How To: Widen Fenders the easy way...

[Darin Bastedo]

Dan Johnston asked "can you give us a tutorial on how you did the wide body rear?... it looks like you just cut it along the top of the Quarter panel and pulled it apart and filled it with scrap plastic... but how did you pull it apart to creat a gradual arch in the Quarter without cutting it loose from the front or rear " Here ya go Dan...

Below is the project that inspired this Question. To fit the Tires I wanted on this build I decided to widen the fenders rather than Tub the chassis and have to cut up the interior and modify the suspension...

Well Lucky for Dan I had an extra body laying around so I did it again but this time doing step by step photos. From start to finish, including photography it took 15 minutes. (It took longer to write about it than it did to do it!)

1. Measure. Figure out just how much wider you need this fender to be. The wider it is the longer the cut has to be this particular fender is being widened 4 scale inches.

2. Drill a Pilot hole to start the cut with the razor saw.

3. Mark your cut. If possible try not to cross door lines or other panel lines as this adds to the work later...

4. Start your cut, and try to follow your cut line as straight as possible...

5. Cut a strip of fairly thick plastic. It can be a piece of scrap body or what ever. Cut it to the widtch you are widening the body by. (in this case 4mm) Make sure it's long enough that you can do both fenders with one strip so they are symmetrical. Insert the plastic in the slit and turn it to stretch the fender...

6. You will notice that the fender opening sticks out further at the middle than the ends. To fix this slide the strip down until it is even with the front of the fender opening, then clip it off, and insert the strip again and move it to the other end of the fender opening. This is what gives the stretched fender a pleasing arch.

7. Clip off the rest of the strip, and back the hole with masking tape.

8. Fill hole with medium thick super glue (also called "gap filling") and hit it with accelerator. It should be ready to sand in seconds.

Edited March 20, 2012 by Darin Bastedo

[Darin Bastedo]

Here is a comparison between the stock and widened fenders...

I always "paint" mine with sharpie before sanding. when all the black is gone it's smooth...

There you have it. in less than an hour you too can have a wide body Mustang.

[Darin Bastedo]

how stable is the super glue without anything mixed into it? would mixing microballoons, baby powder or baking powder help to make a stronger fill section?

Actually I've found the superglue to as strong if not stronger than the surrounding plastic. I've never tried mixing anything into it, so I don't know what effect it would have.

[george 53]

THANK YOU, Darin! THAT was a GREAT tute! It looks like it'll work on just about any ride! Great pics.

[Harry P.]

Pretty clever... but don't the plastic "wedges" also distort and push in the bodywork as much as they push out the fenders?

[Darin Bastedo]

Pretty clever... but don't the plastic "wedges" also distort and push in the bodywork as much as they push out the fenders?

To a certain extent there is some distortion, and that of course limits how wide you can go with this method. The further out you go the longer you must make the cut, as the plastic will stretch some but not a lot. to go wider than I show here (about 4mm) you would want a different method, but this works especially well when you need 1-2mm of clearance with a minimum amount of work.

[Erik Smith]

how stable is the super glue without anything mixed into it? would mixing microballoons, baby powder or baking powder help to make a stronger fill section?

I found super glue to be very strong as well. I filled the entire rear wheel openings on a T-Bird build by backing with scotch tape and applying glue and accelerator until desired thickness. It is harder than the plastic and bonds extremely well. It actually gets very warm, almost hot, and produces nasty fumes, so I did it in my paint box.

[Elliot949]

Thanks Darin... I have a 70 that is going to get this treatment... Also I think I have a 2006 Stang that will get it also...

[crazyjim]

Excellent. Thank you.

[MikeMc]

Well done! I used the same technique on this 69 Camaro....I filled the gap with sheet styreen and Tenax...I like the CA / accelerator idea..I've used that for small sections. Only clue is the end of the bumpers ...

Edited March 23, 2012 by MikeMc

[weasel]

hmmm, same outcome as Clay's but seems to be easier...thnx.

[Hedgehog]

Great job man. U just hit the nail in the head because I've been like crazy looking an answer on how to widen the body. Thank u for doing awesome creations.

[wraith]

I might have to give this a try on a Camaro I have collecting dust. If I screw it up its only a Camaro! (I like 'em but I am a MOPAR Man!) If it works then maybe I try it on a REAL CAR, One of my Mopars!

Thanks for a great how to!

[ffreak]

Neat idea. thanks for sharing !!!

[wraith]

I just wanted to share this, after seeing this yesterday I went home and tried it. BUT IN REVERSE!

I used this technique on the rear inner wheel wells on a 71 GTX and pushed the inner wall of the wheel well inward to get more room for a wider/bigger tire. Worked perfect! I will get some pics up soon!

[allparish12]

I just wanted to share this, after seeing this yesterday I went home and tried it. BUT IN REVERSE!

I used this technique on the rear inner wheel wells on a 71 GTX and pushed the inner wall of the wheel well inward to get more room for a wider/bigger tire. Worked perfect! I will get some pics up soon!

great...i've already used a different method i found here on one side with surprising results (in a good way) but it was a TON of work...i wish i had come across this method prior to doing the other one...but i was going to try this on the other side and pray to the model car gods that both sides come out the same...

[Hedgehog]

This looks great guys. But one question. Some1 mentioned this technique wouldn't work for a larger size look, so is there any other method or way of doing it??? Let me know thank u

[allparish12]

This looks great guys. But one question. Some1 mentioned this technique wouldn't work for a larger size look, so is there any other method or way of doing it??? Let me know thank u

hey Wilbert...i tried this method and while it came out pretty good...it was A LOT of work...i'm pretty sure that despite me trying to do it exactly as it was described, i overestimated my cuts and my gaps ended up being wider than the example...i managed to get it to work though, but i was doing to try the method posted here for the other side and hope for the best...

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21186&st=0&p=189567&hl=widebody&fromsearch=1&#entry189567

[Roncla]

Sounds like a quick and easy way to widen fenders so I must give it a go. Thanks for the informative tutorial

[wraith]

As soon as I can find my cord for my camera I will post some pics of how I appled this technique to the inner wheel well of my 71 Revell GTX. was a quick and simple job!

[hotrod59f100]

Thanks for the tip I just used this method and gained about a 3scale inch wider fender for my Acura Nsx .

[Guest G Holding]

Took a while to find this one, so I bumped it up after reading the 1/12th Camaro review

Edited May 18, 2013 by G Holding

[allparish12]

im sad to say i didnt have the same level of success using this method...the car might still be salvageable, but at this point, im not betting that it can be...

[Lunajammer]

I had marginal success doing this. The fender seems to have been stronger than the horizontal body. Fender didn't widen but body caved. Yet I've seen this done effectively by others. I ended up adding a split to give the fender room to expand out, then fill the horizontal cut and the vertical split.

[Jantrix]

Maybe thin the thickness of the plastic some before starting? The plastic around the wheel opening? It might give it a little more flex being thinner?

I haven't tried this yet so I'm just guesstimating.