Safe to Remove Fender Flares?

I just bought a Z71 Summit White Silverado and it has the white fender flares on it. I was wondering if it is safe to remove those flares so I can purchase and add the black grained finish flares. Does it chip the paint when removed? Also, does the black on white even loook good? Anyone have pics of the 03-05 summite white Z71's with the black grained flares? Thanks.

Can't remember if mine is Summit white or not, but I got these black flares on Ebay in February, and they weren't difficult at all. You will have several plastic rivet looking things around the inside of the fender well. These are easily removed with a flat tip screwdriver, and reusable if you're careful with them. At a dollar a pop, you may want to save them for the next set of flares. The part of the flare that overlays your body is held in place with 3M two sided tape. Once you have removed all the rivets, simply start pulling away from the body at one end of the flare. Don't try to rip it off all at once, just maintain firm steady pressure, and it should peel away. There should be no damage to the paint, and any remaining residue on the paint can be removed with a commercially available goo remover at any parts store. Hope this helps. I know I like the black on white look.

Yeah, the 3M tape is what worried me. I just didn't know how tough that stuff was. On top of that, I've had a bad experience with 3M tape staying behind in big bunches, but if you say it should be relatively easy to remove, then I'll be placing my order sooner or later. Thanks for the tip.

You might check Ebay for the flares you want before you order new ones. The ones I got were $150, shipped for the set. They were almost new, and had been removed because of some white spots the owner was unhappy with. I couldn't find any spots on delivery, and if there were any, the coat of "Back to black" I got at the local parts store fixed them right up. Good luck. I did spend more time getting the old 3M tape off the flares, than I did reinstalling everything. Ended up doing a couple hours with a can of WD-40, and a decal scraper.

The only problem I have with eBay is that I want that stock look on my Silverado and I know that some stuff sold on eBay is from third party manufacturers that give it an awkward look but maybe I can be lucky and find some...you'll just never know.

Be selective and ask questions, most of my truck is used GM parts from eBay and they fit well. Someone will remove the stock parts and sell it on eBay.

Valid point. I got lucky, because the ad for mine stated they were GM pull offs, and I consider myself lucky with the price I got for them. Got my step bars (GM) the same way, and for less than $100, in a sealed box.

My running boards are GM parts for a Sierra Denali sportside pull off. New $900, eBay $245 delivered. Tool box under rear seat GM part take off new $400, eBay $210 delivered screws in new bag. Do your searches 10 different ways, the misspelling is the one that will go for less and no one else will find.

damn... too bad your flares aren't pewter, or i might take them off your hands

Blender, find a body man and get them painted to match. Talk around and find someone who can do it on the side for a cheaper price if you do the prepwork. I got my bumper and the two valances painted for $60, I tore it down and reinstalled it.

3wbdriver, Nice to see others still remember "THE MAN," on your plate. When I installed my roll pan I had to remove my hitch cover brushed alum #3. Jr ain't SR and there never will be another like him.

I just bought a Z71 Summit White Silverado and it has the white fender flares on it. I was wondering if it is safe to remove those flares so I can purchase and add the black grained finish flares. Does it chip the paint when removed? Also, does the black on white even loook good? Anyone have pics of the 03-05 summite white Z71's with the black grained flares? Thanks.

Greetings Mikeyrogers,

So you have Summit White fender flares for a Silverado? How much to sell them to me? Only color I'm interested in is Summit White . Send me an email with a price in it. I don't want to pay a big price - but I'm a serious prospect with cash in hand :smile:

whew... glad to see i'm not the only one interested in putting fender flares on a 2wd.

whew... glad to see i'm not the only one interested in putting fender flares on a 2wd.

:smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile:

White Lightening

Hey Jethro, there will never be another like Dale. I run a black street stock Camaro dirt track car, with the #3WB on it, as a frank admission that I'm a wannabe. Do you still have that hitch cover, and if so would you be willing to part with it?. I haven't been able to find a decent Earnhardt cover for my ride. And Blender, I love the look the flares put on my 2wd Silvy, but I also went with an 8" wide rim to fill the added width out. I'll go with a 245 or 255 tire when the originals wear out.

Hey Jethro, there will never be another like Dale. I run a black street stock Camaro dirt track car, with the #3WB on it, as a frank admission that I'm a wannabe. Do you still have that hitch cover, and if so would you be willing to part with it?. I haven't been able to find a decent Earnhardt cover for my ride. And Blender, I love the look the flares put on my 2wd Silvy, but I also went with an 8" wide rim to fill the added width out. I'll go with a 245 or 255 tire when the originals wear out.


