Hi guys, just thought I'd share my lasted mod with you, some DIY rubber flares that I made for around $100 due to Australia's harsh rules and policing on tire coverage and due to the fact that my stock clip on flares were falling off

First step was to remove the old fenders, on a post update XJ they simply unclip and have a screw at the very bottom to hold them to the body.



The next step was to cut the front fenders along the crease in the sheetmetal, a little less than an inch below the indicator. for the rear i used the cut and fold method.


Then I went out to the hardware store and picked up some 30mm angled aluminium (spoken with the Aussie pronounciation ) I got about 6m of that but had about 1.5m spare when I was finished. I also picked up a pack of rivets with the biggest head i could find and 6m of 150mm x 3mm flat rubber.

Front installation:
I didnt get a chance to photograph the build of the flares but the process was quite simple. After cutting the aluminum to the size required, I sliced one edge of the aluminium every 10cm or so to give me a point to be able to bend it to the shape of the sheetmetal. I then riveted the aluminium to the rubber in the shape of the fender and put one rivet into the outside of the body at the front and rear of the aluminium strip, as low down as possible so you can't really see it. I then used leftover aluminium to make supports between the inside of the wheel arch to the aluminium strip.



Rear installation:
The rear was much simpler, I just used the tabs created from the cut and fold to rivet the rubber directly to. Whilst i had to drill through the spot welds on the tabs, the rivets replenished the strength in the unibody.

From there, I used some sharp scissor sort-of tin-snip-sort-of-things to cut the rubber to a shape that I liked, making sure to keep the front of the front flares wider than the rear of the front flares to mimic the style of the JK fenders.

And Ta-daaa!













All in all I think it turned out quite well, I plan on getting some wheel spacers hence the extra width of the flares... Please let me know if I didnt explain anything clearly enough or if you'd like any more pictures. Let me know what you guys think!

Cheers from Australia!

 

Looks great, awesome work! Might do something like this on mine once I get a lift and some decent rubber under it

 

Pretty cool, but one touch against a rock/tree and those things are done

 

No I designed them so they can flex and bend... I can actually lean my whole body against them and they bend flat against the body then spring back to the original shape

 

they do look great and is a nice alternative to the garden edging flares that have been praised upon previously.

a nice touch would be some black silicone done in a nice weld looking bead along the top of the body to rubber flare... just to finish it off.

good job, looks awesome and will truly be functional.

 

Thanks! I really didnt like how the stock ones kept popping off so these should be a great alternative

 

That's fine work, but did you take any steps to prevent galvanic corrosion? Steel and aluminum (spelled the original British way before they inexplicably change it) don't like each other very much, and aluminum loses when they are in prolonged contact. It'll be interesting to see how long they last on your truck. I would definitely keep an eye on the rivet points for corrosion.

 

Yes I forgot to mention that I sprayed rust protection paint over all the exposed metals after completing the build. That should stop any corrosion.