Bushwacker Flat Fender Flares
December 17-18, 2011
After I put on bigger tires, I ran into a problem with tire rubbing on the fender flares during articulation. After a lot of vacillating between downsizing the tires, changing the backspacing, and cutting the fenders, I finally made a decision.
Once I saw the Bushwacker Flat Fender Flares on a few different websites and read their installation guide, I figured this would be the best solution for me. Yes, trimming was required which I was opposed to at first, but then I softened to it after reading the installation procedure.
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Before the flares were changed, this image shows how much clearance I had for the tire to fit when articulating. As you can imagine, there was a lot of rubbing (especially in the rear).
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First thing's first - remove the tire to make it much easier to perform the work.
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The original fender flares must be removed.
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I decided to work on the front and rear together since I had limited working space. I also had to remove the rear bumper end cap.
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Mask off the flare for cutting per the instructions.
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Take the angle grinder and cut away. After cutting, I applied some primer to the exposed bare metal and then later painted it for rust protection.
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Now we screw on the new inner flares to the body which is used as a mounting block for the outer flares.
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Attach the new outer flare and secure it with the screws. Now we just need to clean up our mess.
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The pile of original flares and parts that no longer fit on the Jeep.
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The new flares stick out more than the stock ones, but that should also help to keep my XJ clean.
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With the new fender flares installed, you can see there is much more clearance for those tires to fit inside the wheel well. Now I just need to test the articulation.