Fender rolling

J

Joe Harlan

New member
This may have already been covered but a search didn't answer my question.

At what point does fender lip rolling become fender flaring? I have noticed a lot of 50 series tires fitting inplaces they never used to fit?
 
Rolling the fender is simply turning the inside lip up flat against the fender. It's not flaring. If anyone is bending the fender out and calling it rolling, they are cheating, whether they know it or not.


------------------
George Roffe
Houston, TX
84 944 ITS car under construction
92 ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
http://www.nissport.com
 
So, how can we relate this to the new Beetle?
biggrin.gif
OK, just kidding...

In addition to what Geo said, the 50 refers to the sidewall height, not the tire width.

------------------
Bill
Planet 6 Racing
bill (at) planet6racing (dot) com
 
Thanks Bill, I am very familiar with what 50 means but a 225 50 fit in place of a 215 60 is a wider tire no matter how you stretch it......or roll it...
 
If the inside of the fender moves but the outside contour doesn't, it's rolling. If the outside profile changes, it's flaring.

K
 
Originally posted by Joe Harlan:
Thanks Bill, I am very familiar with what 50 means but a 225 50 fit in place of a 215 60 is a wider tire no matter how you stretch it......or roll it...
Click to expand...

Thing is Joe, not all tires are created equal. I had a set of 205/55/14 Hoosiers next to a set of 205/55/14 Kumhos, both sets mounted on the same 14x6 rims. When you stacked them up, the stack of Hoosiers was a good 1.5 - 2" taller than the stack of Kumhos.

That being said, I agree, you see a lot of fat tires stuffed under the fenders of IT cars.

------------------
MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI (sold) | MARRS #25 HProd Rabbit
SCCA 279608
 
Yeah I agree that tires are different but the makers of those tires only make them that way cause we use them.......Note that you can't get a 60 series Hoosier in a 14 anymore....I look at some of the creative fender work on some cars to use the 50's and say we are dam close to being full flared.
 
Well, if you look at one of the most popular ways of rolling fenders (bat between the wheel and fender), you have to ask how you could not be altering the outer profile of the fender. And what about cars that have bolt-on plastic flares that are allowed? Sure would be hard to tell if the fender had been pushed/flared out if you've got a piece of plastic covering the 'evidence'.

------------------
MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI (sold) | MARRS #25 HProd Rabbit
SCCA 279608
 
I've used a "comma" dolly and body hammer to stretch the inside lip. If you slip the pointy end of the dolly behind the lip and hammer the sheet, working back and forth around the circumference of the opening, the sheet gets thinner - and therefor "wider." This naturally forces the inside lip to lay up against the outer surface of the fender.

K
 
I take the fenders off, hammer and dolly the inner lip flat against the outside, tack weld it in place and seam seal it.

The exterior usually needs some bondo after that, so this is only done when the entire fender needs a repaint.

The rears are a completely different matter becase they need major implements to "flatten" the double wall in the quarter panel common in unibodies.

Rears take a lot of work to keep the exterior both stock appearing and nice looking.
 
I see in Fastrack a proposal for ITA cars with 13"/14" wheels to go to 15" wheels. Now that will create some real rolling, stretching,tugging, and pulling.
biggrin.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top