Pinch Weld + Fender/Liner Mods (1 Viewer)

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YardPig

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Let's see how you modded for tire clearance your pinch weld and/or fender and liner.
 
I promised a bit of a writeup in another post, so this info. may as well go here. It's not much, but at the time I really wasn't planning on doing a tutorial. If anyone has better advice or methods, feel free to share!

1. Removing the fender liners is the first step. Very straightforward. Once the screws are out, you'll have to pry out the little retainer plugs:
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2. The offending culprit. I also took the time to clean out all the junk and mud that had accumulated behind the fender liner, as seen in the second pic:
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3. Didn't get any shots before paint, but the next step was going to town on the pinch weld flange with my trusty 2.5lb sledge. Hammered the flange inwards, as it seemed the best way to go at the time. Gave it a quick shot of prime and then a little seam sealer to prevent water from getting past any of the factory seal that may have been compromised:
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4. View from the side (LX470 so it has the cladding on the fender). Nothing should be sticking past the wheel arch:
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5. A little undercoating to help protect everything:
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6. Reinstalled the fender liner, and then using a heat gun, carefully shaped the liner as tight as I could to the back of the fender well/flattened pinch weld. Just make sure not to overheat the plastic and melt through it. If you're careful, you can feel when it starts to give way and become workable. Take your time:
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7. Finished shot. Nothing as this point sticks forward of the factory cladding on the fender:
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Keep in mind I'm running 295/75/16's on SCS wheels, factory AHC suspension. Under normal driving in "N" suspension height, I haven't encountered any rubbing unless I hit a pothole or aggressive dip in the road. I may just need to flatten the fender liner a bit more. It happens rarely enough that I haven't bothered to go back and redo anything. High setting on AHC and I've never had any problems rubbing (yet).
 
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Thanks for sharing. Are you running SPC upper arms to adjust caster to pull the wheel forward?
 
I'm also on 315's, and cut the snot out of the pinch weld until it stopped rubbing. Not running SPC upper's, and caster is JUST barely out of spec. I couldn't do the remold the liner trick though. I had to cut it, and the pinch weld down to where it was flat for about 4 inches, then curved a line up on the pinch weld, and hit it with spray paint.
 
I’m running 35s too and I had to cut some of the fender and heat and form the rest. I reformed it from being convex to concave. I used a heat gun and a towel and pressed it into the freshly bashed pinch weld.

I did the same as @4WDarren to lay mine over. Just keep working the pinch weld over a little at a time along the whole length. I hit mine with some 3M rubberized undercoating I’ve used over the years with long lasting results.
 
Finally did this on my truck in anticipation for 34s. The one thing that’s not discussed and probably assumed by actual mechanics is that you’ll need to purchase replacement clips/grommets as the plastic on my 20 year old cruiser was so brittle every single one shattered coming out. I was able to find a suitable-ish replacement at our Autozone, but living in BFE I didn’t have the option of going to a dealer. Also folding inward worked well as it left somewhere to mold the liner around to keep it really tight to the metal.

Here’s the Partsouq page

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You’ll need ~20 of #1 and 6 of the #3. Save yourself a trip to the parts store and get these ahead of time!
 
Is there any reason to bash it in as opposed to cutting it off and re-welding it? Other than many people don't weld, of course. It seems like that would be cleaner?
Probably doesn’t add a lot of function by doing that as you can get it totally clear by bending it back and also cutting it raises the potential for separation of the layers, corrosion, etc. If you’re a jedi with the welder though no reason not to!
 

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