Initially, I thought of buying new fenders, but a friend of mine recommended looking into having inserts molded into my current fenders. I'm just curious, has anyone tried them? Any good/bad experiences, and how much would a body shop charge typically to cut and mold them in?

Thanks,
Corey

my guess would be they would charge more to mold them in then to just buy new fenders. i can't confirm that though, just a guess b/c its much more body work

steve

i would think that it would be cheaper for the body shop to put the inserts in. they are waaay cheaper than the whole fenders too. you can buy new fenders but you arent gauranteed on the fitment...it may take alot of work to get them to fit right. go with the inserts imo. and find a good body shop.

we just put inserts in my friends nissan. simple saw'z'all a hole for it put it in there then use kitty hair (resin with fiberglass strands) in there sand smooth primer and done

looks all natural to $40 for inserts and materials compared to $?ish? amount for the fenders

Are you adding them strictly for looks, or do you want weight reduction as well? A friend of mine got some fiberglass Z3 fenders for his Talon. They are MUCH lighter than the stock ones, and look good too. I'm not sure how much he paid though, I'll ask him next time I talk to him.

Eh, I'm not too worried about weight reduction, it's mostly for looks. Maybe somewhere down the line I'll go nuts and start redoing the car in carbon fiber or fiberglass, but for now the appearance factor alone will do ;)

-Corey

I went threw two pairs of full z3 fenders, they look hot but I get stress cracks from the Shity NY Streets... Its probally gonna cost the same to mold them as to get new ones b/c both ways the whole fender is gonna have to be painted... If you mold them or mount new ones, then you'll save alot of money, cheaper inserts and the shop only has to paint and not mount the fenders...

my car (near completion) has the z3 fenders on it. 99$ buckaroos ebay specail. They are fiberglass and they fitment was off a little for it wasn't hard for me to fix em with fiberglass and a little time...i feel they were worth the price.

>I went threw two pairs of full z3 fenders, they look hot but
>I get stress cracks from the Shity NY Streets... Its probally
>gonna cost the same to mold them as to get new ones b/c both
>ways the whole fender is gonna have to be painted... If you
>mold them or mount new ones, then you'll save alot of money,
>cheaper inserts and the shop only has to paint and not mount
>the fenders...

STRESS CRACKS???? your lucky if thats all u got. Mine pretty much shattered when i backed out of the driveway and scraped the front end the whole way.

Fiberglass body parts SUCK! I have Fiberglass Z3 fenders, and the first time I barely bumped into something it cracked both sides of my fenders. I had to have both fenders and the front bumper removed, then the body shop had to redo the fenders and reinstall everything. Go with the inserts into your stock(METAL) fenders.