Rolled Fender Question/help

[teflon]

I have a 93 LS 400 with air suspension. The car sits a bit higher then the same year and model with out air. I have a friend that has 20 inch chrome rims on his 91 LS 400 and they fill the wheel well fully. My question is what is rolling your fenders because I have seen on this forum people talking about rolling them to give more room. I want to put 20's but when I went to buy them they looked a little small on my car do to it sitting higher. I want to put 22's and was wondering about rolling my fenders to free up more space! Please any insight would be much appreciated!

[sha4000]

please dont put 22s on the ls, just too big.you would have have to find a way to drop your car a little which should be easy since you have the air susp. which should be adjustable.all they mean by rolling your fenders is that you have to trim the black rubber piece that covers the bottom of your fender in the wheel well

[SKperformance]

Actually SHA rolling your fenders means manipulating the metal over the wheel wheel to extend it further out to fit a wider or lower offset rim.

It is supposed to be done by using a rolling press which connects to the wheels hub and has a large hard rubber wheel which is rolled back and forth around the wheel wells lip until if slowly is stretched further out. This includes heating the metal to make sure the paint does not crack or chip while doing this.

Other wise you need to go to a body shop were they make small cuts in the metal in multiple places and put it back together by welding and paint not bondo.

Most people do not do it properly and just hammer the lip or cut it out.

Very few places have the machine which is abotu $2000 ( overpriced) at rims stores. Some may rent it to you since half of those who have it have no clue how to use it.

[bartkat]

Most people I know just take a baseball bat and roll it around between the tire and fender until the get the desired flare. :D

[sha4000]

Actually SHA rolling your fenders means manipulating the metal over the wheel wheel to extend it further out to fit a wider or lower offset rim.

It is supposed to be done by using a rolling press which connects to the wheels hub and has a large hard rubber wheel which is rolled back and forth around the wheel wells lip until if slowly is stretched further out. This includes heating the metal to make sure the paint does not crack or chip while doing this.

Other wise you need to go to a body shop were they make small cuts in the metal in multiple places and put it back together by welding and paint not bondo.

Most people do not do it properly and just hammer the lip or cut it out.

Very few places have the machine which is abotu $2000 ( overpriced) at rims stores. Some may rent it to you since half of those who have it have no clue how to use it.

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thanks for the lesson sk i read all over the place how the guys just remove the rubber or shave it. i guess its cheaper for them to do it that way

[SKperformance]

Your right it is the cheaper way.

Ever notice how most cars that go through winters have lots of rust around the rear wheel wheels?

Well imagine if all of those with fender tims shaved left exposed metal how bad the rust would get real quick?

[Neo]

I think we have different definitions of fender rolling. As far as I know, rolling a fender is not flaring the fenders out. Although it is sometimes a side effect, it is not the intention.

When you SHAVE the fender lip, you cut it off (like sha4000 mentioned) so that you eliminate wheel/fender rub.

When you ROLL the fender lip, you are bending the lip upwards and inwards, again to eliminate wheel/fender rub. If done right, the shape of the fender should not change enough to show a flaring effect.

Here are a few pics to illustrate the bending of the fender lip:

Sometimes heat is needed so that the bending process does not damage the paint. This is why (if structural integrity is not an issue) I prefer to shave. You just need to go back with a fine grit paper and use touch up paint to minimize (if not eliminate) rust issues.

[sha4000]

neo thanks for the really good illustration i never even looked at it that way i think both sk and you gave really god info but you guys have diff. ways of doing things

[teflon]

OMG Thank you guys so much for all the info!! I gave it a lot of thought and I'll stay away from 22's!! But when I put my 20's on I'll post a few pics. I dont know if I want to lower the car cause I really love the air ride it has and dont want to compromise it. So maybe I'll just go with a little thicker tire to fill a little more of the wheel well. Thaks a bunch for the info now if I need to I can print off those pics to show the shop what I may need done!!!

[Neo]

neo thanks for the really good illustration i never even looked at it that way i think both sk and you gave really god info but you guys have diff. ways of doing things

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LOL. I think it is just more terminology. When we mod cars, we do all the above if necessary. It just depends on what we each call it. :)

[Neo]

I dont know if I want to lower the car cause I really love the air ride it has and dont want to compromise it. So maybe I'll just go with a little thicker tire to fill a little more of the wheel well.

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Of course it is your car and you can do what you want with it. :)

With that said, think about lowering it a little if you can. When you put on 20s, all that "metal" makes the car look like it is raised, similar to SUVs. It accentuates the gap.

I am not as familiar with the LS but what is the OEM sizes for your rims and tires? Sorry. Just a little lazy to track down which years came with what tire and rim sizes. ;) :D

[sha4000]

i know he has 15" tires oem

[Neo]

i know he has 15" tires oem

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Well, I would think he has 15" rims ;) but I am curious on the tire specs. My concern is with the tire diameter. On the GS, when you run 20s, the tire spec is already 1" larger than spec. This is "normal" because of ride quality and tire spec availability (or limitations if you want to look at it that way). I don't know if the LS specs are friendlier to putting larger tires.

This came up since teflon mentioned he wanted to put larger tires to fill the gap. Not only does this increases the SUV look but I just wanted to make sure it is the 1" more that is "normal" or it is more on top of this. (The latter is not recommended. :))

[SKperformance]

Actually NEO and me are talking about the exact same thing.

The tool pictured is the same one i mentioned which connects to the studs.

To the novice ( not saying that about you NEO) person using the machine they will only curl the inner lip which is fine for a quick and simple fix.

As mentioned though , if done right you actually can flare the fender slightly to add more space and a slight wide body look.

It is an art of paitance to slowly go back and forth heating over and over again. It takes a bout 1 hour a corner to get the fender to gain a few MM .

If you want to lower an LS with airsuspension get a controller ,it allows you to set any height you want and for the ulitimate it will lower the car when shut own and raise it at the touch of a button.

A very nice feature. I wish they had air suspension in Canada after i found out about it.

[Neo]

Actually NEO and me are talking about the exact same thing.

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It's all good bro. :D

If you want to lower an LS with airsuspension get a controller ,it allows you to set any height you want  and for the ulitimate it will lower the car when shut own and raise it at the touch of a button.

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This is a very cool option and I think the controller is very affordable (in the hundreds) compared to a full air suspension system that is 4-5k.