Fender rolling is it a DIY or Professional modification?

just like the ol'school method of using a torch or heat to pull dents out of cars vs using fillers or suction pullers etc. Sorry if I sounded like I was saying it can't be professionally done without a bought tool but usually I see people who have No Real experience asking these kinda ?s and then sometimes shitty failed attempts getting praised for it .... kinda like everybody who participates is a winner deserves a trophy deal . I'll do whatever I can afford, however I have to get the results I want, and even though I'll probably Never need this for tire clearances (unless I run a 17x9 or something) will relief cut the fender lips like stated, seam sill them, and wisely before my car ever see any real body work & paint

 

wasn't trying to push you in any direction really but I will add that unless your needing or trying to stuff big 275 or 295 mm tires out back or run decently big and wide front stickies?.. I highly doubt you'd need to be cutting any metal for that last little bit of room I was talking about earlier.

Even if you only roll the innermost portion of the flanges 2/3 of the way up it should help tire clearance quite a bit and you can always add more roll later on if need be(although digging seam sealer would not be high up on my bucket list in life. lol

You'll still need the seam sealer and undercoating to protect the lip either way though. The tighter it gets rolled back, obviously less seam sealer volume would be required to fill the smaller voids. Be sure to wire brush and solvent wipe the flange before when it's initially easier to reach and work on and prime.. and also after because crumbs and loose materials can reappear after its been stretched and rolled over. Always best to seal the metal with rust protective primer before any seamsealer or other coatings are applied as a last line of defense as well.

 

The rolling will be part of the body prep before the base coat. Everything will get a rust proof treatment and sealer. These will be the wheels i am using. There 2000 Mustang wheels and they were free. I'm gonna smooth out the curb rash also.

 

Thanks for taking the time to give me this information. I will copy and paste these few paragraphs into my journal. By the way these are the wheels I had in mind.

 

These are what I'm planning on running with at least a 1-1.5" spacer as I've read here. I will probably stuff as much tire as I can clear on stock suspension on these 16x7" rears and run something a little narrower on the front but not anorexic skinny. $150 purchase for my 5 lug disc swap .... whenever I get around to doing the front and then the rear swap = either crown vic or explorer 8.8 disc rear. May not "need" the rolled fenders but might as well .... for future things out of the way ... just in case

 

This is the stance with a 2 inch spacer. Are you saying that I don't need to roll the fenders with 16" x 7.5", 5 Lug, 4.5" Bolt Pattern? I've never driven the car with these wheels on. They were a gift. I'm going with what I've herd?

 

Reason most people roll the fenders are 1:

2: Lowering the car.

I intend to lower my '72 2dr pretty low, eventually 17 or 18" wheels, wider 245/45 ? and with what I've read here these newer style wheels like mine (2005-2009 Mustang GT) are the wrong offset / backspacing so the spacers come in for clearance of the brakes etc . My understanding is 245/45/17 or wider tires requires the fenders to be rolled when lowering the car so you don't chew tires or body up. My opinion is with what I can see in the pic ... If you're not running wider tires and aren't lowering the car drastically You shouldn't "need" to roll the fenders .... unless you're already rubbing on them or the frame / suspension

 

Oh and Kevin if you have the chance remove those 2" spacers and check the fitment clearances of the wheels . I may be wrong but I don't think you need that much of a spacer for them or maybe none at all . If I understand right the newer wheels use spacers because they're offset is much different on the newer Mustangs that can stuff 19" wheels with wider tires. Hope I am correct and giving the right info here. Maybe 1 of the tire gurus will chime in ....

 

Kevin: Nice stance ! Although clearances are important when the car is being driven on a good road..Another thing to consider is the "travel" of the rear end when hitting a " Dip" in the road ..
I hit a low spot here in Florida about two years ago .. and the Rear of the Car "Dropped" enough to Groove two Very Expensive New Street/Strip Tires enough that I removed them .. Wouldn't trust them after the groove. Just a thought.
Cometized
(Chip)

 

won't speak for others but I'm flying partially blind here.. can we have a "hub or lug nut level" side shot(along the tires rolling axis) to better gauge sidewall clearances?

Couple pic's would be near perfect.. one from the rear looking forward/parallel down the side of the car at hub level.. and one from the front looking back at same hub level should paint a pretty good picture for all to see.

also got me curious.. do you have some/any weight missing from that front-end right now?.. or is that the fully loaded ready to run stance?

if missing a "few things" up front?.. you'll surely want to mock weight to the final ride height to eliminate reduced clearance reduction variables. Hard turn clearance issues can be better reproduced by full turn locks in both directions while jacking the opposite side off the ground but be careful about bouncing while it's up on the jack pad(jack-stands are always best). Best to pull the flimsy front sway bars end link on at least one side to help the jack out a bit more if you really want to get nit-picky about it. You'd probably also be kinda surprised how well 3 adults bouncing on each end of the car can flush out clearance issues too. Plus, you've got the necessary big bumpers they can actually stand on too! Score another one for the big bumpers! lol

My biggest words of caution would be to make damned sure that you flush out ANY AND ALL clearance issues that could potentially occur during the suspension and tires ENTIRE RANGE OF MOTION.. and IN ALL CONDITIONS INCLUDING EMERGENCY/DEFENSIVE DRIVING SITUATIONS. I caution people all the time about lowering cars with bigger tires because through the years I have been around and involved with dozens of minor and major accidents revolving around tire failures. Granted that most were from rear air-shock failures and/or old bias ply tires of the day.. but many more were also related to chopped down weak front factory springs in combination with bigger 50-60 series tires vs driveways/speedbumps and/or excessive speeds. Be sure and be safe.

PS.. not to make your job here even harder.. but IMO if that front-end is already fully loaded?.. that car needs to come down in the front about another 3/8" - 1/2" inch. Not quite enough forward rake and just a bit too much front tire gap but I think you're damned close to perfect for a cool and functional daily driver. I keep running across solid and affordable 4 doors lately.. hard to resist the temptation.

 

Cruzin, not to high jack the thread here, but is that a Fordstrokers motor you have in your car?

 

Yes It is.

 

wasn't all you were saying but this is good advice...

 

When I was doing the math I figured 1.5" spacer was about perfect for a 40 offset wheel. Worked out really good on my 70 Mustang.

 

I tried without spacers originally and I didn't clear the idler arm. In the rear, the tires don't clear the springs. I'm only using a one inch spacer with 16" tires so I should be good. Thanks for responding.