Mismatched front fenders

[Kelski62]

Recently installed drop spindles on our 1962 beetle and noticed that the fenders sit totally different on each wheel. We believe the passenger side fender is OG and driver side was replaced. Pics below

Any suggestions on finding a good OG repop? Replace both or just the driver? We want to drop front end as low as possible without narrowing the beam. We saw a company called Glass action that offers wider fenders would the 1" wider look like sh*t? Help...


Gotta love how one project leads to another....

[bluebus86]

Many reproduction fenders are made poorly, thin thickness steel, wrong contours. some can be spotted 100 feet away as wrong. your best bet is an original used one, even one with some dents that need attention are better than a new repro fender. search the want ads. I am very displeased with the repros.

Good luck, Bug On
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information

Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022

[Kelski62]

[bluebus86]

Remember reproductions are copies of a pretty complex hard to measure shape. Then there other issues, like maybe the exact same shape part cant be made out of the same thickness steel because the reproduction press that shapes the parts is of a smaller capacity than the VW factory used, a 20 ton stamping machine verses a 50 ton will be more limited in how deep and how thick metal that can be made.

The VW factory, do to the cost savings in mass production could afford to have a very high quality stamping operation with strict quality control such that fenders made over the period of years, in numbers of the millions, from multiple stamping machines, from multiple factories, produce fenders that are 100% interchangeable in function and appearance. An aftermarket stamping operation for short runs making copies cant compete and still be cost competitive. The huge investment in the factory standard production equipment would not be recovered for the few fenders sold in the replacement part market.

Dont forget the tolerances needed for the welding of the headlamp bucket into the hole in the fender, plus the hole in the fender has to be in the correct spot too. Funky head light buckets, ones that dont hold the chrome trim uniformly, also can be an issue. The factory held that tolerance tight, they did not want to be selling new Bugs with headlamp trim rings that had unsightly ununiform gaps around the fender!

The fender is a more than one stamping of a complex deeply drawn large part, there is punching the holes, and folding over the wheel opening edge, a multi operation press task, with custom dies of tool steel. Then there's the bucket stamping, and then the welding operation, all operations needing to be in perfect alignment with each other. Thats hard for a a reproduction operation to do for such small a market for the fenders. Price them fenders too high to get higher quality and folks will buy from used parts sources, or be inclined to repair fenders rather than replace them, so the market is limited on what can be charged for reproduction fenders.

If reproductions fenders where made to identical quality as factory, at great cost in tooling, theyd have to sell them for maybe $1000 to break even for market replacement needs. and if they did sell for $1000, 99+% of the market would probably resort to repairing existing fenders, or source used fenders. They would sell only a ten a year at that price, if they were lucky, and be forced into bankruptcy, owing creditors for the $100,000's in tooling that was used to make ten fenders.

So good or repairable Used German Originals are prefered always.

If your having it all painted to look nice, the cost in money and effort of prep and paint would be wasted on a Reproduction. For a beater old Bug, as a cost saver, reproductions have their place, they are low cost and VERY low quality option, they dont look quite right, the wheel opening lip can be down right ugly, the lip is often wrinkled and not as tight a radius as stock, these are dead giveaways at 100 feet!
Rap on one with your knuckles and it sounds like a soda can, thin and tinny sound, not a solid thunk like factory.

By this time you probably surmised that I have a low opinion of reproduction fender quality, if so, you are correct.

Bug On, and may all our fenders be good ones, our Bugs deserve no less! (but if you are in a pinch for a beater fender, do what you gotta do, a bad fender is better than no fender!)


_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information

Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022

[57BLITZ]

[hitest]

[Kelski62]

[hitest]

It may be dank, but I like the stance. Very cool that you've had it 20 years. That's exactly as long as I've had my Turkis '63 beetle.
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[57BLITZ]

[SparksLP]

Along similar lines to this, why would the bottoms of my fenders not line up with the apron? I'm assuming the car was hit at some point. I'll have to check the fenders, thanks for the info on the headlight nut, Blitz!

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Tom
1966 VW Beetle Sunroof Sedan

[Q-Dog]

It is quite easy to reshape the roll on the lower part of the fender to make it match the front apron. This, of course, should be done before paint.
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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[SparksLP]

The part that bothers me is how the horn vents/lights aren't symmetrical. Is there a way to rotate the fenders to make them line up more?
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Tom
1966 VW Beetle Sunroof Sedan

[Q-Dog]

[bluebus86]

[SparksLP]

That's actually what I was considering doing. I figured slotting the holes and some "gentle massaging" would get it closer to normal, haha. My Bug isn't a show car, so I don't expect perfection.
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Tom
1966 VW Beetle Sunroof Sedan

[SparksLP]

Following up, I did a quick measurement of my fenders, one side is"wider" than the other by about half an inch/ one inch. Would it make sense to try to roll out the edge of the fender to get them to match more? Both of my fenders have the hex nut welded for the headlight bucket screw, so I'm assuming they are both aftermarket fenders.
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Tom
1966 VW Beetle Sunroof Sedan

[bluebus86]

[SparksLP]

Ok, thanks for the advice! I'll start looking for a stock set, hopefully I can find something workable.
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Tom
1966 VW Beetle Sunroof Sedan

[SparksLP]

Follow up to the follow up. Spent some time with a drill and a file, that fender lines up much better! No one would pay me to fix theirs, but we now know the concept is sound!

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Tom
1966 VW Beetle Sunroof Sedan

[alex857]

Hi,
a lot of work for better Looks!
Is it just me or are your bumper and your bumper grommets mounted upside down?