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Rolling fenders

7K views 27 replies 8 participants last post by  Sparky's 9-5 3t 
#1 ·
Has anyone dont this on their 9-5's? i want to get 1-2 inch spacer on the rear and front to give the car a nice stance but i was looking at the fenders and it seems like they might connect on a bump if the tier is sitting flush with the top of the fender. Im assuming you would cut the plastic that's warped around the fender and then just bend the metal in and slowly bed it out with a pole or a bat.
 
#3 ·
Yes it can be done not a hard job just take it steady buy a Wheel Arch Roller or you can use a scoffolding bar and roll it round the wheel which will follow the arch dont forget that you will need to touch the paint up if it cracks did it on a old 306 i had. The Scaffolding bar way cause im too tight to buy a roller kit. i think they are about £100+ hope this helps ;)
 
#6 ·
koni yellows cars lowerd but im unsure how much from a factory aero, because i bought it already lowered. i will take before and after pics of the camber and how much the wheel sticks out.

Yes it can be done not a hard job just take it steady buy a Wheel Arch Roller or you can use a scoffolding bar and roll it round the wheel which will follow the arch dont forget that you will need to touch the paint up if it cracks did it on a old 306 i had. The Scaffolding bar way cause im too tight to buy a roller kit. i think they are about £100+ hope this helps ;)
yes i think i'm going to try the pole way first it seems very easy there isn't much to it.
 
#8 ·
Im assuming you would cut the plastic that's warped around the fender and then just bend the metal in and slowly bed it out with a pole or a bat.
Use the bat and take lots of pictures for us ;)

 
#9 ·
I've actually rolled fenders before with just a wooden baseball bat and a floor jack. A lot easier then it looks, however ghetto my "fender roller" was. :cheesy:
 
#10 ·
There ya go :p
 
#11 · (Edited)
I rolled my fenders with a wooden croquet stake. The trouble is that if you are truly slammed and want your wheels flush with the bodywork (about a 20mm spacer will do it on a stock offset) you're going to have to start cutting away at that plastic fender liner. Cutting this plastic away exposes the fender lip to rust by way of rock chips. You can get away with only removing about 2 inches the section from about 11 o'clock (1 o'clock on the driver side) to the beginning of the plastic bumper. I used 2 different methods to get around this problem. The first was to rivet soft garage door sealing rubber to the cut area of the fender. Its the same material that some have used on here to make a DIY lip spoiler see here: http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116079
You tuck the narrow edge into the crevice of the lip after you have rolled it and it seals quite well. This keeps dirt and debris from getting up into the fender, but you still have the exposed metal lip which will get scratched up by stones. I have a gravel driveway, so this was a big concern for me. So, now I just needed some rubber lip seal. These are annoying hard to find. I had just about given up scouring the internet when I discovered that the rear fender seal for a 2000-2005 Honda Odyssey is the perfect fit for this application. Pretty hard to beat the $8 price for these things too.

Remember if you're going wide, especially with something as big as 20mm your lug bolts are going to have to deal with much more abuse than usual. I used the vorshlag competition lug conversion. see here http://www.vorshlag.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_4_158&products_id=120
BMW use the same thread, same socket (17mm), and they even have the same 60degree funnel fit.

I use the H&R Hubcentric spacers, and there is a bit of an art to getting the wheels on straight. If you tighten the lugs with the car on the ground as you would a normal car you will have a slight vibration. The trick is to go in a star pattern about 3 times per wheel with the car lifted up, each time tightening a little bit more. Each time you've tightened all 5, they loosen up for the next round. Get things as tight as you possibly can before putting the car on the ground, and you should have no problems.

I've been incredibly happy with the spacers. I have the H&R height adjustible coilover suspension which basically requires spacers, otherwise the tire will rub the adjusters in the front. The car handles awesome once its down super low. There's no body roll at all. The spacers cause you to have a looser steering feel, but if you're like me you'll have a few degrees of toe in set and you'll be grateful for it. With 17" or larger wheels and toe-in on your alignment, the steering wheel will be quite fidgety, and you really need to hold the wheel over potholes and during heavy acceleration. Putting the spacers in make the steering less tedious and a lot more comfortable on the highway. We did toe-in on the rear as well which allows the rear end to go out under heavy cornering. I was freaking ecstatic to convert my understeer to oversteer. You just have to be aware that snap oversteer is possible. Not really a problem on eagle f1 summer tires, but could be a concern with less serious tires.

The nice thing is that in the winter, I can still throw on my 16" wheels with 80,000 mile good year all seasons, and I don't even notice any premature treadwear. I have 30,000 on these things and they're only at about half worn. With a 16" wheel you get a larger sidewall and the tire is able to deform more easily. You can hardly tell that the car has a track alignment.