That was my plan... widen the track a little without having the tires/wheels sticking out from under the body. Let us not forget the valuable lesson Pontiac taught us in the late 90's..."Wider is better.."

3wb, Nought, Nada, Never.... I widdled my collection down a little but my shelves will never get smaller from here on out. Someone tried to bust my hitch lock and if I would have found the shithead I was thinking lead poisoning :angryfire . Just thinking...

Check out my gallery, this is the one you want....

Forgive me PULEEZE jethro!!! As a fellow Earnhardt follower, I should have known better than to even think you would part with any of his stuff! A thousand apologies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blender, when you get ready, I went with an 8" wide rim on a 3 5/8" offset. That put my stock 235's within a half inch of flush with the outer lip on the flares. They actually had the sidewalls about 1 1/2" outside of the stock fender. I would guess it widened the overall track of the truck by about 4".
As to your gallery jethro, that's the one I want, but who makes it?

4" is a lot of extra track... but if you added 2" of width to each tire, then I think you are correct, and I bet it would corner a lot better like that... especially with my truck's long ass :iceslolan

4" is a lot of extra track... but if you added 2" of width to each tire, then I think you are correct, and I bet it would corner a lot better like that... especially with my truck's long ass :iceslolan

Greetings Blender and 3wb,

Just curious - if you added tires that are 2 inches wider - would you have added a total of 2 inches more to the track width? My theory is that rim - when widened - expanded on both sides of hub circle center doesn't it (1 inch toward flare and 1 inch toward inner fender on each tire? I guess I was thinking that all the rim and rubber don't go outward as sizes change. Tommorrow - I'll measure my factory 8 inch rims with the factory 20's on them and see what my track measures.

What is the standard width?

Thanks.

White Lightening

3wb, no prob.. I appreciate your asking and no hard feelings taken. Glad someone knows how I feel. :worshippy "The Man" :worshippy I looked and there were no markings and the local store I bought it from went under due to loss of sales.

Good questions lightning. I think the stock rims were only 6" wide, and had a 4" offset (usual factory standard). My new rims were 3 5/8" offset and 2" wider. I didn't think it would make that big a difference until I saw them mounted, even with the stock 235/75-16 tires. I was quess-timating the track increase, but if you look in my gallery, there is kind of an evolutionary history of the truck from day 1 (pardon the dupes), and there is a pretty obvious difference in the track stance, before and after. I'm not being defensive, just trying to justify what I claimed. Yes most of it is probably sidewall width difference, due to the rim change, but ya gotta admit, it made a noticable change in the outward appearance of the rig. And yes, you are correct on the wider tire assumption.

So, do the factory wheels/tires extend beyond the fender (without flares) on a factory 4 x 4?

Good questions lightning. I think the stock rims were only 6" wide, and had a 4" offset (usual factory standard). My new rims were 3 5/8" offset and 2" wider. I didn't think it would make that big a difference until I saw them mounted, even with the stock 235/75-16 tires. I was quess-timating the track increase, but if you look in my gallery, there is kind of an evolutionary history of the truck from day 1 (pardon the dupes), and there is a pretty obvious difference in the track stance, before and after. I'm not being defensive, just trying to justify what I claimed. Yes most of it is probably sidewall width difference, due to the rim change, but ya gotta admit, it made a noticable change in the outward appearance of the rig. And yes, you are correct on the wider tire assumption.

I just measured my Goodyear 20 inch tires with the 8 inch rims. My track width (I used sidewall to sidewall because with the low profile - there wasn't a great deal of difference between sidewall and tread widths) and it came up to 79 inches. I get just a slightly greater width at tire than I do at middle of fender width.

In my previous post I forgot to consider that my tires/wheels are low profile with a greater "inset" of rim rather than an outset (nature of my rims). Most of my rim width is inset from the center - instead of outset. So yours could easily be wider still than mine if you have more outset - which I would guess you'd almost have to have. My tires have very little sidewall buldge.

Also, the standard factory rims on most of our trucks are 6.5"

brumleveb, I haven't seen any 4x4 factory tire/wheel combos sticking past the fenders, but the flares may be intended for some of the more aggressive combos, to keep them 50 state legal.

I just put some stock flares on my 2wd and it looks awesome. And as mentioned before, it's easy.

Those flairs should peel right off when my mom crashed my dads HD the flare came off without any indication it was there.of course it snaped off the rivits also

Hmmm....I'm looking for some smooth painted flares.
I might even have a set of the black grained ones to swap for even.