valleyguy

I have an 03 Maxima se and living in Canada I have the typical rust on the edge of the rear fenders, just starting really. I have looked through parts books and online as well and it seems no one makes just the wheel arches for this car and you have to buy the whole 1/4. Staring at my car and some pictures I wondered if I could take two new front fenders and flip them around and just cut off what I need. The shapes seem really close and I don't need to do the whole flare just the inside lip and roughly 1/2 inch of metal on the flare. What do you guys think? Worth looking into or are the shapes different and I just can't see it?

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

way too custom fabrication to use fenders where quater panels belong, i like your creative thinking, but it just wouldnt work logically and practically ( all that work u mind as well get quarters and do it right),

look at universal fender flares you could place on top. a member here did that and it was a nice cost effective way.

valleyguy

I would think there would be less work involved in this than replacing the whole 1/4. I'm not replacing the whole flare just the front edge of it. Roughly a 6 inch long piece and while a body shop could easily take a metal shrinker and make this curved patch but they refuse to just do a patch because they can't guarantee the repair, which makes sense.


I figured if I could maybe score a fender out of a junkyard and cut a little piece out of it and cut out the bad stuff on mine I could weld this in and it should be good to go. Body shops here quoted me right around 2000 to fix it but that was totally replacing both quarters and painting. The car has 286000 kms on it so it's not really worth putting that kinda money into especially considering we are waiting on the new frontier or a new Tacoma if we don't like the new frontier.


just kinda hoping for something to make it look a little nicer for the next year or so. I searched Ebay for those flares but didn't see anything that would be wide enough to cover. Missed them maybe?

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

there are univerals out there that may be big enough for you, and wether you get flares or steal the flares from fenders, seems like a piece already made to attach is easier than hacking fenders.

im in same boat as you $2000 to do it right, $800 to do it cheap and have it come back.... im at 201k miles.....

valleyguy

I don't mind cutting up some fenders and patching it up myself but it will never look as good as a body shop doing it. The value of the car and the high mileage makes for a hard decision.

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

find a junk yard or another car. take a saw and cut out the rear quarter wheel arch off that car. then drill out the spot welds and do the swap. it's a little more work to cut out the arch from a donor car but it's less work for you to blend the front fender that has different curves and etc into your rear.

the proper way is to cut out a large chunk of the rear quarter so you have good solid metal to work on instead of rust.