PRODUCT REVIEW

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So, having tyres extending out from the side of the car's body is frowned upon by the law. In some place this is illegal. The answer is to put on a set of fender flares. We made some out of conveyer belt material and it somehow did not look good, drooping in places and allowing mud to splash out from between the wheel arch and the home made flares.

Our attempt at home made flares, mud oozing out from gaps...

Going over to the chop shop, we found several fiberglass ones. Some chipped, some having to drill new holes in the car's body and worse still, one have to sand down and repaint the 'recon' parts.

Bushranger fender flares that comes in a box

Another answer would be to buy a 'ONE SIZE FITS ALL' fender flares from Bushranger. Wong Chai, 06 Borneo Safari winner has been using them for 4 years and 'abused' them in competition stages and they're doing good.

It's none breakable, made of rubber, and is black (neutral colour) and provides you a 3" extension which is sufficient for most of our cars. One box is good for TWO wheel arches. The flares comes rolled with a framing wire, screws and fitting instructions.

Two persons are required to install the fender flares.

Installation would be within most DIY and motor enthusiasts. We unrolled the flare, dry fitted to see if one roll would be sufficient for our vehicle. Secondly, we mark the point that will be cut and see if the remainder would be sufficient for the other side. It was found that there was more than sufficient flare for both wheel arches.

So we divided it in half and proceeded to fit the flares to the wheel arch. It required two persons to work on this. One to hold the flare and the other to drill into the wheel arch and screw the flares on.

After installation, draw, and trim the flares for aesthetics

Installing this was easy and it was quickly done. Next was to trim the flares for aesthetics. Draw with a marker pen and then cut with a box cutter. Next grease the accompanying framing wire and slide it into the retaining hole in the flares. Cut the wire about half an inch shorter and with the wire that was cut off, push the framing wire into the flare. This is a hard wire and we proceeded to use a hack saw to cut the wire.

It may be required to shape the bending areas by hand. In all this was a quick set-up that should take about an hour for two sides. But we proceeded to paint the holes to rust proof it and this took a little time.

This is the finished flare, blending in with original Toyota mud flap

This product is available from: Borneo 4 Wheel Drive, contact: www.borneo4wd.com