Hi

Not sure if this should go here but anyway.

 

Just lowered the rear of my ke55 and the tyres sit pretty close to the lip of the guard, they don't quite touch, but when driving with lateral movement of the diff and when the wheels suck up into the guard they would have scrubbed.

So i rolled the lip of the guard up.

 

The following is rough guide with some pics,

 

Guard rolling/flaring tool.

 

The machine can be hired, or maybe even buy one between a few mates, it should only cost you about $70 - $100 each between 3 or 4 mates.

Considering the going rate is about $55 dollars per guard, if you do all 4 you're still up, plus you have the machine for future cars.

 

(sorry about the dodgy photos, the auto focus was playing up)

 

First i gave the guards a good clean especially underneath the lip, you don't want to trap any mud or crap under there, that will cause rust in the future.

 

Bolt the tool to the hub or drum with your wheel nuts. They are set up for mutiple stud options, position the roller at the top of the guard, with roller hard up against the lip.

 

Before you start rolling you must soften up your paint (to try and mimimise cracking of the paint) use a hair drier or a heat gun on low to WARM up the paint

DON'T OVERHEAT IT WILL BURN !!

 

At this point start to roll your guard by turning the hub or drum around, don't go to far around only about the top third of it needs doing.

WARNING

(if you have any bog near the lip of the guard, cracking might be unavoidable, so be prepared for this, and don't freak out if this happens)

Edited January 24, 200917 yr by chestikoph1

Now keep on adjusting the roller as you go you can adjust the hieght and angle as you progress

 

The lip should slowly be getting follded under

 

 

The further you go the more the roller needs to be behind the lip

 

once it s flat, stop

 

Youre done!!

If you keep going, you will start to flare out the guard, you can only go so far when flaring it out before it starts to distort.

 

You could do all that with just a peice of pipe or a hammer, but the finish isnt as good.

Hope that was entertaining, any questions fire away that was as brief as i could make it, but it isnt to hard.

Edited January 24, 200917 yr by chestikoph1

Nice finish mate :)

 

Where did you get that from? Looks like a good investment....

Thanks mate

I bought the roller ages ago from a panel beating tools supplier with the intention of making some extra cash but lost interest and ive only done my own cars since then.

Awesome write-up! It's great when people take time out of their day to help people out.

 

Can you notice that only the top third is done when you're looking at the car? Also, do you know of the cost to hire one of these?

 

Cheers!

Nice write up mate.

 

The guard rollers can be purchased from Bursons. Some states might not have the store, but it's similar to Super Cheap, just more professional. I think they were going for about $150.

You can't really notice that only some of the guard has been done

 

 

You could do all of it but its not needed.

By keeping some of it unrolled it helps retain the guards shape.

$150 is hell cheap, from memory mine cost about $400 and thats at wholesale, must be better quality (i hope)

I'm going to be doing this to mine. thanks for the info .

ive always had mine done the old fashioned way.

 

heat gun and rubber mallet

 

never had any problems with cracking paint, even with the old paint on one of my past cars.

 

edit: IMO top 1/3 is all thats needed, as said it helps keep the guards shape

Edited January 24, 200917 yr by 13BT_KE20

$150 is hell cheap, from memory mine cost about $400 and thats at wholesale, must be better quality (i hope)

 

Quite a few people had issues with the rollers I was talking about. It works for awhile then it would snap. Reweld it then it's good as new and shouldn't break again. :)

Top Shelf article & write up :)

You can't really notice that only some of the guard has been done

 

You could do all of it but its not needed.

By keeping some of it unrolled it helps retain the guards shape.

$150 is hell cheap, from memory mine cost about $400 and thats at wholesale, must be better quality (i hope)

Excuse my lack of knowledge... but what do you mean by keep the guards shape? From what I understand (not a lot :)), you're only tucking the lip under the guard, right? I didn't think it changed the actual guard in a big way except for poking a strip of metal out of the way?

 

ive always had mine done the old fashioned way.

 

heat gun and rubber mallet

 

never had any problems with cracking paint, even with the old paint on one of my past cars.

 

edit: IMO top 1/3 is all thats needed, as said it helps keep the guards shape

Heat gun and rubber mallet sounds good! Would be a lot cheaper too.. I wouldn't buy a guard roller but am still interested to know how much it is to hire one...

the lip at 90 degrees will make the whole guard stiffer. Folding it in will remove some of that stiffness.

 

I wouldn't worry about it that much though, just don't lean on it.

Great job :hmm:

I love it when people write up stuff like this, it gives you a bit of an idea.

I've been thinking about doing this for a while and it doesn't look too hard!

Thanks for the info!

If I get around to it today I'll put it in the FAQ.