My Front and Rear Trim Write-up

[WheelinJR]

I was pretty impressed with the way mojojojo did his fender trim, and after talking to him about it we dug into mine. Finished up just before the rain too.

I gotta start by tossing out a big big thanks to Rod (mojo) for helping out on this and giving me access to his garage and tools. I couldn't have done this project without his help.

Now to the goods...

The Front

I took a sharpie and traced across the top of the fender flares. I then removed my front bumper and flares. Now with a jigsaw, I cut around the line I drew from tracing the line around the flare.

Some people say to tape this off, but with the jigsaw the paint didn't really flake.

Here is the fender with the first cut done, Rod demonstrates how much we took off, he's no Vanna White, but he presents the product just as well.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17925-1/trim03.jpg

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17927-1/trim04.jpg

In this pic you can see the rounding I did on the front edge, so that my trim pieces would wrap well, and for looks.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17923-1/trim02.jpg

The next part was to bend the seam up out of the way. I took a cutoff wheel and made several slices, and then Rod took my BFH and wrapped them up. They turned out really well, you can run your hand over them and they're pretty smooth.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17929-1/trim06.jpg

The last part to complete up front is to take the trim and slide it on. You kinda gotta tap it on, it fits very snug. It is lined with metal. I think Rod found it on eBay.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17931-1/trim07.jpg

I had to peel off the plastic clad to get the trim on, but I am planning on painting the lower portion black.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17933-1/trim08.jpg

The trim looks really good, fits snug and hides any imperfections in the cut, not that there were very many really.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17938-1/trim09.jpg

[WheelinJR]

The Rear

First, remove the flares and wipe the surface around the holes clean. This way you will be able to see the spot welds.

This pic is with the flares removed, you can kinda see the round dots that are the spot welds.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17942-1/trim11.jpg

Now staying just below the spot welds, I trimmed about an inch off with the jigsaw.

Here they are with the first inch trimmed off.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17944-1/trim12.jpg

Now, with the cutoff wheel, I made cuts about 1" tall that cut up into the fender, between each spot weld. These go up to just short of the bevel. Here's a pic of the cuts made. You can see that we bent a couple up in the middle, we cut a couple slices and bent them up to see if we liked how deep the cuts were and if we liked the bend looked good.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17948-1/trim14.jpg

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17950-1/trim15.jpg

With the cuts all done, it was BFH time again, worked our way around to get it all bent up.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17952-1/trim16.jpg

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17954-1/trim17.jpg

To get the bends wrapped all the way up and flat against the wheel well, it was alot easier to take the tires off. Plus it gave me a chance to remove that pesky rear swaybar.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17958-1/trim19.jpg

Here it is all done, way more room to play

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17960-1/trim21.jpg

With the front bumper back on, it looks good.

http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17962-1/trim22.jpg

Before vs After (don't mind the rear sag)

Before
http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17261-1/stevenson25.jpg

After
http://gitout.com/v-web/gallery/d/17964-1/trim23.jpg

Thats pretty much it. To finish it off, I will be removing the rest of the rubber/plastic side cladding, running some filler over the rear wheel wells where the tabs bend up, and going around the edge and the bottom where the cladding is with herculiner or paint or something...

[The glory wagon]

most excellent trim, looks very very professional.

[zachxj01]

so where exactly did you get that stuff u put on the front that really makes it look clean i like it

[WheelinJR]

rod got it on eBay when he did his, and he had enough leftover.

its kinda like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Trim-lok-lock-Door-Edge-Trim-black-RV-Camper-1-16_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33654QQitemZ25004258 1062QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

[mojojojo]

rod got it on eBay when he did his, and he had enough leftover.

its kinda like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Trim-lok-lock-Door-Edge-Trim-black-RV-Camper-1-16_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33654QQitemZ25004258 1062QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

just Dbl checked, thats deffinately the stuff, and the same guy also. he sells it in a variety of sizes also.

[5spd_xj]

looks really good, i hope mine turn out that well :)