toyota fiberglass (precision 4x4 B.C.) review (3 Viewers)

[cody c]

This is a brief review with pictures for fiberglass fender flares for an 89-95 toyota mini truck/hilux.

I decided to upgrade the fenders, as mine were wrinkled in an otherwise exceptional body for the year 4 door hilux, and I would be needing some work done as I enlarged the rear fender wells and had some dents anyways.

I looked around, fiberwerx, hanneman etc. and then came across a company out of penticton BC called precision 4x4, though their website is called toyota fiberglass.

After about half a dozen emails regarding pricing and shipping I decided to pull the trigger and order a set. They were a hair over $400 for two front fenders and a bit over $100 shipped to my door in calgary.

I have to say, they were great regarding contacting them by email and responded within a day everytime I sent an email. They also sent a free t-shirt and some stickers with the package. Their customer service is looking pretty good.

Now for the product, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, I had to adjust the light/eposure/contrast on all the pictures for them to show up properly:

 

[cody c]

So what do you think...

What I like, the profile.

You may notice the front corner chipped in the third from last picture. When it arrived, it was in a box about twice the size with nothing to stop it from moving around, the tips were at the top of the box and both were chipped. Im not sure if Im dissapointed as obviouisly there is going to be a bit of work needed on them anyways, but I guess I was a bit dissapointed on how well they were wrapped. Actually Im surprised there wasnt more damage.

Anyway... These were about $200 a piece, so Im not sure if I got what I paid for, or expected more then what I got. The seams arent all that clean as yo can see in the pictures, especialy near the door, and they never did cutouts for the rubber hood stops or bolts that stuck through the inner fender well, let alone a single one of the bolts that will be used to mount it. I dont really ilke that the section that bolts to the bottom is so thin in material, and narrow in width, it could have been beefed up a bit to strengthen the attachment point.

In short, to get these where I want them I will need to learn how to do some fiberglass work or pay someone to do some work. If Im going to strengthen parts of it, I may as well run it along the inside lip to make it stronger and give more of a lip to attach some sort of inner fender.

If anyone else is looking to upgrade their fenders, expect that the purchase of them is only the first steps of the journey if they want to do things right. This isnt meant as negative feedback towards precision though, just a bit of critique for those curious.

For those who decide to try these out, either be prepared to spend hours with some fiberglassing and sanding and shaping, or expect to see a significant bill to get someone else to clean them up.

Cody.

 

[snobdds]

I would get in touch with Cory and let him know about the fenders. He is a pretty stand up guy to work with. I was going to order a fiberglass bed from him, but at the time he had no molds of US spec. beds, only japan/canada molds which have a different top lip. I use a fiberglass topper and the lip was not enough to mount the topper to. He understood I had to look elsewhere and was not to disappointed.

He will make it right. I am really surprised by the quality.

 

[cody c]

I would get in touch with Cory and let him know about the fenders. He is a pretty stand up guy to work with. I was going to order a fiberglass bed from him, but at the time he had no molds of US spec. beds, only japan/canada molds which have a different top lip. I use a fiberglass topper and the lip was not enough to mount the topper to. He understood I had to look elsewhere and was not to disappointed.

He will make it right. I am really surprised by the quality.

You know what, I think he probably is a decent guy, and I am impressed with his responses. Im not blown away with the quality personally. I was under the impression these were alot closer to being ready for primer and paint then what I see here though.

If my pictures and comments seem to indicate some bad mojo with Corey then Ive communicated this wrong, but Im not sure what he would do for me though? I could return them and have another set sent to me, but if I pay shipping one way Im out $100 and then I have to package them up and bring them to the shipper blah blah blah.

Sand off the stuff at the seams only take me 20 minutes, though the rest will take more time. I dont think he will imporve/revise his product overall though based on my response (which I havent given him to be fair).

But as you can see it may be a month of sundays to get the gap around the doors right, the holes drilled, the notches around the tabs on the inner fender cleaned up, the lights fitted properly, add some fiberglass to beef up the areas that seem weak etc. I dont expect they can/will change that and it to be typical to most fenders by other vendors.

I'm not impressed by the packaging or the dent on the front. But what would I expect them to do? Refund me a few bucks, give me 10% off coupon or something. Ive got other things to do, and I actually do like that they put in the effort to throw in a t-shirt and stickers.

