares. Here is what the wheel arches looked like after the flares were removed and how different the new flares sit on the 1/4 panel.

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Now the problem I had was that to get the new flares to sit sort of in place I had to cut away some of the inner guard first. Please not that the initial cuts are NOT where the final cuts will be. I marked the first cut and then worked on from there.
As I went along I had to keep trying the flare so that it would sort of sit in the correct position.

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I then marked and cut the inner panel

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Once I cut the major of the inner guard away I kept trying the new flare on. As I went along I kept finding bits that needed trimming so that the flare would sit against the 1/4 panel

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Once the majority of the inner guard was cut away we were getting closer to having the new flare in the correct position. What we were trying to achieve was to get the new flare to cover the old flare holes. The next problem we had was that when the new flare was sitting in a position to cover the old holes the bottom of the new flare at the front would not got all the way to the bottom of the sill panel. Old holes covered with new flares.

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Bottom of flare not reaching the bottom of the sill

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Now to get the new flare to sit correctly and to cover the old flare holes we have to do some major surgery to the flare which meant cutting the bottom of the front of the flare and extend it to meet the sill panel. Cut along the dotted line.

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With the cut end of the flare screwed in place you can see how much will need to in-filled with a bit of fibreglass work.

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[Ruts]

Once the inner guard and flare were cut I was able to fit the new flare on to cover the old holes and have a nice fit all round.

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With the 15x10 on you can see how the new flares cover the wheels nicely

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Looking up from underneath you can see the first cut that I did to the inner guards just to get the new flares to fit. Don't forget that this is not the final cut there will be a far bit to still come out here.

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Just to finish off I have added these pictures of the flare piping to shot TB how to splice the flare piping to make it easy to fit. The first picture is the hard way to do it and the second has the old and new with the cut out making it much easier to fit.

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Next Instalment: cutting more guard and fibreglassing the cut flare.

Edited by Ruts, 04 July 2019 - 07:13 PM.

[Tyre biter]

Just to finish off I have added these pictures of the flare piping to shot TB how to splice the flare piping to make it easy to fit. The first picture is the hard way to do it and the second has the old and new with the cut out making it much easier to fit...

Ruts, very kind of you - thank you.
I'll have a whirl this weekend if I get a chance and let you know how I go.
Cheers, TB

[Tyre biter]

Ruts,
I fitted two flares today and your instructions and photos worked a treat - thank you.
There are a couple of pics in the build thread if you are interested.
In reference to my first post in this thread (#6), my flares are lower in the centre of the wheel arch that my cut guards, and so one could only hope this means I ought not have any clearance problems - probably just shot myself in the foot for saying so but hey, it looks promising nonetheless.
All the best and thanks once more - TB

[Ruts]

TB yours are in the correct position the red car's flares are a bit higher than I like. I had to do it like that because we needed to cover the old holes on the 1/4 panel. Have a look at the picture of the flare against the 1/4 panel on the yellow car. That' where the flare should be sitting. I would prefer them a bit lower so that that the car looks like it sit's lower to the ground if you know what I mean.

Ruts

[rodomo]

What are you using to do the cuts Ruts?