rolling arches

31st January 2009, 21:23

hi i have vtr alloys on my flat arch, and with weight in the back the tyres rub a little bit on the lip of the inside of the arches.

is this a diy job to fix or a big job that should be done proffesionally

1st February 2009, 10:01

you can do it yourself with an angle grinder, whip the car up into the air, wheel off and grind the lip back till its flat

1st February 2009, 10:12

no an angle grinder is not the way to do it!!! u could do it at home but if your not carefull you will damage the outside of the arch... use a weight on theoutside of the arch and work the inner flange from side to side tapping it up against the arch.. dont try and get the fold in one hit!!

1st February 2009, 11:00

ye also use a heat gun, basically a proffesional uses a roller and heat to roll the lip tighter agains the inside of the arch, the tighter they go the more chance of splitting the paint which on rear wheel arches will soon lead to rust, they charge about £70.
The DIY method is as stated above can be done u just have to not rush it and be careful!

2nd February 2009, 19:40

i work in a bodyshop, and to get the optimal space required its best to take it right the way to the arch.

i got 16's on my flat arch without any rubbing... grinding the lip off.

you also dont have to worry about water sitting in the valley you have literally just created using the hammer and dolly route, which will encourage rust even more.

if you take it to the edge, there will only be a thin line of bare metal, and if you back mask off the front of the arch, get some aerosol etch and paint and you wont have any rust problems

2nd February 2009, 20:06

wanna do the same to the arches on my vtr but heard that if you take too much off, you can end up with a load of crap in the car. Is this true??

3rd February 2009, 18:53

thats only if you remove the vents that are in the rear wheel archs. some people take them off when fitting new alloys as the tyre scrubs on them... which is perfectly fine to do aslong as you either weld a plate, or bond a plate of metal in its place, to stop water going up into the boot compartment

3rd February 2009, 19:45

Its simple, just fold them up with some grippers, once all folded up put your trim back over it, worked fine on my last saxo, the paint will damage a little, but just treat it with somthing to protect it, once your trims back on you wont see the paint scratches

..the trims just snap out, dont snap the pins though as they do like to snap with them being plastic

good luck

3rd February 2009, 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by rayray1987

i work in a bodyshop, and to get the optimal space required its best to take it right the way to the arch.

i got 16's on my flat arch without any rubbing... grinding the lip off.

you also dont have to worry about water sitting in the valley you have literally just created using the hammer and dolly route, which will encourage rust even more.

if you take it to the edge, there will only be a thin line of bare metal, and if you back mask off the front of the arch, get some aerosol etch and paint and you wont have any rust problems

So do I, and you sir are wrong. Grinding off the lip is not the right way to do it... hence the invension of a roller. Grinding is a bodge and although will sort the problem is not the correct way to tell someone who is asking for advice on how it is done..