Thread: Fiberglass fenders etc.

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I`m thinking of respraying my 74 firebird. Sadly the front fenders are quite rusty. they are by all means reperable, but with my experiance it will take some time. I`ve been thinking about getting new fenders, just to save time.. an option is to get fiberglass fenders (guessing they are a bit lighter) Does anyone have any experiance with such fenders? Will this affect the riggidness of the car...? other advantages/disadvantages?

Ian

Fiberglass fenders would be lighter. The fenders don't have anything to do with the structural integrity of the car, just make sure you don't get the race weight fiberglass ones, they are a bit fragile for street use. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't do some digging and buy reproduction steel front fenders for about the same as the glass ones. Oh yeah, might want to check and make sure the glass fenders have provisions for attaching your inner fenderwells, too.

Something else to think about. Fiberglass fenders may or may not save you time. Some are good to prime and paint out of the box. Many (most?) are not. Lots of time blocking and priming is required to get them right. Then, you have to make sure that they fit. Getting all the gaps right isn't easy unless the manufacturer had pristine molds from a very good fender.