Fender flares

Does anyone have an idea on how to make fender flares? This is wut i was thinking of doing, could it be right or is it wrong --> I was gonna mask tape the area around the tires and get that upside down u shape that the fender flares have. Then i was thinking of applying more and more layers of glass until the fender flare becomes like a 3d u shaped box. After just going to sand it down to the shape i like. Does this sound good. Is there another way it could be done?

I am pretty sure that you will want to form a piece of foam in the correct shape, and then glass it, but I am not a fiberglass guy either. May I ask why you can't find any? Bush Whacker(I think) makes a wide variety of flares for most all trucks made.

Grants on the right track. The usual process to making flares is building a foam mold on the body then glassing over that.

Well the flares gonna go on a car, not like those on a truck, ive searched around alot and havent found any. I was wondering how to go about doing the foam thing. Can someone explain what kind of foam i should get and from where. And exactlly how i should go about glassing it. Thnx fellas.

What in the world do you drive that you cant find parts for? Use polyurethane foam. Im not a glass expert, so talk to TSC.

I use blue insulating foam that is available at places such as home depot and lowes. Sells for around $10 for a 4'x8x1/2" sheet. You'll basically want to carve out the shape that you want like mentioned above, cover it in foil, then fiberglass over that. Getting them all to match is the tricky part. Taking alot of measurments and using a profile/contour gauge is the way I do it, it takes some time and effort though.

The easiest and cheapest way by far to build the flairs you want is to get a pait of Volkswagon fenders and cut off the size you want. Place them where you want, draw a line to where you want them to be attached to. Cut out approx 1" below the line, cut tab like pieces in the 1", bend the tabs up and attach them to the fender by welding/brazing/adhisive. Blend in the edges with tiger hair, then a light coat of bondo. To correctly do it, make a piece that will attach your inner fender well to the outer fender. It will take about a day to complete it.

Hey TSC can i also use the foam boards they sell at art stores for projects like michaels, staples and office depot and glass over that, or does it need to be an insulating foam board used for construction?

You can use either, make sure to cover it in foil though.

Hey TSC can i also use the foam boards they sell at art stores for projects like michaels, staples and office depot and glass over that, or does it need to be an insulating foam board used for construction?

Some of that melts. Like the blue and pink stuff. Look at the details of the foam, if its called polystyrene chances are it will melt.

Thats what the foil is for.

SO i should carve the shape out the foam, cover it in foil, lay down allitle resin, put down the fiberglass, resin, fiberglass, resin...... and then sand the fiberglass, bondo and then sand the bondo. Is this right? And how many layers of glass should i use?

You should be able to do it without filler (bondo). How many layers depend on what kind of fiberglass you use. If you use the typical hardware/parts store cloth and matt then I would recomend three layers of matt on the bottom followed by two layers of cloth on top. The matt provides most of the strength and the cloth is easyer to sand.

*blinks* Crap, there goes my thoughts of how to make flares for my car...I mean, I would need rather large pieces of foam....bloody hell. I might as well find a shop that could do it.

*coughs* For referance:
http://www.chevettes.com/images/chev/chev_00089l.jpg
Vauxhall version of my car from 1980s.
Identify the car and you get my awe :D
Either way, trying to replicate those fenders to my car would be a massive pain in the ass....but I might try it someday.

2 door Citation!!!!

Nope, but you are on the right track.... :D

Chevette HSR. Booya.

I'm A Newbie To The Forums. Back In The Mid 70's When The Van Movement Was In We Used 1/4" Steel Rod Or Bend 1/2" Conduit To Form The Outer Rim Then Fill With Sheet Metal Then Use Body Putty To Shape. Hope This Helps.

hey im new to thizs forum but i saw somewhere else about using spray on insulating foam to make flares. what he did was cover the fender area in foam then carve/sand it into shape and fiberglass it.

will this work? im guessing i should cover the car in foil so i can take it off easily. and foil the foam before glassing it? or it it better to just use the foam as a mold and not keep it on the car?

Yes that will work. You can leave the foam as part of the flair or take it off, doesnt really matter. You will need to cover it as the resin will melt it more than likely.

Has anyone thought to make a form using sheet plastic? If you get the right thickness, it will curve to make the desired shapes, without all the sanding of foam. Sanding sucks. Plus it would take alot of skill to get them to be the right shape. I would make templates of the curve you want for the sides and duplicate them for both sides, like ribs for a wooden boat, or like they form sheetmetal over for hot rod bodies. A little work trimming the edges with a grinder so they're flush with the sheetmetal and you could tab the ribs, glued to the sides you just made, to the fenders. You would then have the shape for the top sections laid out for you. Put a piece in place where you want with the curve you want and scribe the edge that meets the sheetmetal. Bond that in place and trim the exess off.
I realise this might be hard to follow, but I don't know how to clarify it any better. Maybe TSC could aid here.
So now you should have the shape of the flare you want. This makes single curves, like the ones in the pics. Compound curves are pretty impossible to do this way, though.
You can remove the flare and use it as a plug (see fiberglass tutorial) after you have radiused your edges . You can radius the outside edges of the fender beyond the thickness of the plastic sheet, but you have to make sure they're gonna hold together by adding bracing on the inside. Then scuff up (sand) the inside of the corner and fill the corner inside with bondo or any non-pourus filler to still leave material there after you take some away.
after you make the flares, put them up against the car scribe the edge and cut/grind them flush. Or if you're real trickey, you can use an utility knife to trim your edge while the part is in the mold when it has just begun to become hard. I would mark on the fender where they go, and sand 3-4 inches in toward the wheel opening down to the metal with 80 grit, and do the same with the inside of your flares. Find a way to temporarily hold them in place-my weapon of choice is usually hot glue, but try it and be crative, Just make sure they stay where you want them well. Using a resin based filler, smooth out the hard radius and glass them in place with a layer of mat. Immediately after this starts to get hard,. apply a couple of layers of heavier glass. Think of it as if you were taping them on with the glass- you want to have a few inches of glass on both the fender and the flare.
As for filling the joint on the outside, completely remove whatever you used to keep them in place and sand a little bigger than the radius you want to make with 180 grit. I wouldn't use bondo, but that's just a personal peeve I have with it. I would use a fiberglass resin filler designed for boat use so it doesn't come off in the future.
Prime and paint the bitch!

ok carbon fibre guy above me i am surprised you havnt gotten warned yet but you have brough back like 5 old threads that i have seen alone... i am not a mod but im telling you before they yell at you about it ..... read the forum rules some more... thanks

ok carbon fibre guy above me i am surprised you havnt gotten warned yet but you have brough back like 5 old threads that i have seen alone... i am not a mod but im telling you before they yell at you about it ..... read the forum rules some more... thanks

Thanks for the help. :)