RebekahsZ Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 (edited) I am working on some rear flares for my 240z to mount some big ask rubber 28X10.5X15 MT ET Drag on either an 8" rim or 10" rim for drag racing. With my LS2, even with 245/45/50 Hoosier A6 tires, I can only floor the car when it is pointed in an absolutely straight line at the autocross, so I'm going to be increasing the size of my rear autocross tires as well. This thread pertains to REAR FLARES ONLY. Tired of all the hassle I have experienced trying to get tires to clear the rear fenders, I went straight to the mountain top and bought some ZForce Productions BAMF Carbon flares. Working with other racers who have had to cut, then cut again, to relieve tire rub, I am going for a max resection of inner and outer fender. Once I mounted my BAMF flares, I stood back and said "Dang, those are some huge bubble flares!" So I started doing research to try to find out if I would have the option of mounting a more narrow ZG flare using the same mounting holes, should I decide to step it down a notch. Called around. Justin at ZForce Productions tells me that the MSA flares share bolt holes with his. He and I tried to get some of those, only to find that MSA has a 3-5 week backlog of orders waiting to be filled and the sales rep admitted that they get lots of flares returned for quality trouble. Just about that time, forum member shakotan_culture lists on the vendors forum that his business jpngarage.com is selling ZG flares and has them in-stock ready for shipment. He talks to his fiberglass guy, and what do you know (?), his flares are supposed to share bolt hole pattern with the ZForce BAMF flares too. So he makes me a deal for a pair of fiberglass rear flares. They arrive promptly today and I got right to work. I use a cutting burr on a dremel tool to drill the holes in fiberglass or carbon flares because drill bits crack them. I put mounting holes right in the center of the mounting recesses on the jpngarage.com flares, and sure enough-they fit using the same bolt holes! I did have to very slightly slot a couple of the holes. There are some issues with all flares. I thought the ZForce Productions flares were thin-the jpngarage.com flares are thinner. Both brand flares got a little bit of finish rash in the shipping box, or in the factory where they are made. Both sets of flares were very carefully packed, so I bet it happened before shipping. If your car is a museum piece, you will want to carefully sand and paint them. My car is a race car, so I'm just going to put some undercoat on the backside so they don't shatter when a rock hits them, then bolt them up, honestly they are fine. Seems all flares need a little flexing to "fit" the contour of the fender arch. The gel coat of the jpngarage.com flares developed a lot of very fine gel coat cracks in the areas that I had to flex the most. I'm not spending two seconds on this on my car, but if you had a show car and you painted these, I don't know if that would be a problem. I have heard of "flex additive" for composite parts-might be a good idea to use some of that on these flares. OR, mount them without flexing them any. I will use fender welting to hide any imperfections in the flare to fender fit, but I will tell you that in that regard, both of these flares fit similarly-anywhere from zero gap to 1/8" maybe, which with all the bondo in my fenders, I think is pretty darn good. I will not be sanding mine to try to achieve a better fit-the time-to-reward ratio doesn't favor sanding. Also jpngarage flares are not marked for driver or passenger side-in my case, the screw holes dictated which fender I put on which side. So, here are some pictures. Before anybody says a bunch of garbage about how high these flares are mounted, realize the purpose of my flares: to clear big tires. When I'm all done with winter mods, I will lay frame using my coilovers for a photo shoot (so everybody can go "oooh, ahhh, that car is so low"), then put it back at racing ride height (which is pretty high) and go get my annual alignment. This is not a low-rider. In all honesty, I do wish I had mounted the flares 1/2" to 1" lower. And, the driver side is about 1/2" further back than it should be (oops!). When using a plumb bob to find the center of my axle, I neglected to put the car level on jacks-I just jacked up the back. That rake created an artifact in my center measurement. Next car will go on 4 jack stands with a level rocker panel. The conclusion is: If you think that you will ever want wider flares in the future, the jpngarage.com flare is a good flare that allows the opportunity to go to wider flares in the future while avoiding the need to re-drill your fenders for mounting screws. They were very competitively priced and I am happy with the quality and very happy with the customer service at jpngarage.com Edited February 12, 2014 by RebekahsZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thezguy Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 What did you do with your BAMF wide flares? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six_Shooter Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Wow, you mounted those high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 The BAMFs are on the car. And, they rub the slicks a little in the positive camber position. They rub near the bottom at the forward edge. Wishing I had moved them forward another 1/2". Rather than reconfigure EVERYTHING, I plan to just sand the front of them to create the needed clearance. Function over form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thezguy Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Ah ok, I contacted JPN and they are going to make me a set of fiberglass wide rears. I hope it doesn't look funny with my normal ZG fronts.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 You'll get used to it. You only have two options: enough room for tires (which sometimes means more than enough) or not enough room. Function over form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimC Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 (edited) I used z force rears and the msa rear on the front and it worked out I'm using 9.5/255/40/17 in the front and a 11/295/35/18 rear,,the wheels are forge line custom,I begged, and begged them to build me a set of one offs to fill the correct offsets and still house my huge brake rotors,and 6 piston calipers! On the AZC full billet road race suspension.and an LS engine of course! and with the 17-18 combo the car roof is still just 46 inches off the floor Edited June 17, 2014 by JimC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thezguy Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 (edited) Rebekah how wide are those "wide" flares? I was under the impression i had ZG flares but these seem to be wider than the advertised 3" width of the ZG's. Im trying to stuff some 17X11's under the car. They have 5.5" of backspacing so im trying to figure out if these flares will do the job. I had 17X9.5's with 4.5" backspacing before and the flares fit damn near perfect. I wonder if half of an inch will break me. Edited June 24, 2014 by thezguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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