Bronco Raptor on 1" leveling kit and painted flares

[swamp2]

...
I think ADV Fiberglass's fenders are an example of a much better widebody solution than Ford themselves made. The fenders are integrated and have a lip for an outside liner instead of having the entire flare be one piece that bolts to the side of the fender.
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I enjoyed reading your detailed perspective on aesthetics here.

That said, I'm sure your aware that part of the reason we get the major upgrades across the spectrum in the Raptor, at the price point, is because the BIW and quarter panels are identical across the range. That's simply not possible to have with bespoke metal in either area.

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[swamp2]

- Durability
With the advent of PPF and ceramic coating, there are solutions to shield the paint with enough strength that anything that would noticeably damage it would just as well have scuffed unpainted black plastic.

- Similar appearance to Jeeps
The Rubicon 392, Jeep's absolute top of the line Wrangler, is offered exclusively with painted fenders, because Jeep knows it's the best looking option for their most premium offering.

- Lower cost to replace
Just the unpainted fenders cost over $2600 for a full set (Which is more expensive than a lot of existing aftermarket widebody fenders.) In for a penny, in for a pound if you ask me. It's an expensive vehicle as is.

- Lower cost to produce
No argument here, but again, being such a premium product it's a bad look to cut corners on something so visible.

Fair points, however PPFd paint certainly is not as durable as solid plastic. Damage will look way worse for painted parts as well.

Understand that car design is the highest tier of industrial design, it's like being an Olymic athlete as far as talent and exclusivity, there are hundreds of thousands of prospective automotive designers vying for a career in the industry, so cars really shouldn't be divisive looking, you should expect pretty much every swing to be a home run, and considering that the design team did such a good job with the standard Bronco, I'm inclined to believe it was executive meddling and beancounting that got us the polarizing looks on the Raptor.

Totally unrealistic...

Every car should be a home run - never has been, never will.

As another also pointed out many great designs are intrinsically polarizing.

If you have/will get a Raptor there should be some solid aftermarket options to address your large concern here.

 

[2020FordRaptor]

Cactus Bronco Bronco Raptor with 1" leveling kit from Foutz Motorsports @GregFoutz (also has painted fenders).... owned by John L.

Here's the kit -- https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/bronco-raptor-front-leveling-kits-by-foutz-motorsport.60758/

That looks great!

 

[TurboS957]

I'd love to know what happened behind the scenes for them to greenlight the Raptor looking the way it did, owners shouldn't have to get half the truck repainted for it to look good, it's one of Ford's most premium and expensive offerings. Maybe the pandemic and the headquarters shut-down sapped away a lot of development time and the high-ups wouldn't let them delay the release because they were desperate for a bigger profit margin on the Bronco, but when there are better looking widebody fenders on the aftermarket made with a fraction of Ford's resources, it feels like there's no good excuse.

I also didn't like the Raptor model fender flares when I first seen them in the reveal on January 24, 2022. But I quickly changed my opinion once I seen the Bronco Raptor as it fits the Raptors functional styling theme very well.
I haven't seen anyone on this site state the actual reason the Bronco Raptor has the styling and large unpainted fender flares. Everyone with a non-Raptor model Bronco or any Ranger should LOVE the Raptor's design & fender flares and here why.

The design team had a Major contraint when designing the Bronco Raptor, and it is simply that the MAP (michigan assembly plant) paint booth will not allow any wider of a vehicle to pass through. The Raptor's 4 fenders are approximately 1" wider per side then other model broncos and that was simply as wide as feasible to pass through the current paint booth.
So the solution was to have the large, post paint booth, fender flares and I really think the design team did a outstanding job given this constraint. I'm sure the design team would have Loved to have another 10" per side and the design may have looked more like the APG or DR Bronco's fenders.
OR, and here's why everyone else should LOVE the Raptor fender flares, to engineer and install a New paint booth at MAP. This would have meant that in 2021 when everyone is anxiously awaiting their Bronco with no end in site, Ford would have had to Shutdown MAP for weeks while upgrading the paint booth. Then the expense of this multimillion dollar paint booth would have been distributed over all the vehicles produced at MAP.
So, my question is how many Bronco and Ranger customers in 2021 would have welcomed another long production delay and then to have to pay considerably more for their Bronco or Ranger. Even those of us fortunate enough to obtain a Bronco Raptor may have been willing to wait and pay more, but not all of us. I'm guessing non of the non-Raptor Bronco order holders would have appreciated it.

