S10 Fender flare ideas

[silvermonte]

Well im needing some input or some ideas of how to achieve the idea I would like. On a 1st gen S10 the body panels are very flat, well Im wanting to add flares in like the old trans am race cars or even the 70 vettes had. Im wanting the look to be very subtle, not a very in your face its the first thing you see type of thing. Problem im having is I cant find any pictures of anyone ever doing something like this on a s10. Well I was down at the local hot rod shop today talking to them and they charge $60 and hour and they have no idea how long it would take to make them or what it would even look like. I was going thru some of their pics and found a 5.0 mustang that looks to have very similar body panels. Do you guys think flares on a S10 that look like the mustangs would look decent and how many hours on a best guess would it take to fab something like that, I guessed 40 hours per fender and their main fab guy was out at that time and they had no real guess, I dont have the cash to spend on that many hours of fab work so a good guess would helpfull.

This is the best full pic angle i can get of my truck right now, its in about a million pieces so i really cant get anything better, Im lowering it about 3 more inches from whats in the picture and the new tires and rims will stick out past the by about an inch im guessing and thats why im looking into the flares.




these flares are what i think i would like to aim for

[Bryce]

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CCoQrQMwAA

[jlcustomz]

Since most of us don't fabricate on the level of making them from raw steel, one option is if you could locate something easy to get in salvage yards that you could cut off the flair portion, plus a hint extra & weld on. G-body's are one example, but they aren't so plentiful now.

Probably a better option would be a premade fiberglass flair meant for a different ,possiblygm body, & modify the profile to fit. Could be bonded on with something like automix panel adhesive or even marinetex. There is an older thread in this section discussing that.

[tornadocaster]

I had a couple of spare s10 fenders around and in fact I still have it at work. I will get a pic.
Anyway,.. I took a small air grinder and cut along the crease in the fender 1" above the arch. Once I did that I realized that with some small formed patch panels you can easily add a couple of inches to the fender and still keep the natural lines.
Cheers
Gio

[Typhoon1015]

4x4's had bolt on flares that would work, depending on how you wanted it to look.

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...w_img_5484.jpg

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...0185_large.jpg

[silvermonte]

tornado- i would love to see some pics that would be helpfull, i purchased a spare fender to practice on to do something like what you are suggesting

typhoon- i looked at the 4x4 flares and they will be a last ditch effort if i cant get anything else figured out, im trying to stay away from seams or the look that something is bolted on, and make it look more factory or the subtle change that a person doesnt notice on first glance. The red s10 pic you linked was the main picture that I have looked at since that is about where my ride height will end up at, do you know by any chance what the inside of the fender lip looks like with the 4x4 flares? I wondering how they gain any room for a lowered truck other then sticking out further and couldnt find any decent pictures.

[tornadocaster]

Hey Miles,
I didn't get the picture of the fender as I can't get to it right away.
Here's the next best thing. I found a pic of the same job on a golf. On the one I did I cut the lip down to the body line hidden under your side moldings and it looked good and natural. It's hard to see in this pic but after you do this you can make little templates and attack the gap in pieces rather than one piece.
Cheers
Gio

[tornadocaster]

Here's the fender I had tried it on. Where the tape ends is the body line I meant. I had this mocked up once with a piece of cardboard and liked the look. It looked like a natural flare.
Cheers
Gio

[silvermonte]

Thank you for the pictures, that is exactly what i was thinking about trying. It doesnt seem to hard to do but some things are harder to do them i would imagine, good thing i have a spare fender to try on and they are cheap to buy.