Fender opinion

[95talongirl]

So the fenders on my car are quite an eyesore between the dents, rust starting from paint chips, and such. So I've been looking around for fenders.

Was looking into composite materials for the sole fact that they do not rust. Being form the north, this is important to me. Saw that CF ones are available in OEM style, but fiberglass are not. However, started to read some things online about how fender vents can actually help with extracting heat from the engine bay. At least on some OEM applications. This is of particular interest to me, as I'm also fighting higher engine temps. (206-216 is what the car averages.) Already missed the boat on the vented hoods, and bought a new OEM CF hood. So perhaps vented fenders could help? Or not... So my question to you all out there is can these things actually be functional?

Was looking at these because they do not seem to be THAT gaudy. And does anyone have photos of them on a car with the stock ground effects? Cannot seem to find a good picture of a 2g with them without a whole body kit.

101604 Extreme Dimensions Fiberglass Fenders - F-1 Style (Front) for 95-99 Mitsubishi Eclipse at Andy's Auto Sport

 

[bryanwheat]

The area where the vents are is not in the engine bay. They will not help to vent the engine bay at all. They usually fit like ass also. You can just have the dents removed from yours, have the rust ground off and have them re-painted. If you keep the metal fenders painted well than they will never rust.

 

[95talongirl]

Gotcha. Thanks!

 

[2gmummy]

I'm not sure how much but it does seem like it would help air flow through and in turn help with the underhood temps. I have some of those fenders I test fit them and they lined up fine with my car. You can pm me if you want them.

 

[jpmxrider489]

I think having a vented hood would benefit more than the fenders. If you take the OEM fenders there isnt really a vent. Its more of a look thing.

 

[bryanwheat]

I'm not sure how much but it does seem like it would help air flow through and in turn help with the underhood temps. I have some of those fenders I test fit them and they lined up fine with my car. You can pm me if you want them.

The inner fenders are sealed from the engine bay. The strut towers. separate the engine bay from the fender, so there is no way without some kind of custom ducting that it could help in any way.

 

[95talongirl]

I think having a vented hood would benefit more than the fenders. If you take the OEM fenders there isnt really a vent. Its more of a look thing.

Yeah, and saw some really awesome duct work with vents in the hood on the site last night. However, I'm not one that can cut into a new hood like that..... just too nervous! !

 

[jpmxrider489]

I wouldnt cut into a new hood. But why not get a used one and redo it? The only way to get the fenders to work would be to make a hole in the strut towers and inner fenders. But I wouldnt say its safe to cut into the towers.

95talongirl Do you do all the work on the car yourself or help from the hubby or what not?

 

[95talongirl]

I wouldnt cut into a new hood. But why not get a used one and redo it? The only way to get the fenders to work would be to make a hole in the strut towers and inner fenders. But I wouldnt say its safe to cut into the towers.

95talongirl Do you do all the work on the car yourself or help from the hubby or what not?

very true... would be like intentional strut tower rust holes. .

Yeah, I actually do quite a bit of the work to this car. Not all of it, though. Had some good help from friends with some of the heavy lifting.

 

[jpmxrider489]

Are you going with the OEM ones or the fiberglass ones? If your trying to save weight (and some heavy lifting) you can go with the fiberglass ones. But I had some of the z3 style ones and they cracked fairly easy and the fitment was really bad. It made me hate taking them off.

 

[95talongirl]

Are you going with the OEM ones or the fiberglass ones? If your trying to save weight (and some heavy lifting) you can go with the fiberglass ones. But I had some of the z3 style ones and they cracked fairly easy and the fitment was really bad. It made me hate taking them off.

I was looking into composites really only for the fact that they do not rust. Weight wise, the metal ones and the fiberglass/CF ones are very close, so it's really not for weight savings. I may have located a guy that does make OEM style fiberglass ones. So we'll see.

My thought on the vented ones was that if they would benefit the car's underhood temps any,t hen I'd just grab some of those, but it looks like they won't due to the reasons mentioned above. Thanks for the insight everyone on this.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Post pictures when you can.

 

[2GbTalonGuy]

Attached is a pic of my car with the fenders removed. You can see how it is sealed off from the engine bay. But there are other ways of lowering engine temps withough the fenders or cutting holes in the hood. You can add some ducting behind the bumper tu guide air through the radiator. You can also remove the "gasket" that seals the hood to the firewall to allow some heat escape through there.

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[PieEyedPiper]

Attached is a pic of my car with the fenders removed. You can see how it is sealed off from the engine bay. But there are other ways of lowering engine temps withough the fenders or cutting holes in the hood. You can add some ducting behind the bumper tu guide air through the radiator. You can also remove the "gasket" that seals the hood to the firewall to allow some heat escape through there.

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It is understood that removing the weather stripping at the end of the hood is counter-productive. The windshield creates a large high pressure zone right at that exact spot, no air is likely to be escaping, but instead you could be pushing air into the engine bay causing turbulence and an overall less effective cooling.

 

[95talongirl]

Good points! Thanks everyone for the insight.

 

[jtmcinder]

One more comment against those vented fenders. Not only will they not help with engine-bay cooling, but they could also hurt the cooling of the front brakes if they draw the air out from behind the tire.

Note: the fender vents on an Evo X are ducted to the engine bay and are, therefore, functional.

 

[2literking]

Are you going with the OEM ones or the fiberglass ones? If your trying to save weight (and some heavy lifting) you can go with the fiberglass ones. But I had some of the z3 style ones and they cracked fairly easy and the fitment was really bad. It made me hate taking them off.

I agree. if you're gonna put the fenders on anyway (they DO look badass) I had the joy of putting on a full duraflex body kit (front back sides), and when you look at it, it looks like that thing will just bolt on. though its a "90% fit," the last 10% leaves you in the garage for 3 days slicing open your brand new fenders with a dremel tool. it looks sweet when you're done, and i think it's worth it, but if you have little patience for these kind of projects, you're not gonna wanna push through it.

 

[Paching]

Just installing composite fenders won't help much, the whole car is made of metal anyways. A good paint job and some under coating should help with the rust, just try not to use it in the winter season.