ok… for the second time: You DO NOT have to repaint the car… doesnt matter if the paint cracks or not… doesnt matter how old it is either
:word: Just take your time and go in slow increments.
ehem…sure you have.
sounds like theres enough people in the area willing to have it done, with 2 that are willing to pay for the tool itself
start with whoever is least worried about their paint … im sure theres plenty of autocross / drag guys out there that have pretty crappy paint jobs to start with … and work your way up to the people who are most worried about their paint. by the time you get to the guys who say “DONT CRACK MY PAINT” youll have the skills needed
ive hand hammered lips before … the key is just to take baby steps … and of course you gotta take it just as slow as you would if u were trying to get into some east amhersts bitches pants
interest from 2 to 3 people on here is hardly incentive to invest in the tool and deal with BS to make nothing on the work. This is easily a 2 - 3 hour job. (Dont quote dumb fuck 30 minute figures because you dont know what you are talking about or are a hack) Give me a list of 10 people with at least $50 in hand for the work and then we can talk.
I did mine myself, on the bimmer and it took me about 2hrs to do each side…I also used a heat gun to make sure i reduced the chance of cracking the paint.
I didn’t go extreme, just enough to clear my 265 tires.
post up a “testing waters - serious interest in fender lip rolling - 50 / pair. 100 for 4” thread and see what happens
put it here, the barf and roclife and see how many people seriously want it done
but if someones already going to buy the tool anyways for their own car …
I know you know what you are doing. I wanted to clear up any misconceptions about the process. I just dont want to hear about what people THINK it should cost or how much time it SHOULD take. Good thing this isnt BARF. Maybe im jumping the gun but I used to get really sick of hearing people throw their 2 cents in or expect major hookups or even everything for free. In any case the process (how I did it) breaks down like this.
Bend the lip back halfway using a tool of some sort (I used a wooden bat, soft face dead hammer, and soft face ball peen hammer)
Remove any loose paint from the inside of the bend (when you fold paint in on itself over 90 degrees it will crack… heat or not)
Apply a layer of seam sealer ( mixed to slow cure) to both inner halves
Continue folding the lip once you get almost vertical.
At this point the hammers and mallets come into play to finish the fold and create a flat smooth surface. Tack welds change the stiffness of the lip at certain points and in may not fold the way you want it to without use of the hammers.
Pack seam sealer into the edge of the fold. Wipe excess.
Remove loose paint. I used a disk sander to level the inside surface. Not necessary but it adds extra rust prevention. Paint may seperate from the panel during bending but it will not crack or flake off. The gap will still be there and it will fill with water and eventually cause the panel to rust. Removing the paint ensures this does not happen.
Tape mask half of the rolled edge.
Prime area with etching primer.
Paint with touch up gun.
Smooth/ blend paint on edge of lip with 2000 Grit paper
Polish out with rotary buffer.
Done.
Just for the record this was the first time I had done this and it came out absolutely perfect.
Only the inner half of the lip is painted so no part of the panel that you can see is changed in any way. This is why I said it doesnt matter if the paint cracks.
many manufacturers use different prep processes and materials to paint their cars. Some paint may not crack but I guarantee most will… and in my opinion its better that way.
Good info to know when I get around to doing mine. Looks like this thread gets a subscription.
verbatim,…that’s the way I did mine. Except I had an actual fender rolling tool, not a bat.
ive got a sharpe platinum hvlp for anyone that needs to borrow a gun for painting
its a BASE CLEAR GUN thou … using it for primer would result in bodily harm … unless your using lacquer primer, lol
I use DuPont Etching Primer in a spray can… only $30 per can
that price sounded kinda steap at first, then i realized that its got very nice advantages
you dont have to mix it in a cup - cup residue is wasted money
you dont have to dump out what u dont use - unused primer is wasted money
you dont have to use thinner to clean your gun - thinner isnt free either
30 percan become pretty damn cheap all the sudden
You need to stop at Carquest because it is cheaper than that
where is he located? I wanna roll fenders for my RX300
LAFENGAS is the man to talk to
Just buy the tool like the other guy said, head out to the junkyard and practice on some beaters.
you dont need to practice
ok Im confused… some of you are describing fender rolling… but the way it looks from the first post … is almost as fender flares…
So, whats the difference here? are the fenders being flared, rolled, or is it the same thing… I don’t see how you could possibly flare fenders with a bat.
Someone clear this up for me.
Some of the best fender rollers out there use a bat. That’s where this all started. In the back of some dude’s house. dude: “My tires don’t clear man” other dude: “well let’s try to bend them out” dude: “with what” other dude: “That louisville over there would probably work” over time someone came up w/ a tool. The tool will cut down on time, but patience is the key w/ either method. A good heat gun will help prevent the paint from cracking. If you need extreme widening you’re not going to do it w/o fender flares and cutting out the old material. So ifgure out in advance what you want to do. Violator is a meticulous son of a bitch so If anyone else worked on my car it would be him. Attention to detail is the key to any repair/ modification.