What Is Fender Rolling?

In this article my goal is to answer these questions:

• What is fender/guard rolling?
• Why do I need to get my fenders/guards rolled?
• How is it done?

 

What is it and Why do I need my Fenders Rolled?

The What.

In its simplest form, Fender Rolling (or Guard Rolling) is the act of bending up a lip on the vehicles fender to stop the vehicles tyre from contacting the body of the car. Car manufacturers have started to remove this lip from vehicles acknowledging that people will often change out their standard wheels and tyres during ownership. For most cars on the road today, this lip still exists.

I personally believe Fender Rolling is the art of manipulating the fenders/wheel arches on a vehicle to achieve clearance from the wheels/tyres and/or enhance the look of the car by altering the body lines.

The Why.

When planning to fit some aftermarket wheels onto your car (something bigger or wider than standard/stock), more often than not you will end up with your tyres and car contacting. This contact may occur on bumps and will cause your tyres to wear faster, leaving cuts in the tyre and bits of rubber on the edge of your fender.

To prevent this, the fenders of the car can be rolled to ensure the tyres don't rub. This mean you can drive your car on the new wheels without having any issues or worries!

Rear Fender rolled on a Honda Accord Euro (CL9).

 

What happens if I let the rubbing continue?

If you let the rubbing continue and don't get your fenders rolled, you run the chance of popping a tyre while driving which can lead to an accident or cracking the paint due to the impacts causing the exposed metal to rust, needing expensive body work and paint to repair.

If you are about to purchase new wheels and tyres or are starting to see rubber form on your fender like the picture below, book in a time to get your Fenders Rolled ASAP!

Tyre Rubbing on a rear fender of a Mitsubishi Evolution 9

 

What am I actually Rolling?

Fender Rolling utilises a tool called a Fender Roller (It's a very creative name I know...) that bolts to your wheel hub and has a roller head usually made from hard polyurethane (think of a big skateboard wheel). This roller is used to slowly bend up the inner lip of the cars fenders.

On the rear fenders, the lip is commonly a strip of metal that is on a 90 degree angle from the fenders edge with multiple spot welds along it (See first image for reference).

On the front fenders, the lip is usually a strip of metal that helps to hold in the black plastic fender liner.

Next time you are washing your car or are about to go for a drive, take a look under the edge of the fender and see if you can identify the lips I am talking about.

The fender roller tool has many different adjustment points that allow the user to position the roller head at different angles against the lip of the fender. The aim is to push this lip up until it is out of the way.

NOTE: Fender rolling is always done with a heat gun to ensure the cars paint is soft enough to move without cracking.

My fender roller and its parts, mounted to a car.

 

Are there other ways to Roll a Fender?

Yes.

Fender Rolling is actually just Fender Clearancing, doing what you need to do with the fenders to ensure the wheels and tyres don't come into contact with the body of the car.

You may see people online using metal poles, baseball bats or a socket and impact gun, those methods are not what I am talking about here.

The other methods of Fender Rolling are Fender Shaving, and Fender Flaring.

Rear Fender shaved on a LS400

Fender Shaving involves cutting the lip of the fender off with an angle grinder or metal saw instead of using a Fender Roller. This is done on specific cars where if the Fender Roller was used, the fender would actually deform and bend out of shape. Instead, we cut the lip to achieve the same clearance, but without deforming the body. This is often done on Toyota/Lexus luxury sedans of the 90s and early 2000s, but can also be found on 90s and early 2000s Honda Civics. See image above for example.

Fender Flaring involves permanently altering the fenders shape to accommodate for a much larger wheel. This is done with a fender roller to push the fender up and out at the same time, flaring the fender for clearance. You may see this on the rear fenders of many Nissan S and R chassis and some VW Golfs. See image below for example.

Rear Fenders Flared on a MK7.5 VW Golf R

Summary

Fender Rolling is a form of body work/panel beating. If you are thinking about getting your fenders rolled, I urge you treat it like you are getting your car painted.

Do your research, ask around, get recommendations and second or third opinions. Most importantly, look for past examples of similar cars completed by the person rolling your fenders. No two cars are designed exactly the same and will often require different rolling methods.

Alternatively, if you are curious to know if you need your Fenders Rolled to fit new wheels, feel free to contact me via Email or DM on Instagram.

Hope this helps and happy fitment!