A-Tak

Hey all,

So, I thought I would share my experience with installing these TPE rear 2" fender flares. I know there's always lots of concerns raised regarding quality control, and perhaps some people are hesitant to pull the trigger on this product because they're skeptical the fenders will fit properly, unsure about the vendor, etc.

I offer this up with complete objectivity, and am posting purely to give others another example to what the fenders can look like. Overall, I have to say my experience was a positive one. The fenders took a few weeks longer to arrive than I was originally promised (about a month and a half), but I felt Jeff's customer service to be just fine (communication was purely through text, you just need to have some patience, as he always returned my messages in good time). The fenders were properly packaged, and as much as I am no body man, they looked good right out of the box without any damage.

I eventually took the fenders to my local GM body shop, and they advised me the fenders looked better than they had anticipated for an aftermarket product. They did not foresee any major issues, and only some minor body work / tweaking would be required. The hole for the antennae needed to be cut out by the body shop, but that wasn't too big of a deal.

Once the fenders were actually installed, the fitment was quite good. I can post up closer photos of the fitment if anyone cares, but the gaps were, for me, acceptable. I know there are going to be a lot of people on here that will not find the fitment acceptable, but to each their own. I would rate the fitment to be an 8 out of 10. The driver's side fender has a gap a few millimeters wider than the passenger side when mating up with the trunk lid, but hardly noticeable. The fitment between the fender and the door (upon opening the door) is where the fit and finish loses a point or two, but even it is not that bad, and still acceptable for my standards.

Once painted, the body shop overall did a very good job. There are a couple minuscule pin holes in the paint, but unless you're specifically looking for them, you would never find them. I opted to purchase 20mm adapters from Motorsport Tech to mate up with my C6Z offset Cray Hawk wheels. The wheels are wrapped in Toyo T1Rs (345/25/20). I personally love the wheel / tire combo, but again to each their own.

My car was already lowered on Stance coilovers prior to the new fenders. Oddly, the driver's side wheel protrudes a few millimeters past the fender, whereas the passenger side is flush. I do experience some rubbing on the driver's side only, so I will be swapping the 20mm adapters for 15mm ones, and hopefully this will fix the problem. If this remedy doesn't work, I'll raise the rear up a bit.

With the right offset wheels and stance, these fenders were a great purchase and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If anyone asks, I would hands down say pull the trigger on these fenders, if more "extreme" body modifications are your thing. They completely change the look of the car. Mine typically does not look very good in any photos, but I'm surprisingly happy with how the fenders change the look. Oh, and for those BSM haters, I removed those too... haha.

Anyway, hopefully this post was helpful to someone on this forum!

Aaron

Brit dex

what a great looking car!! nice work

Mrg60

Very nice. Thanks for the write up...

Vetteman Jack

The flared fenders look great. That's a very good update to the car.

knewblewkorvette

That car looks mean. Love the blackouts with the black rims. I'm not a fan of GS stripes but they look good on your car. Great job

FYRARMS

You have great taste in a color combo.

A-Tak

Funny you mention the GS stripes... I'm starting to fall out of love with them now. Haha. For some reason the fact that it's a sticker now bothers me... anyway, thanks for the compliment

oneandgone

Great looking car, not sure why you'd think it doesn't photo well.

Any way I could bug you into posting pics of the fitment to the decklid and the area at the front where they fasten only visible when the doors are open? I'd also love to see the wheelhouse area where the fender liners and quarter meet, or don't any more I presume.

A-Tak

Sometimes I feel like carbon fiber doesn't photograph well. When the sun hits it, it looks great, but in a lot of the photos I have, it looks dull and cheap. Maybe it's my photo skills. Haha.

I'll take some closer pics of the fitment and try and post them up sometime tomorrow!

yaknow

Great looking ride, thanks for sharing write up

95wht6spd

Looks great. Best flared fenders IMO.

Patches

OP, gorgeous C5! Nicely done!

Pete at Corvette Creationz will be offering very similar quarters in just a few weeks. He used my new, custom fabricated wide quarters as the templates for the molds so the fit should be good. He is also in the process of making flared fronts and a rear urethane bumper with integrated ducktail spoiler. This is the triple-combo I will be finishing my built C5 up with.

oneandgone

Were the quarters of yours that he used modified stockers or complete custom pieces?

Route99

Like the looks of the fenders (and the splitter) on your car!
It will be interesting to see what causes the differences in offset between the driver and passenger sides causing the driver's side wheel to stick out more.

road pilot

Nice street car.

Mistrezz 06

Great post, your car looks awesome and sharp.

Patches

Complete customs.

FYRARMS

Is there a reason why the flared edge appears to be so uneven, or is it a weird camera angle?

A-Tak

For those who wanted a closer look, here's the fender fitment for the driver's side. My apologies for the poor quality / low light images, my car is in storage now and the lighting in the underground isn't the greatest. The gap along the trunk lid and back window area gradually gets larger the closer to the door you get. The widest gap is about 7mm (near the door), and the smallest is about 5mm (near the bumper). I also took a photo of the imperfection near the bottom edge of the fender where it mates up with the door.

A-Tak

Here are the passenger side pics. The spacing on this side is as close to perfect, as I think you could possibly get for something aftermarket. The gap between the fender and trunk / back window area is about 5mm all the way through to the edge of the door. This side also does not suffer from the imperfection near the bottom edge of the fender where it mates up to the door. This side is flush, and does not stick out at all, which is why I didn't bother taking the picture.