Topic: fender flares

[speedyshark]

I am looking at getting the pit bull rocker tires. I guess I will see how they do in sand, I like the look and have heard good things about them. Right now I have 33x12.50x15 going to 33x13.50x15. The stock flares are to small for the 12.50's and a frind of mine who does fiberglass said he could extend them for me. What I wanted to know is if any one can tell me if I go to 8.5in total width will this cover the 13.50's and keep alot of mud and water off the body.

[Jeffy]

It really depends on your wheels backspacing.  You can fit 12.5R15's under stock flares if you use a stock BS.  This does cause some problems when you  turn but you can fix that too...

[speedyshark]

Right now the tires stick out about 1in past the flares. Since I like the rims on the truck now, I thought about putting on the pocket flares. However extending the old ones would be less $$$$.

[Jeffy]

Rugged Ridge flares seem to be a good deal at $149.

Fiberglass won't last too long.  Rub it against a tree and it's toast.

[speedyshark]

Those look good. I guess they only come in 7in. I did measure wrong  :? The tires stick-out aprox. 4in. I don't think the 13.50 will clear the swaybar link at full turn. The BFG M/T are about 2in from hitting it. So I think I will go with the 33x12.50x15 growler. The BFG's look like they stick-out about 7in from the body. Looks like the 7in will be close to covering the tire. can't beat the price. Do they work good?

[Jeffy]

Well, without hard numbers or pictures it's really a guess what will it will look like.  Like I said, wheel BS will make the biggest diffference in where the site sits.  Flares should cover the rest.  Although I'm running 3.75" BS with 12.5R15's and 7" wide flares and they're pretty much covered.

I have no experiance with Rugged Ridge.  I jsut saw them in the Qtech catalog and they seem to have reasonably priced flares unlike everyone else.  Even my Warn flares could be better.  They don't fit as tight as the OEM's.

[Beachbum]

I thought I might share this with everyone, I ordered a set of the rugged ridge 7" fender flares last week along with several other items from Quadratech. Quadratech called me back the next day and said you must trim the sheetmetal on your jeep to install them, and wanted to make sure I knew that. I didn't know and decided not to get them. I thought that was really cool of quadratech to advise me of this, that was the first order I've ever placed with them, and won't be the laast.

[BK2LIFE]

you dont have to trim the body.  you can if you want, but you dont have to.  "all" fender flares for a yj state you have to trim the body.  i could give you pics of mine, and i didnt trim, and they are still on..

[Beachbum]

Now I wish I would have gotten them. Why would they need to be trimmed anyway ? Pictures would be great !!!!!!!!!!!

[sharpxmen]

the trimming is optional so you can get more clearance - something like they did with the TJ form factory. I have bushwhackers and 33x12.5x15 on 3.75'' BS - the tires are still sticking out about 1'' still. i had to trim the front fenders as otherwise the tires would rub when i was steering. I trimmed the rears as the bottom corner of the fender was visible under the flares and it was eye-sore but it wasn't neccessary.

[Jeffy]

Even with stock flares, unless you have a lot of lift, the rear tires will rub against the rearmost edge of the opening.  My flares are kinda cockeye too.  The bottom edges don't sit flush with the bottom of the body.  The front's hand off 1/4" and the rear is around 1/2".  Even with more hanging off the back they look slanted forward. :?

I'm really not a fan of extended flares though.  I'd rather tuck my tires under the stock flares and make adjust the turn stops and bumpstops to clear.