So, I just bought a 2008 Unlimited Rubicon. Beautiful. I'm loving it. But, all the plastic looks terrible. The fenders, bumpers, and side steps are terrible. Any ideas on cheap quick mods? Particularly, I went and did a little crawling, but the bumper screws your approach angle. I will eventually get ARB front and rear bumpers, but for the time being, while I am trying to save the necessary money, is there a way to mod them?? I was looking at possible cutting roughly a 12-16 inches off the ends of the front bumper and trying to fabricate something to cover the openings. If anyone has a better idea, I would appreciate suggestions!

 

this has only been done a million times in a million different ways. search bumper chop or bumper mod and you'll come up with more info than you'd ever need. you can also cut the fenders to gain clearance and greatly alter the look of your jeep. here are some pics of mine with both done

 

I LIKE! Can I get some close ups of those fenders! All the ones I have seen as of late have been way to sharp of angles or not enough!

 

this is probably the closest i have at the moment. if you want more or shots of any specific angles or anything let me know and i can snap a few tomorrow

 

All around and close up please, this makes me want to do the fender mod

 

That looks great! Exactly the type of thing I had in mind. I would also love to see some more, tighter shots of bumpers/fenders. Did you do anything to the rear? Also, what tools did you use, and do you have any tips for actually doing these mods? Thanks so much for such a quick response!

 

i just went out (windchill of 13°) and snapped a few shots of different angles with my phone. i posted em in an album since there were 14 shots and i didn't want to overload the page for those using phones or slower connections to view the page.
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/members/jcknauer22-15607-albums-fender-chop-6312/
i'm still not exactly sure what you guys are looking for so if you want to see more just post up or pm me.

i just used a razor knife for the fender themselves. i did it back in the summer so the heat definitely helped by making the plastic softer. i lightly scored a few lines and then chose my favorite one to go with. then i just went along that line a few times until i went all the way through. that provides a much more controlled cut than trying to go all the way through in 1 shot. i pretty much cut it about 1/4" to the inside of the curve. if you're not comfortable freehanding it like i did you can lay some tape down to give yourself a line to follow. for the curve, i used the same approach except this time i took the blade out of the knife and held it in my hand to give myself a bit more control while laying out possible lines. then i did a rough cut on the outside of my line to get it close, then fine tuned it by trimming a bit here and there to make sure it was a nice smooth curve. doing the final touches with the knife is fairly easy, but it took some time and patience to get it exactly where i wanted it.

the rears were much easier to do since all of the cuts were straight. once i was done i decided to angle the ends to give it a more finished look. i also angled the rear portion of the front flares. then i cleaned the edges with some lacquer thinner (acetone or paint thinner can also be used) and applied the door edge trim.

i decided to keep the front liners since i didn't want too much road debris and trail gunk getting into my engine bay. if you hold up the liners it's pretty easy to see where you need to cut. the same goes for the sub structure. you'll see what hangs out there and needs to be trimmed off once you cut the actual fenders. i used a dremel with a cutoff wheel as well as the little reciprocating saw attachment to do the liners/subframe

i left the rears out since there didn't seem to be a clean way to keep them. i will eventually bedline the portions of the body that were left exposed once it warms up.

ok, that was a lot of this so i'm gunna post separately for the bumper. by the way, there are plenty of write-ups with pics on the forum for both the fender and the bumper chop. i used the cumulative information from these threads along with some trial and error to do both of these projects

EDIT: just so you know, i am running a 1" body lift, so the gaps seen in the fenderwells and under the liners won't be as extreme if you decide to chop your fenders

 

for my bumper chop, i used tinman's write-up for a basic guide. i'm not positive, but i'm pretty sure i cut about 10" or so from each side. i carefully measured several times before making any cuts and was sure to lay down some tape to get it laid out exactly how i wanted before cutting. rather than using the edge of the tape as my cut line, i used a pencil to make my lines on the tape. i didn't plan on doing it this way originally, but it makes it easier when you don't have to perfectly and meticulously lay out tape. really, the only purpose of the tape was to make it easier to see my pencil lines. here's a pic taken at some point during the layout of my driver side



i used a dremel with a cutting wheel for this, but it was a bit of a pain due to the heat of the cutting actually melting the plastic. be sure to wear some kind of eye protection regardless of what you use. nobody wants melted plastic flung in their eye. once my cuts were made i cleaned up the edges that would be exposed with a sanding drum on the dremel. the trickiest part was making the end caps fit into the bumper with enough overlap to allow the rivets to work. this wouldn't have been as much of an ordeal if i hadn't cut off more than the write-up noted, but i wanted to try to get it as tight as possible. i DO NOT recommend trying this.

once i had them fitting properly, i carefully laid out my rivet locations. again, this is a measure and re-measure kind of thing. sloppy work here can totally kill the aesthetics of your final product. once i had my holes laid out, i drilled them in the bumper body first. once they were all drilled, i put the end cap in place and, usung the pre-drilled holes as a guide, drilled into the end cap. only do 1 at a time! once you make a hole, slip a rivet in to be sure the end cap doesn't move when you go to make your next hole. don't actually install the rivet with a gun, just put it in the hole to make sure that hole stays lined up. i did the top rear hole first, then moved to the front and did one there, then i moved to the bottom one. this way, you can use the rivets to keep the cap in place while you drill the rest of the holes.

since the plastic is a soft material, i used washers on the back of the rivets to keep them from pulling out. these can be found wherever you buy your rivets. in order to put these washers on, you're going to need access to the back side of each rivet. in places where this wasn't possible due to another layer of plastic, i drilled a couple of holes through that extra piece. i know this sounds confusing, but think of 3 layers of material, but you're only joining the top two. to access the back side of the second layer, you wil need to drill through the third. this photo should help explain a bit further



make these holes just a bit larger than the washers. then, with the other rivets still simply sitting in their holes, do your final install of the rivets the same way you drilled the holes. start at one side, do 1 in the middle, then do the other side. after that you can just go down the line and install the rest. when crimping your rivets, make sure you put a washer on the back side and hold it as tight to the plastic as possible. in the areas where you needed to drill holes, you will need to find some kind of tool to reach in and hold it on. you can use a screwdriver, small socket, or do like i did and use a nut driver. then you'll have your end cap installed!



for the metal bumper frame, you will need to chop a bit off so that the new stubby cover will fit on. i just cut about 1/2" to the outer edge of the mounting holes. some additional trimming to the plastic skin may be necessary to get it to fit onto the metal frame, but it will only be on the back side of the end caps where nobody will see.

then you simply reinstall everything on the jeep and you're set! as i said, i used tinman's write-up as a basic guide so that's a great resource for those considering this project. i know i wrote a lot but i'm sure i left out plenty of things too. it's been over a year since i did this so cut me some slack. like i said in my last post, if anybody has any questions feel free to post em or just pm me. good luck and have fun modding

 

Sup man, where was that pic taken?

 

They do make end caps for the factory front bumper as well. They are on Quadratec. Just and idea of u don't want to rig something.