e911

I just put 8" fuchs (turbo offset) on my euro spec 83 SC. While you guested- my right front rubs under hard braking . Just tested on street, have not been on track with it yet, but can only assume it while rub upon hard cornering as well.
Tires are Yoko 32's 225/50/16 front and 245/45/16 rear. Euro height . I don't know what camber, I have not had it aligned since I owned.

Have heard about rolling front fender lip. Can someone describe exactly what this is. How difficult is it to do. Do you recommend doing yourself or a bodyshop. Any risk of hurting the car, etc.

Thanks

Ed Bighi

When you say turbo fuchs, do you mean the 951 or 944 turbo fuchs? You probably do since the other "turbo" 8 inch fuchs are the early 911 turbo rears. Those will absolutely not fit in the front of a narrow body 911.

Vampire

A common way is to take a baseball bat and wedge it between the tire and the fender lip at the point where you want the lip to start beign rolled, apply some pressure to bend the lip and then roll the bat around the tire. You may also need to jack the car up to get the spacing between the tire and the fender.

I also used a hammer and dolly, but found the bat to be best to get the lip bent up and then the hammer to finish it off.

I had paint crack on one fender (it doesn't show, but touch it up). I have heard that heating the paint up with a hair dryer can prevent this.

I am not a bodyshop person, but was happy with my results.

Steve, 914 guy

We use a child's wooden baseball bat, and find a friend who's a very good driver to operate the car. Have him/her gently drive the car forwards and back, at your command while you man the baseball bat. The driver should hold the steering wheel straight. Start at athe back of one front wheel, slide the bat in where there's not much pressure on it , hold it at 30-45 degrees, have your friend move forward, then back, move the bat to a thicker spot, repeat. don't try to get it all at one time, just roll the lip a little bit each time.

J-RAD

Earl:

If you look in the wheels section, you will see that I've had similar problems. A number of factors can contribute to the rubbing. In addition to rolling the front fenders, having your alignment checked is not a bad idea. You should run a slight negative camber. This will pull the tire away from the fender lip. One problem with our cars is that they were hand built and some of the tolerences seemed to vary. I imagine you are rubbing on the top of the fender. You can verify this by chaulking your tire, or if you use a tire protectant/gloss, and checking for residue on the fender. There could be a number of possible solutions to your problem... but, to answer question, the most common method to roll fenders is to use a baseball bat. However, I have seen custom body shops use some sort of tool as well. You can do this procedure yourself or you may be able to find a body shop that will do it for you for somewhere between $20-$40 per fender. Personally, I think it is easy enough to do yourself. However, you MUST have patience and use care when doing it. As mentioned in an earlier post, you can definately damage your paint if you hurry.
Here is a link to a post I once found that contains photos and a descent description of what needs to be done. Like I said, if you do this, just be patient. Good luck!

How to roll your fenders

[ 06-28-2001: Message edited by: J-RAD ]

Bill Verburg

You can use a baseball bat(Al. does a better job than wood)use a cloth to protect paint as much as possible BUT you risk cracking the paint on the outer lip. I used a pneumatic saw to cut the inner lip off, others have used grinders/sanders to do the same. Finish by sanding the rough edges (if any), reprime and seal with paint. Besides the lip, a common interference point is the joint where the fender and bumper meet. Grind as needed.

e911

Thanks guys. At first I thought you were kidding me - a baseball bat???. Then J-RAD left the link and after looking at the posts and the link - I am ready to try. Believe it or not I DON"T have a baseball bat. But will borrow one.

I was mistaken in my post - th rims are off an 87 turbo - 7x16-front and 8x16 rear.
thanks again
Earl

Thom Fitzpatrick

I've also used a wooden closet hanger rod.

Clark Griswald

The baseball bat is the ticket to get it started, but you can only bend so far with the bat.

After that you can pinch it in tighter using vice grips. Careful here. The idea is to adjust the vice grips such that they pinch it just a little at a time, move up and down the area being rolled, then adjust the vice grips for just a little more pinch, repeat until happy. Be sure to protect the paint with a rag, or better yest a thin peice of wood.

The heat gun can help the paint from cracking. But the baseball bat will hack up the back part of the paint so you will want to touch it up.

Also, before you borrow a bat, know that the bat will get hacked up too. You might want to just go buy a cheap one.

Paul Brewer

I used a Cresent wrench, ball peen hammer and a 3M rubber sanding block. Take the wheel off and bend the lip upwards with the Cresent wrench, bending a point every 3/4 of an inch. This will bend the lip at a 60 degree angle. Then put the sanding block (with no sandpaper in it, of course) on the outside of the fender, using it as a dolly. Use the ball peen hammer to form the lip up the rest of the way, backing up the outside with the rubber "dolly".
Since the lip is coated with a rubbery chip resistant coating it won't rust.

vaughan

I had my front lips rolled at a body shop
($100). My paint did not crack, thankfully.
The shop owner said that factory paint doesn't crack as often as aftermarket paint.