How To: Fender Rolling/Puling

[Bwana]

Ok, so I haven't ever really seen a decent how to on rolling or pulling fenders (if I just missed it, feel free to delete this). I learned on my car, and they came out perfect. Since then, I've also done a few friends fenders as well (including eds13). I will also put a couple pics of my rears up at the end of this post, just for reference. It's not hard, just take a little time, and little patience. So here we go...

Rolling/Pulling fenders is done to fit wider wheels under stock fenders, as I’m sure already know before even reading this. I just wanted to start out as basic as possible. Rolling is flattening the lip on the inside against the outer part of the fender. Pulling is rolling, plus actually pulling the sheet metal out some making more room under the fender.

To roll fenders, you'll need a good size hammer (like a small hand held sledge- light enough to swing comfortably, but heavy enough to actually move metal without having to beat on it all day), a couple rags (I like the red shop rags you can get at most auto parts stores, washcloths work good too. Both of these are more tightly woven than say a terry towel and don’t start shredding as fast when you’re beating on them), and a torch or heat gun. I use a torch. You need to heat the edge of the fender/lip with the torch/heat gun until the paint is hot to the touch. You need to keep the flame/gun moving back and forth from side to side. If it sits in one spot, it will scorch the paint. Keep an eye on the edge of the fender. If it starts to bubble/scorch, you either already have plenty of heat in it, or you're heating too much on the outside of the edge, and not enough on the actual fender lip.

So, get some heat in it, then, with a rag wrapped around the head of the hammer, start hitting the lip upwards. You will have to readjust the rag quite often (depending on what rag you use, like I said, the red shop rags or cheap wash cloths work well). The rag will start to get threadbare where you're beating, so as you notice it wearing out, just move the hammer to another spot under the rag. So you'll work your way from the middle of the fender to one side, then back to the middle and go to the other side, then you can go back and forth, from one side to the other. Make sure to do it gradually, you don't want the front part to be completely flat, and the back part untouched or vice versa. You want the lip to be rolled in stages, from slight roll all the way across, until the lip is completely flat against the outside sheet metal. The extra rag is for your other hand, you'll need it because the fender is too hot to touch with bare hands. With your other hand, press against the outside of the fender where you're beating to keep from doing any "pulling". You will probably need to stop a couple times and reheat it, then start beating again. The heat is to keep the paint from cracking, but it also helps the metal bend easier when it’s got some heat in it.

You will only need to roll from about 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock. In rear anyway, the front, you may go further, but the front is cake. The rears are harder, since they're more rigid. You will definitely want to make sure you put pressure on the outside of the front while you’re rolling, because the front’s aren’t anywhere near as rigid as the rears, so they will deform a lot easier. Just move your hand/rag along the edge, pressing inward, as you beat from one side to the other. You'll also have to remove your front plastic fender liners if you haven't already. I recommend cutting them and leaving at least a small section at the back, to keep rocks from flying up into your door.

I hope this helps at least a few people. If anyone has anything CONSTRUCTIVE to add, feel free to post it or PM me and I will edit this post to add it in. Also, I don’t have experience pulling yet, but I will as soon as I get my rear 5 lug and tires for my new wheels. So if anyone wants to do a write up about pulling, I’ll put it up, but I’m planning on doing a how-to for that as well (hence the title), as soon as I get to do my rears. Here are the pics as promised. (Please no Sportmax comments, those wheels are long gone. New wheels are MUCH better...)



And just for reference, the wheels in the pics are 18x8.5 +25 with 225/40/18s and 18x9.5 +25 with 245/40/18s (Falken ST-115). I was also running -3.75* of camber in the rear.

Contributed by: upSLIDEdown