I scratched the heck out of my fender flares at Sawmill (and had a great time doing it) and thought to myself maybe this is an excuse for an upgrade.
I’ve been looking at a bunch of flat fender flare kits and the variations are really interesting. I’ve seen steel, aluminum, and plastic. Painted, powder coated, wider than stock and skinnier than stock, with and without LED kits. It’s a little overwhelming.
I know I am interested in flat flares. What material is the best to go with? I worry that steel is too good to break and will wind up ripping off part of my fender rather than just breaking. On the other hand, Smittybilt’s offering is steel and cheaper than most of the rest.
Personally I’m not a fan of aftermarket flares. If I were gonna buy anything it would be the side armor pieces like Pelaman has or like metal cloaks. I lean for towards the armor pieces because it’s less likely to hit anything. Otherwise just cut up your plastic and replace when needed.
poison spyder, genright, metal cloak are a few that come to mine. I have poison spyder and had to trim the stock fenders (on a yj) to retain inner wheel well. steels are a good choice in the event you need to “lean” on it a bit when on the trail. id assume most these companies would incorporate use of existing inner wheel well. aluminum is also a good choice for weight savings but more costly
smitty bilt imo is decent stuff, not quite as durable as aforementioned.
as eric said, kurt made some nice mods to his stock flares, not sure if you can find any right ups in the internets concerning sahara flares
The process for Sahara flares is no different. Just use a fine blade. I know a few people with cut Sahara flares. Actually everyone I know has trimmed their Sahara flares. I’m probably the only one who hasn’t.
Kind of the point is how badly scratched up the Sahara flares already are. I’m looking at the Metal Cloaks right now and they have addressed all of my concerns. They also cost around double what I’d hoped to spend. Yikes! They also require a little bit of drilling, which I’m not sure I’m comfortable doing myself. I’m pretty bad at that sort of thing. Perhaps someone with more dexterity can be bribed with pizza and beer to do it for me - assuming I buy these.
I didn’t anticipate this kind of damage so, hence the lack of good research and general level of confusion.
I have the front flats, and full wrap rears. Can’t say enough about the quality, and they can customize any of their products to your liking - AND MADE IN THE USA. Price wise they are better than any of the competitors, and they use a lot thicker steel / tube than anyone else. Just know, everything comes bare steel so you would have to paint, power-coat, or bed-line.
I love mine, and not the least bit squeamish about bouncing them off things!
Thanks, everyone. I’m leaning toward the Metalcloak Overland fender flares. I like the reenforcement they come with. Now if there was some kind of Speed Racer fender flare where a circular saw blade could come out and cut down trees in your path…
Maybe with a Metalcloak flare it’s fun to bump into them, but I don’t love the way the sahara flares look after going through those trees. Maybe the answer is to get a set of regular plastic non-sahara flares and replace as necessary.
I’m doing a complete about-face and decided on some Bushwacker flat fender flares. When these things rub, there’s no paint that gets scraped off like my Sahara fenders, so I don’t feel like I need to worry about them. I don’t want to get into extreme wheeling so I don’t feel like I need to go with heavy armor.
Just wait till you rub the BushCRACKERS against something in cold weather. I had them, and there are bits and pieces of them on just about every trail in New England. Not to mention the fact of how many times I ripped them completely off, and ziptied them back together. Worse flares I ever owned! Just ask Glenn (mypantera) he lost both his rears just recently at MA Bell/Summit.
