Brainstorm fender flare options

My wheels should be here in a few days and it'll be time to fit them. The car is an early 2 door E30, the wheels are 18x10 and 18x12 Fikses with 305s and 335s waiting for them. I've given detailed info to my engine builder who has a fabricator working for him, and my favorite body shop guy for an estimate on how much to do the flares but I'm thinking that it's going to be out of the question for this winter... not the least of it being that if I'm going to do bodywork and paint, I'd ideally like to respray the entire hooptie.

So assuming that I don't go pro, can you guys tell me of a good and perhaps temporary flare solution, that's outside of the scope of the typical inch or two that most aftermarket flares I've seen afford? Maybe something from a different car I can fit? I will report back with exactly how much tire I'll need to cover but I'm guessing about 2" extra out back. I tried looking around but I haven't been able to find anything wider than something like the IE flares.

My welding is getting better and I'm feeling adventurous so doing my own out of metal isn't out of the question. Some of my inspiration:

http://e30.us/flares/

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showpost.php?p=20359190&postcount=588

Any ideas, tips, tricks, dos/donts, pics, would be great! For what it's worth, I think I'd prefer a fender extention like the blue car above, over a box flare. But practicality/reasonable cost first.

AE86 ZG flares? I know you can get those on Ebay...

If you need bigger, Datsun Z car flares might be a bit bigger.

I always thought a lot of late 70's AMC cars would make good flare donors.

DIY http://misfittoysracing.com/Yugo/flaretutorial/index.htm

If you plunge into the recent threads about V12 Jaguar XJSs, you can find some stuff from mguar about fiberglass (and Kevlar) that may spark some ideas.

BigD wrote:

This technique gives a really odd look since it moves the arch down as much as it moves it out.

This car was done in that manner and frankly I find it awful

Thanks a lot for the input guys! Keep it comin.

The ebay flares look interesting, especially the Z car ones (some claim 2.5" wide). I wish I could see them in person somewhere to measure - not a cheap gamble.

Woody - I heard about using flares from junkers but I looked around some local yards including a large one and we have nothing that interesting. 99% of it is various domestic appliances, tons of Intrepids, Neons, Tauruses etc. One time though there was a carb'ed Quattroporte.

JThw8 - thanks for the link, very cool read! But it highlites a concern of mine about DIYing the bodywork - it looks very DIY, especially in case of box flares. The Vorshlag car in the bimmerforum link was built by, well, Vorshlag, who is a pro shop and it still doesn't look especially clean.

Stealthtercel - thanks, I'll check it out

ditchdigger - you're right, that does look very awkward. I do like the approach for the rear fender in terms of cutting the fender and cutting/welding the inner fender flat. That way I'll retain OEM suspension travel and then it's a matter of cosmetically covering the protruding wheel.

In reply to ditchdigger:

Wow, it looked so cool in progress, but I agree, that looks kinda bad.

Those Datsun Z flares seem to fit about anything and they're not real expensive. You can get them from a place called classicdatsun.com for $210. That's what I've been thinking about for my Celica.

I've looked at this a bunch of times and hope to use it for a guide for mine when I get to that point.

http://classicdatsun.com/new/ZG-flares_inst.html

Guy did a great job in my opinion.

Would these work?

Sadly, I only know the competitor's name, Alex Schipkov, and that he runs/ran out of NY state.

In reply to oldsaw:

Yep, see the e30.us link at the top

No one is surprised or shocked by BigD's plan to run 18x10 and 18x12 Fikses with 305s and 335s on his E30?

This is why I love GRM

thatsnowinnebago wrote: No one is surprised or shocked by BigD's plan to run 18x10 and 18x12 Fikses with 305s and 335s on his E30? This is why I love GRM

Shocked? no. Disagree? 5%

Pft. What am I going to say? I'm going to run 15x10 on an '84 Celica.

thatsnowinnebago wrote: No one is surprised or shocked by BigD's plan to run 18x10 and 18x12 Fikses with 305s and 335s on his E30? This is why I love GRM

Eggzachary, sanity is all about context.

Could do what we did

I need flares for my Camaro that basically go straight out, can't come down. Probably something to do with running 16x12 wheels and slicks, not sure. Since you can weld, here is what I am doing. I took 3/16" steel rod and bent it to the shape I wanted and welded it to the fenders & quarters. Then I will go back and fill in with sheetmetal or you could do it with fiberglass and some reinforcing screen. Picture to show idea.

DirtE30 - love your car man, I watched that video you made of the work progression, looks like you went through quite a few iterations. The final version looks a bit scary for me (where you cut slits in the stock sheet metal, pulled it out and filled the gap). Sure turned out amazing though! Feel like doing it twice? ;)

81cpcamaro - very cool idea, thanks! I was actually looking at some 2002 style flares which are like that, but there aren't any in my size that I found. Will play with photoshop to see how it could turn out.

If you need to go silly wide there is this option http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/metal-box-flare-construction-thread/30763/page1/

They aren't done yet but you get the idea.

In reply to nocones:

I've been following your progress, looks terrific! I should only need 2.5-3" to be safe out back I think, hopefully less upfront. So I may be within fiberglass flare territory if I can find some big enough for now.

I heard back from my bodyshop and he said 4200 as a very rough estimate... so I guess for this season I'm limited to a homebrew solution.

I am not too crazy about these on this RX3, but he does a does a great job of "doing-it-himself" with foam and fiberglass. See pictures in his flare build (post #14 & #15). Link below:

http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=784050

That turned out pretty good. I don't know what it is about DIY fiberglass that for most guys seems to always make it come out looking like paper mache but that looks encouraging.

So I've been mulling this over and the more I think about it, the more I like this idea. Why don't more people do it this way? I feel like it's my inexperience deluding me but I feel like I should be able to make a nice looking flare this way fairly easily - and easily make them symmetrical (make 2 of each "wire").

I was thinking to make the crescent type flare, starting with the inner and outer hoops. Then create a shape for the flare, maybe just straight out, maybe with a slight curve. Make a template, and bend "formers" to go between the two hoops (again making 2 of each). Tack them in place, then cut the inner hoop off the fender, and skin. If it's a flat surface, then just one large sheet, tacking to the "formers" a bit at a time. If a curve, then maybe a strip at a time, filling the formers. Or the one sheet, starting with the inner (larger) curve, then bending/welding it down, possibly cutting it into petals as needed.

Then if doing the petals, bend them down at the edge, or weld on a constant width crescent to the edge, to form the lip.

Then weld the completed thing to the fender, bondo/paint....

Am I dreaming?

81cpcamaro wrote: I need flares for my Camaro that basically go straight out, can't come down. Probably something to do with running 16x12 wheels and slicks, not sure. Since you can weld, here is what I am doing. I took 3/16" steel rod and bent it to the shape I wanted and welded it to the fenders & quarters. Then I will go back and fill in with sheetmetal or you could do it with fiberglass and some reinforcing screen. Picture to show idea.