How well do the fiberglass fenders fit? Do they leave huge gaps by the doors and the hood? Is one companies better than the other?
Fiberglass fenders are made for race cars. The are made to look like a stock fender from the stands. So being the fit is not very good. There will be waves in them. When left out in the warm sun they will actually move around on you. In otherwords there will be dents in areas that weren't there when they where in the shade. Park your car in the shade and it will return to normal. They are made to save weight so they aren't very thick and the expand and contract in the sun. They can be blocked like a normal fender and can be made to look very decent but you will always have bad fitting wavy fenders. Unless you put a TON of work in them and reshape and reinforce them.
the way I've always understood it is that fiberglass fenders are for when you're trying to save every possible ounce, basically for racing. fiberglass fenders, with all the needed reinforcement and support aren't lighter to a significant enough margin that they'd be worth it for the street. with all the other downsides (mentioned above), just stick with steel.
the hood is a different story, it doesn't have the same kind of curves and bends that a fender has, and is a much bigger saving of weight over steel.
Many fiberglass companies offer 2 types of glass parts.
1) Race ONLY.. These are very light weight..
2) Street use.. These are much thicker, normally bolt up as your factory fender. They are lighter than steel. Do not rust and 99% of the time WILL need a bunch of work to make them fit well and look like the factory sheet metal..
In a nut shell you need to do the home work and figure out if you really want fiberglass..
I have a set of (STREET) fiberglass fenders on one of my 65's. The cost for them was about $340.00 each brand new.. After all the work to make them look like factory steel I wouldn't sell them for less than $1,500.00................. You can buy the entire car for $3500.... :icon_smile_wink:
I got both 69 glass fenders for $100 and they fit fine
I keep telling myself it's only a driver, yet I've blocked alot more 1/4 than fender
The car has yet to be painted
With the cost of fenders in Canada being $600-$1000 each, I figured I wing it... :icon_smile_cool: