TJ Flares, does year matter?

Getting ready to do the TJ flares on my 98, does it matter what year I get the donors from? Are they the same from year to year?

Thanks
John

All '97 and up TJ flares are the same,except for the Rubicon flares,which are around 1" wider than the regular ones.

P.S.-I *think* there may be a small difference in the Sahara model flares,as they come painted to match the body color. just get the regular ole black ones and you'll be set. Oh,BTW,are you doing a full F & R set,or just 4 rears?

Mike,

Doing front and rear, can the plain black ones be painted. I would like to color match them to my XJ. Or do I need to to get the Sahara ones to paint?

Thanks,
John

Nah,paint won't stick to the black ones (especially if they're used and the PO used silicone tire shine on 'em) unless you use a special primer made especially for eurathane (sp?) plastics. It actually uses a chemical reaction to "melt" the surface and allow the primer to adhere to the plastic. Plus,you'd have to sand out all the dimples in the plastic's surface if you want it to look good. If you're gonna paint 'em,just start with the Sahara flares instead. If you want my advise on the subject,I'd use 4 rear flares. The front TJ flares just look so out of place on an XJ,at least to me they do Do you 'wheel your rig often? If you do,take it from me,don't worry with the painting thing,as it'll just get scraped off anyway. You will find that the TJ flares will fair better off road than ANY other aftermarket flare currently available. I've bashed mine into trees/rocks and they still pop right back into shape,ready for more abuse. I used 1/4" bolts and big fender washers to hold mine on,and I'd suggest you do the same. I haven't ripped one off yet,and I ain't exactly easy on 'em either

Think I'll take your advise and go with the Sahara flares. I would really like to paint them. I wheel it for a day about once a month, but I'm cautious when its tight. I have managed to keep all the paint on so far, except where the tires rub because the wheel wells are to small I've seen some pics of some with he fronts flares that look pretty good. I don't think I've seen any with four rears, got any pics?

John

Here's a link to my XJ with 4 fronts

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=4288902099

*pics courtesy of Glenn Fulmer AKA "Ghost"

Georgia Mike said:

Here's a link to my XJ with 4 fronts

Click to expand...

Don't you mean 4 rears there big guy?

Hey, what did you do about mounting the rear (rear ) flares up? Did you cut them and mount part to the door? I'm doing the rears all around as well (I've got two so far!) one of these days and I'm collecting ideas.

Sequoia

The flares on the TJ Sahara are painted and are the same as the flares on the Rubicon (which are an inch wider than the regular ones).

Yea, anyone have a write-up on how to do the 4 rears. I really want to do the TJ flare swap but dont really know how to put the rear TJs up front, cause it does look better than TJ fronts up there. And will they open up the wheel well for tires as much as the regular TJ flare setup?
'Cause I was really hoping to fit 33s on 4.5" lift so the TJ flares seemed to be perfect, the 4 rears just fit the XJ body lined better.

That's roughly 4"-4.5" of lift on mine with 33X10.50 Swampers (which run closer to true advertised height),and I have no clearance issues at all. Even when I ran 12.50's there wasn't an issue with clearance.

As for the rear mounting,I cut notches in the corners of the wheel well (where the factory flares bolted to the body)and hammered the lip up into the wheel well opening. Then I just clamped the flares to the body and marked where they needed to be trimmed to fit the body lines. I trimmed them to fit,and cut them where the door opens. I mounted them in two pieces,one piece on the door and the other to the body,so the front parts of the flare opens out with the door,much like the Bushwhacker design. At the very rearmost section on the bottom,you'll find there's not a lot of material left on the flare to attach it to the body(if you trim them to fit the bodyline contour). I just left mine loose and discovered that it may be advantagious to do it this way anyhow,because when the flare gets hung on something it'll simply fold back out of the way,instead of ripping the mount off.

The fronts:I marked out the outer perimeter of the factory flare with a Sharpie and used that for my cut line. Mounting was similar to the rear,but without the separation for the door


IIRC,I used the left side for the right side in the rear(and vise-versa),and used the right side for the right side on the front(and vise-versa)

GSequoia said:

Don't you mean 4 rears there big guy?

Hey, what did you do about mounting the rear (rear ) flares up? Did you cut them and mount part to the door? I'm doing the rears all around as well (I've got two so far!) one of these days and I'm collecting ideas.

Sequoia

Click to expand...

:cheers: