Noob Questions about Fender Rolling...

Do body shops do fender rolling?
How long does it take and what is the approx cost?
Is it normally done only for rear or even for fronts?
Does it weaken the fenders?

some body shops do. most won't have any idea what you are talking about. performance shops will do it or know someone who does it. it took me about 20 phone calls to find someone who could do it in Indiana.

it takes about 30 minutes per fender, including set up, wheel removal and reinstallation, etc. the shop I went to charged me $80 for doing both rear fenders.

rear fenders only on E46s. there is no front lip to roll. feel it next time you go to your car.

if done right it shouldn't weaken the fender. if they overdo it, then I suppose it may. The lip on our rear fenders looks like this... |_| so there's kinda two lips that can be rolled. my rears were only rubbing on the inside vertical lip. depending on how aggressive your wheel/tire setup is, you may need to have both lips rolled, which, obviously, something that looks like this... | will be weaker than something that looks like this... |_\

I know using those lines is stupid, just the easiest way to explain it without taking pictures.


this is actually my car having the fenders rolled by a shop in Indy. they recorded for their youtube channel...

also don't forget to have your rear fender liner removed when doing such as it'll make way for a couple extra mm's of clearance, you may also have the lips shaved and sealed which makes for even more clearance and contrary to popular belief is the RIGHT way to do such

Originally Posted by glovesoff

some body shops do. most won't have any idea what you are talking about. performance shops will do it or know someone who does it. it took me about 20 phone calls to find someone who could do it in Indiana.

it takes about 30 minutes per fender, including set up, wheel removal and reinstallation, etc. the shop I went to charged me $80 for doing both rear fenders.

rear fenders only on E46s. there is no front lip to roll. feel it next time you go to your car.

if done right it shouldn't weaken the fender. if they overdo it, then I suppose it may. The lip on our rear fenders looks like this... |_| so there's kinda two lips that can be rolled. my rears were only rubbing on the inside vertical lip. depending on how aggressive your wheel/tire setup is, you may need to have both lips rolled, which, obviously, something that looks like this... | will be weaker than something that looks like this... |_\

I know using those lines is stupid, just the easiest way to explain it without taking pictures.


this is actually my car having the fenders rolled by a shop in Indy. they recorded for their youtube channel...

Glovesoff has pretty much put it together in whole nut shell...

OP, just be sure you do have someone that has had experience with fender rolling. Fender rolling is not easy to learn and I have seen way too many damaged fenders unfortunately due to inexperienced services.

-Charles@VMRWheels

Thanks everyone - specially Glovesoff - fantastic info.

After cutting the rear lips on mine off I found I rubbed on the plastic tray that is back there... Kinda need to do some trimming on that too, depending on what you're trying to fit.