Fender flares

[cobra]

Has anyone ever tried to flare out or stretch a set of rear fenders on a 1960's vintage car? Will hot water make the plastic soft and pliable enough? Or is there a better way? I'd like to push out the fenders on a Trans-Am racer I'm working on and could use a little advice. Thanks.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Trying to soften them with heat is asking for disaster. You have a couple of options though.

1) For a small flare, you can slit the fender top on the body crease and force little plastic wedges in...gently...to get the shape you want, glue it all up and fill/file and sand to final coutour.

2) For larger flares, make a .010" styrene lip extending out from the wheel opening. If there's a character line, make a piece to follow it out over the flare, like so...

Adjust the comtours and lines so everything looks like it flows, and fill with bondo.

If you want to be really cool and get hollow flares so the wheels will fit up in them, finish your bondo work perfectly and pull molds from the flares, then make thin fiberglass copies to replace the solid bondo ones.

You can also CAREFULLY thin bondo flares on the backside with a Dremel and a steady hand. They will support themselves as long as you don't get thinner than 1/16 inch. BE CAREFUL !!

Edited February 4, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy