HOW TO: Fender Cutting
 

Over the years I've gotten lots of PM's about fender cutting as I think it is easier and better than rolling. I did my rears a while back. I got new wheels and just did the fronts - so here's the play-by-play.

1. Figure out which areas of the fender lip needs to come off by test fitting your wide, wicked offset baller status wheels. I place a block of wood under the selected wheel so the tire will tuck into the fender.

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2. Mark the fender lip. I mark right up to the end of the radius of the fender lip. You can remove even more material (the radius itself), leaving a knife edge fender, but that is harder, and has a much greater chance of leaving an uneven edge that is actually visible.

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3. Tape off the edge. If you use white masking tape you can see through to your line. If you use blue, you probably want to tape first, than mark your line.

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4. Use a rotary cutoff for the business. An air powered unit makes it a breeze. A Dremmel tool will do it, but it takes much longer especially on the steel double thick rear fenders.

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5. Clean the edges with a file, and sand paper if you care to. The rears should be hit with a little brushed on touchup paint to seal them since they are steel. The fronts don't matter as they are aluminum.

Finished fender.

Attachment 297802

Baller Status with clearance for wheel travel.

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looks good. Debating on cutting or rolling rears. Any pics of those on your car? I know i will be cutting rears when I go wide later this summer. What did you use to seal up the rear? Just some rust preventative spray paint?

I work at a paint shop I'm sure I have some lol

nice write up and wheels

finished picture please!!!! Since you're local would you mind doing this for me? I could pay a bit if you wanted!

More pics added

Oh snap you are local! I work in kirkland.

Take this as however you wish:

but whatever you do, NEVER CUT YOUR REAR FENDERS

Your evo uses unibody construction, it consists of 2 folded/welded pieces of body steel. Cutting the lip releases the front and rear sheet of the car, which in turns separates the unibody.

You will induce body flex and basically kill the structural integrity of the car. If you dont believe me, ask any Chassis specialist and/or body shop.

Rolling is the safest bet because the steel stays intact. For those of you who have already cut the fenders in the rear, ever wonder why you had to cut through a sandwich of layers????

I agree, however, I did cut the rear fenders on my Scion Xb that I had last year! I just sliced the lip in increments of like an inch and then bent those tabs back up against the fender. I rolled like that for about two years with no problems of the quarter wanting to pull away from the inner part!

I did still have to repaint the inner wheel wells too, which sucks!

Anthony

How long did this process take? I just got into 18x9.5+20 and I'm getting owned in the back.

Your car looks mean as hell..Nice mod list to go with it!!

Doesn't the heat from the cutting wheel mess up the paint at the edge of the cut? Rolling the fenders is a much cleaner option in my opinion. Paint safe as well.

first pic two air valves?

I always wonder why the Enkei NT03 wheels have those twin air valves.

"THE NTO3+M ALSO FEATURES A RACING TWIN VALVE DESIGN WHICH ALLOWS FOR ACCURATE MONITORING WHILE ADJUSTING THE PRESSURE." Straight off the Enkei website. http://www.enkei.com/RacingSeriesSpecs/NTO3+M.html

Paint is fine. I seen way more paint issues from rolling on locals cars...