As @JohnGalt stated earlier in this thread, when you see the Bronco Raptor in person you then realize the design team hit a home run in the styling department, not to mention the paint booth constraint.

 

[TopRecon]

I also didn't like the Raptor model fender flares when I first seen them in the reveal on January 24, 2022. But I quickly changed my opinion once I seen the Bronco Raptor as it fits the Raptors functional styling theme very well.
I haven't seen anyone on this site state the actual reason the Bronco Raptor has the styling and large unpainted fender flares. Everyone with a non-Raptor model Bronco or any Ranger should LOVE the Raptor's design & fender flares and here why.

The design team had a Major contraint when designing the Bronco Raptor, and it is simply that the MAP (michigan assembly plant) paint booth will not allow any wider of a vehicle to pass through. The Raptor's 4 fenders are approximately 1" wider per side then other model broncos and that was simply as wide as feasible to pass through the current paint booth.
So the solution was to have the large, post paint booth, fender flares and I really think the design team did a outstanding job given this constraint. I'm sure the design team would have Loved to have another 10" per side and the design may have looked more like the APG or DR Bronco's fenders.
OR, and here's why everyone else should LOVE the Raptor fender flares, to engineer and install a New paint booth at MAP. This would have meant that in 2021 when everyone is anxiously awaiting their Bronco with no end in site, Ford would have had to Shutdown MAP for weeks while upgrading the paint booth. Then the expense of this multimillion dollar paint booth would have been distributed over all the vehicles produced at MAP.
So, my question is how many Bronco and Ranger customers in 2021 would have welcomed another long production delay and then to have to pay considerably more for their Bronco or Ranger. Even those of us fortunate enough to obtain a Bronco Raptor may have been willing to wait and pay more, but not all of us. I'm guessing non of the non-Raptor Bronco order holders would have appreciated it.

As @JohnGalt stated earlier in this thread, when you see the Bronco Raptor in person you then realize the design team hit a home run in the styling department, not to mention the paint booth constraint.

I've heard about the paint booth constraint and it really doesn't make any sense to me. The flares are a separate piece from the fenders, since the fender is metal and the flare is plastic and composed of multiple pieces. The painted fender flares on the Outer Banks aren't installed on the bodies in white and then sent down the line to be painted along, they're painted separately. Why was this apparently out of the question? We know that the hardtops are unpainted because of behind the scenes screw-ups and supply chain issues, not because Ford intended for them to be utilitarian-looking. So why are people buying that excuse when it comes to the Raptor flares?

 

[Shenanigans]

I've heard about the paint booth constraint and it really doesn't make any sense to me. The flares are a separate piece from the fenders, since the fender is metal and the flare is plastic and composed of multiple pieces. The painted fender flares on the Outer Banks aren't installed on the bodies in white and then sent down the line to be painted along, they're painted separately. Why was this apparently out of the question? We know that the hardtops are unpainted because of behind the scenes screw-ups and supply chain issues, not because Ford intended for them to be utilitarian-looking. So why are people buying that excuse when it comes to the Raptor flares?

You may not realize it but your hardtop example is the reason the fenders or 1/4 panels are painted at the same time as the rest of the vehicle. The hardtop is not actually painted but is a molded in color (MIC) which is a color is added to the material being used and then placed in a mold to get the shape. The coloration differences on the top are from the parts being made from different batches of molding material or color. Just like with building materials a different batch of the same color will look different. So we get darker and lighter mid panel or rear panel on the hardtop. Now the OB flairs being painted separately is a legit example but we are dealing with two different viewing planes, one vertical and one horizontal and the difference in shading or thickness is not as glaring. Would I have liked a 4" wide composite 1/4 panel to make the flares smaller like the F150's, sure but I understand the constraints on the design. Now could they have painted the flairs like the OB ones, I guess but being so big and having both vertical and horizontal planes the color differences would be more obvious and prone to shipping and driving damage.

 

[swamp2]

Hmmm, never heard the MAP paint booth thing but like mentioned above, the story/limitation sounds off...

I do know the vehicle was too tall for the MAP so the rear exle has some alternate mount points that let it sneak through.

