- First Name
- Reid
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2020
- Threads
- 6
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- 248
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- 292
- Location
- Howell, MI
- Vehicle(s)
- 2019 F150,
- Your Bronco Model
- Undecided
- Thread starter
- #1
The goal was to get closer to the 66'-77' fender style, and these fenders more than accomplished that.
IMO this is how it should have come from factory.
This Bronco is a 2021 Big Bend in Area 51 with Mid pkg, Mod bumper/pushbar, Towing, and hardtop as the only options. It was a Ford Employee Lease vehicle that was delivered to my family 7/27/21, and then purchased post-lease 4/12/24 with 44,850 miles. We think it was an early production fill vehicle (just after PP, very early MP1 build) with the VIN indicating #636 off the line.
So there were almost three years of driving this vehicle without being allowed to add accessories, which had to change. From when the first announcement photos were released, I (and moreso my Dad, the Ford employee in this story) commented that the rounded fenders looked more like an IH Scout than a Bronco. So when aftermarket fenders started being released we watched keenly, originally liking the ADV fiberglass fenders but wincing at the finished price with paint. The KBD fenders looked spot on to the EB rear bolt on flairs, and was a much more reasonable $400 shipped, so I pulled the trigger.
The old flairs came off smoothly, although with more rubber flecks and mini rust speckles on top of the paint than expected. Those came off with some Goo Gone and CLR for a 90% clean surface. Isopropyl got it squeaky clean.
Ran out of sunlight to do it the install that night but was back at it the next day.
The first fender went on very smooth, but it is important to pay close attention to where the front corner meets up with the lower grill trim piece so that it lines up.
We mounted it just a hair low (or the flair doesn't perfectly match the body lines, to be expected with a rubber part) so that corner did not want to stick.
To remedy this I used a heat gun on low to warm the body panel, flair, and 3M tape until it was almost too hot to touch. Then I wedged a cloth between the bumper and flair to apply pressure while I worked on the others. Using a small wood wedge I pressed the cloth onto the flair and rolled the rag underneath to apply horizontal pressure to the part (See MSpaint level diagram)
I opted to do this wedging technique on all four corners when I was finished, and left them like this for ~24hrs to give those corners the best chance of staying attached. The tape provided on the parts is extremely sticky and feels very rigid, but I wonder how it will resist the rubber trying to return to it's factory shape. Time will tell.
Final pay-off is this beauty! The flairs mount above the OEM design, making the wheel well appear quite a bit larger.
Now I just have to use the last 15% tread from the stock Dualer ATs so I can install these Black Diamond steelies:
And some 285/75r17 BFG K02s to fill out the wheel wells.
IMO this is how it should have come from factory.
This Bronco is a 2021 Big Bend in Area 51 with Mid pkg, Mod bumper/pushbar, Towing, and hardtop as the only options. It was a Ford Employee Lease vehicle that was delivered to my family 7/27/21, and then purchased post-lease 4/12/24 with 44,850 miles. We think it was an early production fill vehicle (just after PP, very early MP1 build) with the VIN indicating #636 off the line.
So there were almost three years of driving this vehicle without being allowed to add accessories, which had to change. From when the first announcement photos were released, I (and moreso my Dad, the Ford employee in this story) commented that the rounded fenders looked more like an IH Scout than a Bronco. So when aftermarket fenders started being released we watched keenly, originally liking the ADV fiberglass fenders but wincing at the finished price with paint. The KBD fenders looked spot on to the EB rear bolt on flairs, and was a much more reasonable $400 shipped, so I pulled the trigger.
The old flairs came off smoothly, although with more rubber flecks and mini rust speckles on top of the paint than expected. Those came off with some Goo Gone and CLR for a 90% clean surface. Isopropyl got it squeaky clean.
Ran out of sunlight to do it the install that night but was back at it the next day.
The first fender went on very smooth, but it is important to pay close attention to where the front corner meets up with the lower grill trim piece so that it lines up.
We mounted it just a hair low (or the flair doesn't perfectly match the body lines, to be expected with a rubber part) so that corner did not want to stick.
To remedy this I used a heat gun on low to warm the body panel, flair, and 3M tape until it was almost too hot to touch. Then I wedged a cloth between the bumper and flair to apply pressure while I worked on the others. Using a small wood wedge I pressed the cloth onto the flair and rolled the rag underneath to apply horizontal pressure to the part (See MSpaint level diagram)
I opted to do this wedging technique on all four corners when I was finished, and left them like this for ~24hrs to give those corners the best chance of staying attached. The tape provided on the parts is extremely sticky and feels very rigid, but I wonder how it will resist the rubber trying to return to it's factory shape. Time will tell.
Final pay-off is this beauty! The flairs mount above the OEM design, making the wheel well appear quite a bit larger.
Now I just have to use the last 15% tread from the stock Dualer ATs so I can install these Black Diamond steelies:
And some 285/75r17 BFG K02s to fill out the wheel wells.
Sponsored
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