Front Fender Flare Removal

[Rookie]

Has anyone removed the front fender flares that trim the wheel wells? I need to take mine off to get it painted.

I can see a couple of obvious areas to unbolt, but there's got to be more holding it on.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Rookie

[Rookie]

Got it off if anyone ever needs to know.

Rookie

[diesel2k]

I would actually like to take all the flares of and get them painted to match the color of the truck. I don't like the two-toned look of black on top and gary on the bottom. How does it look without the flares?

[dougjohn]

A LX 450 without flares would look like a large wide 4Runner with holes all along the body.

The panels are held on by clips and screws. Unless you have a plan to cover the holes, you probably don't want to run without the panels. You could probably tolerate it for a while though.

I'm planning on removing my panels and flares this summer to get them Line-x'd or Rhino-lined. Mine have gotten pretty banged up and scraped from the trails.

...

Doug

[diesel2k]

Hey dougjohn,

I noticed in your profile, you put down that you have an lx450 built for off-road. what size of tires did you put on and did you add a lift kit? just curious. I want to put wider tires on my truck, but dont know how wide I can go without rubbing up on the wheel wells and fenders.

[dougjohn]

I currently have 285/75 R16 Goodyear MTRs. You can fit these on a LX 450 with no mods. You might get some rubbing under some extreme articulation, but nothing major.

I swapped out my shocks and springs for a set from OME (Old Man Emu). This essentially gave me about a 2.5" to 3" lift from the stock set up.

If you're planning on off-road, with the OME, you can go as wide as 305/70 R16. The 315/75 R16 will rub unless you make a few minor mods.

Although I'm happy with the 285s, I will be going up to 315s next time around (but as I said, this will require some mods to do it right).

[firefighter]

Got it off if anyone ever needs to know.

Rookie

[firefighter]

Got it off if anyone ever needs to know.

Rookie

Hello,

I am getting my lx450 fender painted tomorrow and desperately need to know how to get the front pasange flare off. I can get to all the screws on the inside of the fender, but not sure about the three clips close to the door. Can you help?

[Rookie]

Got it off if anyone ever needs to know.

Rookie

Hello,

I am getting my lx450 fender painted tomorrow and desperately need to know how to get the front pasange flare off. I can get to all the screws on the inside of the fender, but not sure about the three clips close to the door. Can you help?

It's been quite a while since I removed mine, so it's a little foggy. IIRC, theres one screw at the front edge of the flare, and then maybe 3 or 4 spots where it's bottled to the fender that you have to get at from the engine compartment side, then two or three of those snap-in type connectors along the lower back portion of the flare. You just work something in between the fender and the flare, and they should pop out without much trouble. The hardest part is getting to some of those nuts inside the fender from the engine compartment side.

Hope this helps.

Rookie