Tips on fitting flares

[LukeV]

Hi everyone. I think this is my first post here in the rover section.
I have been posting occasionally on the Aus RR and Disco board for a while, under the name Luke.
Brief specs of my ride are given in my sig. I have a basic web page at http://vethaak.no-ip.com. Pics of my centre console project are here

So now that the intro's are done, I was just wondering whether anyone has any handy tips on installing flares onto a 4-door.
While the instructions included by RS are good, any other tips are more than welcome.

Cheers,

Luke

[HSV Rangie]

Luke,
hi and welcome.


follow instructions.

DO THE FIRST rear door slowly, once one is done the other is oh so eassy.

remember measure twice, mark out carfully and then cut.

Michael.

[p76rangie]

Make sure that you fit the front flares as far forward as you can otherwise the tyres may hit the front edge. For the front, just place the flare where you want it to go. Mark along the outer edge with a texta and then remove the flare. Then draw another line how far in you want to cut. Then get someone else to cut it, as it is very hard to cut up your own car, but easy to cut someone elses. The flares are often a rough finish and need a bit of tidying up before you fit.

Fit the rear doors next as you will want to line up the rear guards with the doors when you finish. The doors are a real mongrel to fit. I found that I had to tidy up inside the flare as well as cut the door. Most of the door you basically cut back to the the actual outward curved panel. I used engeering blue to work out which bits were still hitting. It took me about 1/2 hour to fit each of the front flares and about 4 hours to fit the door ones (I hate cutting my car).

Good luck.

Ian

[big bundy]

thanks luke, the rangie that i am looking at has a rooted centre console, that would be just the answer

[LukeV]

Thanks guys. The back doors seem like a daunting task, but a challenge is always fun

By the way, did you guys use a nibbler, or just a hacksaw/jigsaw?

Nibblers cost ~$50 a day to hire, so I would rather do without if possible, but if it will be a lot easier I would fork out the extra.

Luke

[HSV Rangie]

I used an angle grinder.

end resuilt nice and neet.

jig saw would be excellent.

nibler may not work on back doors beacuse of the 2 panels.

Michael.

[LukeV]

Cheers.
LandyMan advised that a jigsaw would probably be best, but a few others and the RS instructions IIRC, suggested using a nibbler.

Might have to go and grab a new jigsaw, as the Makita? one we have must be a good 20 years old Don't make em like they used to!!!

Luke

[VertexZ]

anyone got a scanned copy of the RS instructions and/or some photos of the door install? need them for a mate who got flares second hand.

[p76rangie]

I used a jigsaw, but make sure you get longer blades as you have to cut through both panels at once on the back doors.

Ian

[Davidh]

Damn, i should have used a jigsaw! I didn't think it would be all that neat though. Ended up buying a pneumatic 3" angle grinder from Supercheap.
Because it's so small, it's quite easy to use and doesn't rip in as hard as a big 240v angle grinder will. But it's slower, and it uses HEAPS of air. Most of my time was spent waiting for the compressor to fill up, and it was at least a 50L tank!

Also, a powerfile really helps smoothing out the edges. Better than hand filing anyway!

[LukeV]

anyone got a scanned copy of the RS instructions and/or some photos of the door install? need them for a mate who got flares second hand.

I'll take some pics during my install, but it won't be till the weekend at least. I haven't got a scanner, but can take a pic of the instructions.....should be good enough.

Luke

[TUFFRANGIE]

what about a die grinder, that is what my mate used, seemed to work ok

Measure twice, cut once

[vando3 bundy]

i got an air chisiel wanna use that

[VertexZ]

thanks Luke, that would be great.

either here on on email: jez@optushome.com.au

cheers

[LukeV]

OK, scroll down to the bottom of this page - Luke's Projects

Sorry bout the size to any dial up or iPrimus/Telstra users (don't want you going over your generous 200mb limit )....but I thought I would leave em bigger to try and keep them readible. Only 1mb each.

Luke

[LukeV]

What do people do about the front flare where they have a bullbar that wraps around as seen in the picture below? Should I trim the flare around the bar, trim the bar to fit the flare, or start the flare as far forward as possible which is about 50mm back from the corner where the flare is meant to start? If starting the flare further back, would this significantly decrease clearance should I fit 33's in the future?

[HSV Rangie]

you can trim the return on the bar to make it neat.

Michael,

[LukeV]

What a bitch of a job !!!!

Spent most the day doing the rear door only and still haven't finished....at least the other side will be easier now I know what I am doing.

Question for anyone with 4-door flares....the instructions tell you to measure down from the lip and back from the fornt of the door and mark a line, then measure your cutting line 30mm down from that.

Now, I have cut the door at the cutting line as per the instructions, but the flare won't slip up to the upper line as the depth of the inner part of the flare is only 25 or so mm, not allowing it to fit up to the original marked positions. Do I just have to reduce the 30mm cutting line until the flare fits to the correct height? There was a lot of guess work in interpretting the "instructions".

Cheers,

Luke

[Bush65]

What a bitch of a job !!!!

Spent most the day doing the rear door only and still haven't finished....at least the other side will be easier now I know what I am doing.

Question for anyone with 4-door flares....the instructions tell you to measure down from the lip and back from the fornt of the door and mark a line, then measure your cutting line 30mm down from that.

Now, I have cut the door at the cutting line as per the instructions, but the flare won't slip up to the upper line as the depth of the inner part of the flare is only 25 or so mm, not allowing it to fit up to the original marked positions. Do I just have to reduce the 30mm cutting line? This would result in less metal being available for the screws.

Cheers,

Luke

I had similar problems fitting the flares to my rear doors. I took a hammer to the rear of the door (where it overlaps the inner guard) and filed/ground the flare so that the flare would go on further.

[Bush65]

The location of the flare in the 2nd pic looks the same as mine - distance below lip about same as thickness of flare.