Remove Fender Flare & Fill Holes W/ Bondo?

I want to remove my fender flares but I'm not a big fan of the 'plastic button' look when filling the holes with clips. Has anyone seen a write-up on getting smooth flares using filler?

 

Fiberglass the rear behind the holes and Bondo away. Or buy the fenders with no holes found on base models.

 

Oh that's a pretty good idea, so basically just some glass-cloth and epoxy to get it to stick to the inside of the fender?

 

Would it be different than filling any other hole with bondo?

 

Yep, clean the inside real well so the resin/epoxy adheres properly.

Yes because it's a gigantic open hole. If you were to induce any vibration or huge pothole hits, they will definitely pop out of the holes which is why I recommend to have a backing to reinforce the Bondo.

 

Assuming you are planning to refinish the body nicely, welding them up is an option too. By a skilled welder.

 

Do you mean welding a plate on the backside of the hole and then filling the hole with weld instead of bondo? Suppose that could work as well! Maybe a bit more work for me personally since I don't weld but am pretty comfortable with using body filler.

 

No, more like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S352if1HO8

Lots of 'ads' for the Eastwood products/tools in the video, but you'll get the idea. Once the metal is worked, filler should just be a very light top coat

 

5 lug ebay fenders are $60. For me it's cheaper to swap them out.

 

I wish the bedsides were that cheap too

 

No doubt. Both mine are pushed in.

 

Same, mine look like wet cardboard. The lighting here really accentuates it.

 

Like but dislike. Yours are worse than mine

 

Yay, I winnn

 

If you plan on body working and painting ,3m panel adhesive and cut small pieces of sheet metal should be solid . Just another option to think about .

$57 3M Panel Bonding Adhesive, 08115, OEM Recommended, Two-Part Epoxy, 200 ml/6.75 fl oz Cartridge, Black

https://www.amazon.com/3M-08115-Panel-Bonding-Adhesive/dp/B000PEW4MI

 

Oh nice, this looks like less mess than fiberglass.

 

Don’t just mud them up. It’ll be a mess and it’ll never be right.

Either weld or panel bond each hole individually. And body work that

I’d cap each hole with some sort of plug until you can do it right.

 

I think using glass mat w/ epoxy/resin would work fine if you're good with that medium, but it's a little messy. Panel bond seems less of a pain though.

 

Your best bet is to get the fenders without the holes and use them. They will run you $60 to $80 and then paint them to match, which you would have to if you used bondo anyway. They will come out much cleaner and you could always sell the old fenders to be into it for almost nothing.

 

Yeah man I think that's the way to do it for the front but the rear fender/bedsides are another story ($$$)