Brangeta

I finally got around to fixing this issue, and decided to do a write up. Our Z28 has had a maladjusted fender ever since about 2003 when a Chevrolet dealership replaced the OEM fender with an aftermarket one because of vandalism. (It looked like someone hit the fender and hood with an axe or sledgehammer as it left matte red paint). Over time, it has gotten worse as a lift at the dealership or mechanic shop caused the fender to bow out even more. I still have to see if I can fix the front bumper, so the "after" pictures aren't flawless.

A messed up fender will throw off the look of the car greatly. It'll even mess up the way the hood looks to align when viewing the car from the front.

I went ahead and fixed both sides, even though only the passenger side was showing misalignment. The driver's side was just plain mangled, but the alignment was still good so I fixed that up as well.

Here are some before pictures (the car's not exactly a basket-case so it may not even look bad to you guys in these pics):





And here are some afters:





Next... the write up on how to fix...

Brangeta

First, you'll need to jack the car up and put it on jackstands. Put the car on a flat surface, put it in park, and put the hand brake on all the way. Put some pieces of wood behind the rear tires. Start jacking the car up.

The jacking location is tricky on these cars. What I use with success is the large metal portion pretty far from the edge. Is it the correct location? Not really sure, but it isn't bad. Put the car on jack stands.


You'll need (ideally) two vice-grips (needle-nose type work well) if not more, a screw driver with removable bits, I believe a 10 or 11 mm wrench, and sockets with a ratchet if you think you can use them.


Use the wrench to undo the two bolts at the bottom holding the fender on (check out how mangled the driver's side one was! And it wasn't even causing an alignment issue at all).


You'll need to undo one of the fasteners at the bottom inside the wheel well to be able to move the fender very well. I recommend taking the phillips head bit out of a screw driver and using it by hand. you need to take the screw out completely and then you can pull the other part out.


Now you can move the fender about as you please. So let's get started.

First of all, you need to figure out what is messing up the alignment of your fender. In the case of my passenger side one, the rear bolt needed to be pushed in toward the center of the body of the car more, and the front one needed to be pushed in a bit too. (Ignore that the bolts are still in in the picture, I didn't really plan on making a How To when I took these pics).


So what you need to do is use your visegrips and clamp onto the edges (make sure to avoid flattening the burred part where the screws go in or they may not catch anymore and you might have to switch to a different bolt and use a nut to hold it on). Slowly bend the edges back. You may need to go very far back. Test fit the fender by pushing it as far back as it'll go and see if the alignment is fixed before putting the bolts back in. If it isn't, you may need to bend a bit more. Make sure not to deform or twist the metal or your alignment may get worse. The bolts need to go in relatively straight. You should end up with something about like this:


Before taking the car down, or even before putting the screw fastener in the wheel well, you need to see if the alignment is right. I had to redo it. I put the fender too close to the door. It would open, but the tolerance was too tight and looked risky. If this happens to you, just loosen the bolts and slide the fender a little bit forward.



After adjusting, you should end up with something like this:



Is it perfect? No. But is it better? Yes! With effort, I'm sure you could get your car perfect. Keep in mind that I'm working with an aftermarket fender, so it's never going to be quite perfect, just very close.

Brangeta

Go ahead and put the screw fastener back in the wheel well and now you need to test to make sure your doors will open without hitting the fender. Slowly open your door and make sure it isn't hitting the fender. If you have body side molding, the fender may be millimeters from getting hit by the door. If it all looks good (like below), you're done! Take the car down and enjoy what your car now looks like.

lymlyt96

I also had this problem and it makes a big difference in how the car looks when you have the fender bulging out from the bottom. It only took some pliers and a mallet to straighten mine back out. Just had to unfold the crease and hammer it back into place the door gap was a bit off but I dont think that was from the fender being bent up. My doors are starting to sag a bit, the hinges need to be re adjusted. This is good info I see alot of cars with usually the passenger side bulging out.

King Moose SS

One hell of a write up. Thanks for the tips

Brangeta

I'm not entirely sure why the doors aren't lining up evenly with the fenders lymlyt. I don't think they are sagging on our Z28, but I may be wrong!

It may not be obvious in the pics, but I was really impressed with how much fixing this issue fixed the way the car looks from the front. It really makes the hood gaps a lot more even. I didn't expect that.

lymlyt96

In a couple pics it looks like the gap at the bottom of the door is way too tight but in the last couple pics it looks good. I worked at an assembly plant for a while building doors, I also had the pleasure of hanging the doors on the cars and doing quality control on the door gaps. In the factory, door gaps are adjusted by moving the hinges because theoretically the fender is always going to be bolted into the same position everytime.Also if you go to close the door and it doesnt close all the way there's a good chance the hinges need to be re-adjusted or you can cheat and move the door striker a bit if you dont wanna take the fender off to move the hinges.

DetroitSpeed

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DrewHMS97SS

That is pretty cool!

DetroitSpeed

Quick and easy install too!

Did one in about 30mins a couple days ago.