I have a 1971 Demon that has minor metal/paint crack with bad bondo job on rear fenders. Its going to cost me several thousands of dollars, have not committed to the idea yet but did a quick painters tape hold of what it would look like what are everyone’s thoughts. Might do all 4 with flares might not and might just drive it with messed up rear fenders until i save for few years down the line
What is everyone’s opinion of wide body flares?
- Thread starter J.B.
- Start date
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I vote no, that's a good looking car, drive it and save up to do it correctly.
66340SEDAN
FABO Member #3649
Can we see a picture of what it looks like without it?
I wouldn't do it if it were my car, but it ain't my car.
I think if putting them on will keep you driving your car...then do it. Our cars are meant to be driven!!!
Professor Fate
Push the button, Max...
Let's see it with your tires on.
IMHO, flares without enough tire to fill them out would just look wonky. Done right they can look fine, otherwise save your money.
Kinda gives it a street or track "Kit Car" vibe if you do it right.
IMHO, flares without enough tire to fill them out would just look wonky. Done right they can look fine, otherwise save your money.
Kinda gives it a street or track "Kit Car" vibe if you do it right.
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Not a fan.
JDMopar
Well-Known Member
That look would only work if you're gonna set the body on a Ramcharger or Dakota 4 x 4 frame and put a set of 33's on it. If it were mine, I'd drive it and save up for new quarters and do it right.
Kendog 170
Let the boy go !
JMO
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
My personal opinion is flares on a street car only look good if molded into the area.
Drive it, enjoy it, when you can afford to, do it right. Flares are hideous IMHO, even on the late model "wide body" Hellcats, they are butt f'n ugly. Just my .02.
Yeah i think thats what i will do just save to get it done
4mulas
Fixem'up
I think it could look okay if they were proper metal ones welded and body worked into the car, then the car would have be dropped real low, super wide tires on all four corners and then trans am road raced or equivalent.
but not so much on street car
if going to all the trouble of flaring properly maybe just put quarter patch panels in and fix as per norm.
but not so much on street car
if going to all the trouble of flaring properly maybe just put quarter patch panels in and fix as per norm.
1967BarracudaGeorge
Well-Known Member
I don't like them.
You asked. They look stupid, except on like a Super Coupe which is supposed to mimic a race car. (circle track or rally car)
Scody21
Just send it
Those flares only belong on a mid 2000’s Ford truck…. I’ve seen a few dusters with flares that are sheet metal that is welded in and look awesome…
SRT_DSTRHOLC
Well-Known Member
I think you should do whatever you want, especially if you plan on filling them out with some meat and power to follow
They look like dried up rotten dog ***. On the Volare type cars, they looked pretty good, because they were part of a complete package.
DionR
Well-Known Member
I think like everything else on a car, if it has a good purpose I like them. But (IMO) the purpose of a flair is to cover a wide tire and a flair that doesn't include that is weird looking. I think a stock A-Body kind of has an "elephant on roller-skates" look due to the rear axle being too narrow for the car, and a flair without a tire filling it in would be similar, only worse.
I think the WB LX/LC cars are a perfect example. I don't care if the flair is molded in or not, but they did it right and put a proper tire under the flair. So for me, they look absolutely wicked. Mostly because they have a tire that proportionally makes the car look purposeful and aggressive.
The front of an A-Body is somewhat limiting and I think anything beyond a 275 might actually require a flair of some type to make it work without rubbing. Not sure if the rear would need a flair to match the look, but the car can take a pretty wide tire in the rear without having to even mini-tub it.
So, my opinion is; unless you plan to fill out the flair, I would leave them off and just drive it as is until you can fix it.
I think the WB LX/LC cars are a perfect example. I don't care if the flair is molded in or not, but they did it right and put a proper tire under the flair. So for me, they look absolutely wicked. Mostly because they have a tire that proportionally makes the car look purposeful and aggressive.
The front of an A-Body is somewhat limiting and I think anything beyond a 275 might actually require a flair of some type to make it work without rubbing. Not sure if the rear would need a flair to match the look, but the car can take a pretty wide tire in the rear without having to even mini-tub it.
So, my opinion is; unless you plan to fill out the flair, I would leave them off and just drive it as is until you can fix it.