 

[Shenanigans]

Hmmm, never heard the MAP paint booth thing but like mentioned above, the story/limitation sounds off...

I do know the vehicle was too tall for the MAP so the rear exle has some alternate mount points that let it sneak through.

You are correct on the alternate mounting point and we have proof of that on every one that leaves MAP. The paint booth limitation was talked about on the early videos, both Ford people and reviewers. Now we have to take this as being fact on faith unless you are someone who is in the know. I am not but my faith in Ford has not fallen so far at to think the flairs are their best effort. It's not like some designer woke up from a fever dream and said I have this idea for a dumbo sized flairs now let's build a Bronco around them. They redesigned the 1/4's in shape and material so why stop at 1" when they could have done 4-5 inches unless there was a parameter limitation they were stuck with. The flairs are absolutely a compromise in design, so either we can tolerate the compromise or not. It is what it is. Having said that so far the after market ones have not really impressed me personally so maybe Ford did try them and said no we like dumbo better.

 

[swamp2]

The paint booth limitation was talked about on the early videos, both Ford people and reviewers. Now we have to take this as being fact on faith

Sounds like adequate evidence to me. I was a bit late to the whole Bronco/Braptor world so I'm not surprised I haven't seen that/those.

... so either we can tolerate the compromise or not. It is what it is.

Agree on that part. So can you tolerate, do you have will you buy a Braptor?

 

[Shenanigans]

Sounds like adequate evidence to me. I was a bit late to the whole Bronco/Braptor world so I'm not surprised I haven't seen that/those.



Agree on that part. So can you tolerate, do you have will you buy a Braptor?

3/17 build date (St Patrick’s Day) little worried about that . I’ve seen the flairs in person and not a dealbreaker for me. Wish they were more like the F-150 but would not pass on the vehicle due to them. Had Jeeps but left because of limitations went to F-150 then Raptor and understand the suspension difference but missed the open air so moved to the Bronco. But with the Warthog I get best of both. Do mostly desert running and forest roads and don’t like going slow.

 

[swamp2]

3/17 build date (St Patrick’s Day) little worried about that . I’ve seen the flairs in person and not a dealbreaker for me. Wish they were more like the F-150 but would not pass on the vehicle due to them. Had Jeeps but left because of limitations went to F-150 then Raptor and understand the suspension difference but missed the open air so moved to the Bronco. But with the Warthog I get best of both. Do mostly desert running and forest roads and don’t like going slow.

Congrats! I'm sure it will be a great fit. You may even grow to like the fenders... Its always more tolerable when those with "skin in the game" have gripes...

Wish I could move to the next step (allocation), but I've not waited anywhere as long as most. I've got this damn Braptor fever so bad...

 

[Shenanigans]

Congrats! I'm sure it will be a great fit. You may even grow to like the fenders... Its always more tolerable when those with "skin in the game" have gripes...

Wish I could move to the next step (allocation), but I've not waited anywhere as long as most. I've got this damn Braptor fever so bad...

I feel ya on the fever. I'm a little late to the Bronco game, day 3 res. so slacker. When I confirmed my res. with the dealer back in July 2020 asked about Raptor version but he had no info so asked if they had a waiting list and he said no. Well let's start one and so it began. Having a 18 Raptor at the time (pre adaptive) I knew the suspension difference and was excited with what they could do with the Warthog. So 928 days for my B/L and now 365 and counting for BRaptor, this hole experience has ruined the excitement of vehicles for me and can't wait until it's finally over.
Your time will come (insert Ford platitude here) and it will all just seem like a bad dream. Keep the faith brother.

 

[swamp2]

I feel ya on the fever. ... Keep the faith brother.

Trying. I'm working with what I think is the largest dealer in the US, very far from home but this seemed key to getting an allocation more quickly. We'll see.

 

[JohnGalt]

And scratches on them from trees and bushes.

Oh my no. Taking my Raptor off-road, are you crazy? I could scrape the ppf on my skid plates!

 

[Mals4ever]

Cactus Bronco Bronco Raptor with 1" leveling kit from Foutz Motorsports @GregFoutz (also has painted fenders).... owned by John L.

Here's the kit -- https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/bronco-raptor-front-leveling-kits-by-foutz-motorsport.60758/

That looks Great.

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