Bushwacker Flat Flares Install PITA
 

So yesterday was a beautiful day out and I was trying to decide what mod still laying in my garage floor to do next. I though the flares would be good because it will be getting colder soon and as everyone knows plastic is harder to work with when cold. I wish I would have installed my JKS sway bar links instead. These Bushwacker flat flares have been the biggest pain in the ass I have ever done. I am not kidding, I have did engine swaps that have taken me less time and less effort! I know I have seen some of you post that you did it in 4 hours or whatever. If you really have you should get a job as a body technician at your local dealership or mod shop because you have some mad skill. I worked from 11:00 yesterday morning until 5:00 in the evening just taking my time doing each step as shown in the install manual along with using WOL's write up here on the forum and only have one done. The removal of the factory flares isn't bad. It's the trimming of the inner liners and then dealing with the nylon nuts that decide to seize up on me when installing the flat flare mount (the rest will be getting some oil applied before being installed). I won't have a chance to work on them again until this coming weekend and am dreading the hell out of it! Now that one front is done I am sure the pass side wont take as long now that I know what I am doing but then it's on to the rears :mad: If anyone is close to WV and have installed these please come by the house Fri evening or Sat morning. I will have the beer waiting :beer: and would be more than willing to buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I should have just chopped my factory flares and been done with it.

Dude you are scaring me... I am really handy but I am thinking twice about installing these myself. What is required to trim the inners? :thinking:

I may have to go with Red's fender trim instead... :dontknow2:

I thought they were pretty easy. If you take the wheels/tires off. It's even easier.

Just take the liners out. Wife wanted them removed. Looks better that way anyway.

Just getting your marks right before you cut. You have to push the liner against the body while you have it tacked in place with some bolts and 2 provided washers then use a grease pencil to make your cut marks. If you cut too much then the fender liner will just flop around because the flare will not be able to hold it into place. If you cut too much you have to keep chopping it down to where it will finally fit. This is the most tedious and longest part of the process. I just used a pair of snips and a utility knife to do the cuts. Also, make sure your side marker lights work before you install the fender or you will have to pull it back off and then the tape they give you to use on the body edge will be pretty much destroyed. A lot of people have been having problems with them not working right from the get go. And low and behold when I checked mine it did not work. Wire black to white and white to black. You would think it would be the other way around (color matched) but it changes the polarity and they will not work if you go black/black white/white. I consider myself pretty mechanically inclined and wish I would have just taken these to a body shop and had them installed. They are that bad imo. It would have been worth 150-200 bucks to have them put on. It's nothing I can't do or you yourself probably can't do but just don't think it's going to be a couple hour job and read each step in the directions a few times to make sure you get the understanding of what you are doing!

You think? Don't you throw a bunch of crap (mud, water, etc) up in the engine bay without them?

I live in Virginia on the coast and get the same weather you do pretty much. As far as mud and stuff? It washes off and believe it or not it opens alot of room to get to things down in that area. It also lets more heat out of your engine compartment. If anything paint the rear area black after the flares are installed. Get your woman to help you. My wife did 90% of the work and I was just there to grab whatever she needed.

I didnt find the install to bad and I did mine in february up here in Canada in a non heated garage. Once one flare is done the rest go alot quicker. I left the back liners out and bedlined the wheel well. If I remember right it was a 5-6 hr install.

Once you figure out how to do one of them the rest go pretty smooth. I did the Bushwackers, LoD rear with tire carrier, LoD front with winch in about a 12 hour day.