Rolling Fender lips from tire rub?

How do you roll in fender lips? Is there a special tool or something I should have?

Working on my '40 and am trying to roll in the lips of my front fenders. I tried using a baseball bat but am not having much luck with it. Basically taped off the lip and tried using the bat to roll and pry at the same time. I am afraid to put too much pressure on it cause I feel like I am doing something wrong as is. Just seems like there is a better way to do this and figured if there was a tip or trick, someone on here will know it.
I know this seems simple but I have spent most of my day on this and don't plan to give up til it's done (preferably right).

 

i saw a tool in eastwood. looked like a pair of pliers to roll the seam in. dunno how well it works, hopefully someone else can chime in

 

I always believe, he who dies with the most tools wins.

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-fender-roller-w-instruction.html

I've never used it, but there is a 'tool' for it!

 

Awesome tool but out of budget for today's project. I figured there would be something like that out there. If you had a shop, I could totally see it being worth the dough.
...may have to give the bat another try.

 

Baseball bat.
Not your good one....
Place bat between tire and fender, have helper roll car while you keep the bat rolling in the well where you want it.
Yell loud STOP if it isn't going right.

 

Thanks for the tip. I was trying it without rolling the car.
I'll try to round up a helper to roll my car back and forth for me while I work the bat.

 

Eastwood has it, and I think was on sale in the last catalogue.

 

a WOODEN baseball bat

 

Wooden bat is essential! Buy one at the local thrift store. Worked great on my racer Camaro when I was in high school way too many years ago. Managed to cram in P295 50R15's in the back. Took out a huge hunk of side wall PRIOR to rolling the fenders while getting the hell away from some clandestine activities on Supulveda late one night. Learned that lesson once. Use your wooden bat and be happy!

 

Yeah, all that money just to save a set of tires or possibly your fenders. I know how cheap and readily available a decent pair of 40 front fenders are here.
You're right though. Messing around with cars all the time, who wants to have tools that work.
Baseball bats work ok. But I wouldn't want to do that on a painted fender that I cared about. I think highschool kids and circle track racers.

 

I looked at the eastwood tool in their showroom.. and have seen an attempted use..

I'd also choose the bat..

and... I have several sets of extra front fenders. should there be an issue.

what I don't understand.. is why the op is having issues..
if the car is a drop axle I see no reason that the tires would even be close..

 

Hey,

A large rubber mallet and a toe dolly wrapped in a shop rag work much safer on a painted fender than a bat!

First check where clearance is needed & mark the area with tape. Jack up vehicle and remove wheel. Start at the rear of your taped area and gently bump the flange to a 45 degree whyle holding the toe dolly wrapped in the rag firmly against the outside edge of the fender flange. Go slow and don't try to bump all the metal necessary all at once, but aim for a uniform bend at all times. Once you have the 45 degree go to 90 degree bend.

More than one wheelhouse flare has been damaged when someone tripped whyle holding the bat and attempting to roll the flange, or didn't hold the bat at the correct angle!

 

wood bat for me too. Had to break it out last week on a nova. You can push down on the bumper wile pushing for max tweeking. Get a buddy for sure. O it will grove the piss out of the bat.

 

Good to know fenders are available if I screw it up too badly.
All jokes aside I may try Pimpin Paints idea of basically hammering down the area where it rubs worst for more clearance.
I don't know why they are so close. I figured it was just another obstacle in lowering it.

 

They only rub if I turn.

I try not to turn if I can help it.

 

It's your car and your fenders, but I think I'd look for a different solution. Your wheels look a lot closer to your fenders than those on other '40s. Have you increased your track in some way? Perhaps a narrower axle would solve your clearance problem and solve the appearance difficulty as well.

If it's an optical illusion, I'll sit back down.

 

I've used the rubber mallet. Warm up the paint a bit with a heat gun to help reduce the possibility of cracks in the paint. Work back and forth slowly so as not to stretch the metal too much in one place. Baseball bat works well also.

 

You need to just purchase wheels with the offset so it moves the tire towards the center of the car.

 

Go to a 5.50 tire.

 

I'm running a 5.00/5.25 x 16 tire now. I thought that was about as small as it got.

 

I hope it is an optical illusion. I just put in the axle that's under it.
The axle is a magnum 4" drop (it think 47 and 3/4 incher).

 

I'd look for different wheels. Or what is really causing the problem.

 

I'd say the main cause of the problem is that I lowered it right at 9" in the front.
Looks good, drives bad. I still think that with just a little more fender lip clearance I can make it much more driveable. Then I'll weld my stops so I'll know how far it can go.

 

I would be careful trying to make more room on those fenders. It is likely that you will reduce the length of the wheel opening if you do very much at all. Just like pulling out on the fender would make the front of the fender pull towards the rear. You might get a little more room without any bad effects, but then you might not. New wheels are probably your best bet.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

 

Going to try the toe dolly method on the 41 Hudson this weekend.