Those Volare based "kit cars" the flares came on all came with 15x8 wheels with wide tires and looked the part.
Well this is going about as well as I would have expected. All the traditionalists spewing abject hate because they don't understand and only like stock cars with hockey pucks on 14" rims that handle like absolute garbage.
I agree with @DionR, wide body kits and fender flares can look good but it they have to be functional, you have to make it part of the whole purpose of the car. Like anything, if you just slap it on there it will not look good. But, if you lower the car and fill out the flares then they can look good.
There aren't a ton of examples, but I'll post some pictures/renders of the kind of thing you need to do for them to look like they belong on the car.
This is obviously an E-body, but if you look up the HRG "Fishtail" project you'll find this 'Cuda. This is a magazine build basically so there's tons of pictures of it on the internet. It's not the most functional of builds but they incorporated the flares into the rest of the build.
Then there's some renderings by an artist here https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kaa4y , with several A-bodies. The "Fishtail" rendering was done by him. Again, the traditionalists will hate these regardless, but that's their opinion and like my opinion that 14" rallies are the dumbest, ugliest wheel ever made by Mopar that opinion is not shared by everyone.
There's this Duster, which apparently has a BMW V12 in it. Not a ton of info on it. Plymouth Duster with a BMW V12 – Engine Swap Depot
Honestly, I think the last one shows the problems with using a generic flare. In order to look good, the flare has to fit the car well. The imports that generally look good with this kind of modification have flares the are made specifically for that make/model, where because this isn't a common modification for a Mopar muscle car the readily available flares will all be generic, and will fit the car like a generic flare (not well). That said, it looks like those rear flares actually fit pretty well, what brand are they?
That's why the renders look so much better, because they've got a flare that fits the body style. Which you'd have to custom make if you really wanted to go that way.
Long story short, if you just slap on some flares to cover your poor bodywork it will look exactly like you slapped on some flares to cover some poor bodywork. If you want them to look right, you'd be looking at new wheels, tires, suspension modifications, etc...
I agree with @DionR, wide body kits and fender flares can look good but it they have to be functional, you have to make it part of the whole purpose of the car. Like anything, if you just slap it on there it will not look good. But, if you lower the car and fill out the flares then they can look good.
There aren't a ton of examples, but I'll post some pictures/renders of the kind of thing you need to do for them to look like they belong on the car.
This is obviously an E-body, but if you look up the HRG "Fishtail" project you'll find this 'Cuda. This is a magazine build basically so there's tons of pictures of it on the internet. It's not the most functional of builds but they incorporated the flares into the rest of the build.
Then there's some renderings by an artist here https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kaa4y , with several A-bodies. The "Fishtail" rendering was done by him. Again, the traditionalists will hate these regardless, but that's their opinion and like my opinion that 14" rallies are the dumbest, ugliest wheel ever made by Mopar that opinion is not shared by everyone.
There's this Duster, which apparently has a BMW V12 in it. Not a ton of info on it. Plymouth Duster with a BMW V12 – Engine Swap Depot
Honestly, I think the last one shows the problems with using a generic flare. In order to look good, the flare has to fit the car well. The imports that generally look good with this kind of modification have flares the are made specifically for that make/model, where because this isn't a common modification for a Mopar muscle car the readily available flares will all be generic, and will fit the car like a generic flare (not well). That said, it looks like those rear flares actually fit pretty well, what brand are they?
That's why the renders look so much better, because they've got a flare that fits the body style. Which you'd have to custom make if you really wanted to go that way.
Long story short, if you just slap on some flares to cover your poor bodywork it will look exactly like you slapped on some flares to cover some poor bodywork. If you want them to look right, you'd be looking at new wheels, tires, suspension modifications, etc...
The OP asked for opinions and he got them.
For me, I was slow to embrace the OEM flares on the Challenger and Charger wide body models. I still prefer the standard versions but the Wide Body cars don't gag me as much to see now.
Like stated before, the flares on a car with tucked in tires looks stupid. To help pull it off, the tires need to be out at the edges to make it look like the flares were needed to cover the tires. Flares over stock width wheels and tires will look like a large man with tiny feet....clumsy and awkward.
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