 

[Camotubebender]

Send them back!

 

[snobdds]

When I got my fiberglass bed, it was basically ready to paint. I did very little sanding to get it paint ready. The seams did not need any work. I don't know what to say, your in a tough position...

 

[cody c]

That looks pretty good snobdds, where did you order that from? Don't tell me it was precision 4x4?

Your truck looks mint BTW!

I guess Ill be learning how to do some fiberglass, there is a Kevin in our club here who worked fiberglassing boats earlier in his life, I may consult him for some skill.

 

[KLF]

That bed looks great, but what's up with the joint between the bed and the cab? Doesn't look like it lines up very well to me, no way I could live with that. Did you consider putting shims between the bed mounts and the frame to get the alignment better? Just curious...

 

[snobdds]

The OEM hardware does not fit anymore with the fiberglass bed, so I attempted to make some solid rubber spacers that needed to be about 1" in length. You can see the pick with the long yellow level, this was just before I put the spacers on. Well, after about 6 months...the rubber has compacted by about 1/2". This winter I am going to find some harder rubber and remake the spacers. Keen eye there KLF...

The bed was made by B&G fiberglass out of Trout Run PA. They are about the only place that has good moulds for US spec trucks. The guy is getting old and don't know how much longer he will be making these. It's a shame that once he's gone...I don't know if anyone will make these anymore. I looked again at his website and don't see anything for front fenders, but I would call him and he may of some help.

http://www.bgfiberglassusa.com/home.html

 

[PAToyota]

Darn! I went right past B&G the other month. If I had known about him I would have contacted him to see if I could have stopped in to check things out...

 

[jynx]

I would at least call or email him the pictures you posted. That door gap is no where near close to fitting and will need a good bit glass to build those up.

 

[cody c]

I would at least call or email him the pictures you posted. That door gap is no where near close to fitting and will need a good bit glass to build those up.

First of all: I emailed Corey and posted a link to this thread, so if he's inclined he can offer feedback.

Second, the door gap is wrong because the piece is roughly set in place and not fastened. I posted the picture of the door gap to show the finish of the material near the gap along the fender.

Ill get a better close up of the "finished edge" when I get home this evening.

 

[BJ_bumperboy]

this guy got some and loved them http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/110280-3rd-Gen-Toyota-Pickup-Budget-Expo-Build/page9

maybe yours were built on a friday

 

[cody c]

this guy got some and loved them http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/110280-3rd-Gen-Toyota-Pickup-Budget-Expo-Build/page9

maybe yours were built on a friday

Hey, I talked to Corey after work, he actually mentioned the guy from expedition portal.

Anyway this is what he had to say and Im paraphrtasing him so this isnt word for word or exact:

The rough edge around the door is because there is extra material for me to shape as needed, some toyota's have different door gaps and shapes. This is also why they do not drill any of the holes.

The seams are usually this rough when they send them out, though they do sometimes have time to clean them up before they package them.

They couldnt leave any more lip at the underside of the fender well (ther is only 1/4-3/8" which isnt much to screw an inner liner to) if they made the lip wider it would make it very difficult to remove the glass from the molds.

He also said he was happy to refund my money if I was un happy with them and asked a couple times if there was anything else I needed.

So... I cleaned up the rough seam down the middle a bit with a orbital sander and then took a couple pics. Sanding down the seam went a lot quicker then I thought I must admit, even with 220 grit. Though I wont do the rest of the work till much later, well till I get the hood back on, which will be when the motor is back in, which is a ways down the road.

Im still not really pleased with the lower mount on the fender, he said they were made with major tire clearance in mind and only made room for one of the bolts, I still think the material is a bit thin there...

Pics...







The bottom corner is sitting on top of the mounting screw and isnt in its final location, though the lines dont really flow here, they do flow well in the center of the fender to the door, just gonna have to grind out the shape a bit later to fine tune it.

I need a brother or brother in law who does body work for a living I did convince a Kevin from the club to give me a hand next week though, should be interesting, Ill try and post some pics if I can be motivated.

Having shown all the flaws of these, I think they will be worth it one day when theyre finished, just thought I should let anyone else interested know that theyre not as simple as buy and bolt on.

 

[BJ_bumperboy]

so what ever happened with these ?