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Cut out flares or lift, you decide

new5000

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Green Lane, PA
I have an 87 2dr with 3in of lift and 31x10.5 tires.
I would like to be able to fit 33x12.5's.
So here is the big question...should I get cut out flares or more lift?
I think the flares would be cheaper but im not sure if the cut out flares will give me enough room so the tires dont rub. the front tires rub a little now when im wheeling and i stuff one while turning. I dont want to make it worse.

Advice and comments welcome.....pictures too.
 
new5000 said:
I have an 87 2dr with 3in of lift and 31x10.5 tires.
I would like to be able to fit 33x12.5's.
So here is the big question...should I get cut out flares or more lift?
I think the flares would be cheaper but im not sure if the cut out flares will give me enough room so the tires dont rub. the front tires rub a little now when im wheeling and i stuff one while turning. I dont want to make it worse.

Advice and comments welcome.....pictures too.

I have a buddy who is running a similar sized lift with 33x10.50. He just took a sawzall to the fenders front and rear to make room. It seems to work fine, though I'm not sure how well it would fit 12.50's.
 
unfortunatley for me I live in PA so I have to have flares covering my tires to be street legal. Otherwise i would loose the flares and start cutting.

Does your buddy have any rubbing issues??
 
I agree it does take a lot of lift to run 33 with no cuting I have 6.5 inches with 33x12.5 and I still had to do some cutting and relocate the the stock flare and I still rub a little at full flex
 
new5000 said:
unfortunatley for me I live in PA so I have to have flares covering my tires to be street legal. Otherwise i would loose the flares and start cutting.

Does your buddy have any rubbing issues??

He did at first with minimal cutting. He cut a lot more and It doesn't look like he will have issues, but it still needs to be test while turning with full flex. I run a 5" lift with 32's and minimal cutting in front, and I pounded in the rear.. I still have the top half of my stock flares and it works fine. The thing with my friends tires is that they are tall skinnies. When flexed they come up just inside the front fender.
 
I am running 33x12.5 Procomp Xtreme MT on a 4.5 RC lift (full spring pack)on a 98 SE with cutouts. I did a fair amount of trimming up front and out back with some pounding to get the cutouts to fit. I have 4.5" BS and live in Jersey so I had to have the tire covered to be street legal.
If you are going with cut outs, be sure not to cut off too much in the rear and open the pinch seam. In retrospect, maybe I should have taken off a little more in the back because my rear flares have a slight peak at the top where they break at the door (I have a 4 door so you may not have this problem - I think you said you have 2 door). Another suggestion, a cut off wheel/grinder will give you much better and cleaner results than a sawzaw. I'll try to get some pics out from my desktop

DSCF1559.jpg


DSCF1560.jpg


DSCF1554.jpg
 
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