Wide body fenders

I bought a wide body kit for my 3rd gen Tacoma but I’m looking into making the fenders stronger someone suggested to apply raptor liner in the inside of the fenders would love some more info on this

 

Why would they need to be strengthened? Genuinely curious as I have been considering a wide body kit after recently seeing one in person.

 

So the thing with wide body kits it’s that they are make out of fiberglass (cheaper to make and lighter) with that being said they are more fragile so this is what my body shop told me that if I was to get hit by a rock or something small it would make a dent like regular metal parts it would great a whole and crack the piece that’s why they need reinforcements

 

You could always reinforce certain areas with another layer of fiberglass. How thick are the body panels?

 

You mean get hit by a rock or hit a rock with a truck? Plenty of people drive around the desert on gravel roads without damaging fiberglass fenders. No amount of raptor liner is going to save fiberglass fenders if you hit them on a rock on a crawling trail.

 

They’re some what thick I could send a picture tomorrow when I go to the body shop

 

Truuuuuueeeeeee a direct collision would ofcores be the end but that’s what I’m referring to the whole gravel thing that’s what I’m trying to see what other people have done to their set up

 

As was already recommended to you, raptor liner is probably the simplest/cheapest/easiest way to bump up the strength. Other than that maybe make a set of custom wheel well liners that extend out and protect the insides of the fenders

 

That’s a good idea

 

I put raptor liner on mine, both front and rear. Figured it may help, and might as well do anything I can to make them last longer.
Sterling_vH111's Long Travel Build Thread

 

Can you be more specific is what you are trying to achieve? I completely disagree with the Raptor liner comments, it will do absolutely zero to increase the strength of the fiberglass. But on the outside it will protect from rock chips and on bad fiberglass panels hide any spider cracks that may appear. On the inside of the fender it will absolutely help in the annoying as hell “ping” noises that rocks thrown up from the tires make on fiberglass. So plenty of benefits, but actually increasing strength / rigidity is not one of them. Adding more fiberglass or carbon fiber to the back side will increase strength, making supporting brackets and glassing them in is another option for that without adding a ton of weight.

 

I wish I had the balls to do this to my truck.... it looks so sick. I always end up talking myself out of these, as it would probably make ,my truck less desirable in the second hand market (and if anything happened, getting replacement parts is a PITA).

Best thing for strength would be to get some flexible boat expo and carbon kevlar clutch, and reinforce them from the back. I've done this for years on my motorcycle race fairings. Not cheap but definitely adds strength. The good thing about fiberglass is its almost always repairable.

www.tapplastics.com
http://www.uscomposites.com

 

same here. It would sound like a fun project but these trucks are so new lol

 

I actually used to spray bedliner material years ago. Done quite a few fenders and bedsides for customer vehicles with fiberglass widebodies. From what I've been told by customers it does help, just go somewhere that sprays the material thick and doesn't do the paint gun or roll on stuff!

 

Same here, really wanted to go wide fenders and do a pre runner look, but just ended up going with the Honeybadger bumper and bushwacker fender flares. Poser widebody I suppose. Did the same thing with the suspension & wheels. Lusted after 35s and long travel, but compromised with 33s and mid travel.

I did probably kill the second hand value, but I love my rig and don't regret it.






If anyone has pics of their widebody set up, please post em up!

 

I honestly think the fenders will be strong enough unless you daily drive gravel roads at high speed. I am seriously considering this in the next couple years. I myself would give them a good coating of rubberized undercoating or something similar. Should be enough to rebound any rocks and easily done for cheap.

 

It’s not so much that fiberglass fenders will kill the value. To a dealer maybe. But the real factor is you will never get your money back. You may take a $30k truck and add $20k in mods. But the truck will only sell for $38k

 

Not in this market.