Anyway, I know this has gotten a bit long here... Bottom line, its totally worth rolling fenders, lowering, and doing custom alignments on the 9-5. The results just get better and better. It can make as much difference as the suspension components themselves!
 
#12 ·
I rolled my fenders with a wooden croquet stake. The trouble is that if you are truly slammed and want your wheels flush with the bodywork (about a 20mm spacer will do it on a stock offset) you're going to have to start cutting away at that plastic fender liner. Cutting this plastic away exposes the fender lip to rust by way of rock chips. You can get away with only removing about 2 inches the section from about 11 o'clock (1 o'clock on the driver side) to the beginning of the plastic bumper. I used 2 different methods to get around this problem. The first was to rivet soft garage door sealing rubber to the cut area of the fender. Its the same material that some have used on here to make a DIY lip spoiler see here: http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116079
You tuck the narrow edge into the crevice of the lip after you have rolled it and it seals quite well. This keeps dirt and debris from getting up into the fender, but you still have the exposed metal lip which will get scratched up by stones. I have a gravel driveway, so this was a big concern for me. So, now I just needed some rubber lip seal. These are annoying hard to find. I had just about given up scouring the internet when I discovered that the rear fender seal for a 2000-2005 Honda Odyssey is the perfect fit for this application. Pretty hard to beat the $8 price for these things too.

Remember if you're going wide, especially with something as big as 20mm your lug bolts are going to have to deal with much more abuse than usual. I used the vorshlag competition lug conversion. see here http://www.vorshlag.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_4_158&products_id=120
BMW use the same thread, same socket (17mm), and they even have the same 60degree funnel fit.

I use the H&R Hubcentric spacers, and there is a bit of an art to getting the wheels on straight. If you tighten the lugs with the car on the ground as you would a normal car you will have a slight vibration. The trick is to go in a star pattern about 3 times per wheel with the car lifted up, each time tightening a little bit more. Each time you've tightened all 5, they loosen up for the next round. Get things as tight as you possibly can before putting the car on the ground, and you should have no problems.

I've been incredibly happy with the spacers. I have the H&R height adjustible coilover suspension which basically requires spacers, otherwise the tire will rub the adjusters in the front. The car handles awesome once its down super low. There's no body roll at all. The spacers cause you to have a looser steering feel, but if you're like me you'll have a few degrees of toe in set and you'll be grateful for it. With 17" or larger wheels and toe-in on your alignment, the steering wheel will be quite fidgety, and you really need to hold the wheel over potholes and during heavy acceleration. Putting the spacers in make the steering less tedious and a lot more comfortable on the highway. We did toe-in on the rear as well which allows the rear end to go out under heavy cornering. I was freaking ecstatic to convert my understeer to oversteer. You just have to be aware that snap oversteer is possible. Not really a problem on eagle f1 summer tires, but could be a concern with less serious tires.

The nice thing is that in the winter, I can still throw on my 16" wheels with 80,000 mile good year all seasons, and I don't even notice any premature treadwear. I have 30,000 on these things and they're only at about half worn. With a 16" wheel you get a larger sidewall and the tire is able to deform more easily. You can hardly tell that the car has a track alignment.

Anyway, I know this has gotten a bit long here... Bottom line, its totally worth rolling fenders, lowering, and doing custom alignments on the 9-5. The results just get better and better. It can make as much difference as the suspension components themselves!

Well the rear fenders you can roll the metal right against the plastic so thats not bad tbh rust check paint would get the job done, im not sure how to roll the front fenders, thanks for the info though.
 
#18 ·
20mm is money on the rear. Fits perfect without any rolling, but I am on stock suspension. I had them on the other day to test fit, but my camber went nuts, so I opted to keep them off for now. I didn't try the fronts, but I'm almost positive that the fender will need a bit of rolling there.

19016c where did you get your set of H&R coilovers?
 
#19 ·
The spacers won't effect the camber. If your camber looks off its probably off for some other reason. The coilovers are from pfs.
 
#21 ·
That is the cost of H&R coil-overs for almost any vehicle. If any mod is worth it, this is the one.

 
#23 ·
That will make you the second person in North America :p
If you want to get it as low as what you see in my photos you will need the h&r spacers for the front. 15mm will do, 20 is flush but cuts it very close. If your rims are wider than the klingons your have a very high chance of rubbing the metal fender lip which will cause your fender to rust. I recommend buying the rear wheel honda odyssey fender protectors to guard against tire rub paint nicks from debris. For $8 a piece its a cheap and simple solution.

Get the Vorshlag 20mm spacer lugs that say they are for an E36 BMW 3 series. These work perfectly and are insanely strong.
 
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