Fender Rolling Recommendations in East Orlando Area

[ya boy willz]

Hey guys and gals. I bought some wider wheels and tires and now I need to get my fenders rolled. Does anybody have any recommendations of where to go to. I'm looking to spend $100 or less for all four corners and I've already gotten a few quotes/heard of Carlito's Tires, Rev Works, and Auto Repair Xception.

Does anyone have any experience with any of those places, specifically Carlito's (I've used them for mounting tires but never fender rolling?), or have another place they've gone to in the Waterford/UCF/Oviedo area that has done a great job at a reasonable price?

[charchri4]

Yep I have a recommedation- do it yourself! I've have rolled a lot of fenders in my day and I have to tell you the Miatas roll like a dream compared to most cars. The backs give you a little resistance but nothing like an older car would. Worst I ever did was a 70 Mustang that took all day.

Anyway the process is very simple. You can rent a roller but on a Miata I wouldn't waste the money unless you want to push them out like a fair rather than just roll them. For just rolling I have tried the baseball bat thing, pounding with pipe, cutting reliefs and everything else you can imagine and really on a miata I'd just take a hammer to it.

The trick is you never want to hit it very hard or move it very far in one smack. A small smack that goes wrong makes a small error but a big one makes a big fix! So hit it with a couple thousand easy hits and work the metal slowly and gradually around the well. Work from the outside of the fender inwards so you get a sharp crease without having to hit much once it is folded. So your first hits are very near where the fender goes from horizontal to vertical hitting almost straight up, which is opposite of how you would think you would start. I always keep one hand on the outside of the fender adding pressure to it so I am hitting the fender between the hammer and my hand. That gives me a good read on how warm the fender is and how hard I am hitting it as well as a comfort of what is happening by feel in the roll.

The only hard part is not cracking the paint and you will pretty much have that happen now matter what you do. Keeping the paint warm with a heat gun is very helpful. I usually keep it quite warm to the touch and monitor that as mentioned above. But no matter how you do it the paint is going to crack at the edge and where your persuader (be it roller or hammer) makes contact with the fender.

This is a shot of my drivers side rear ruffed in as I was checking clearence. It is ruff because I didn't care at all about the paint and will smooth it out when I paint the car. You can see how the paint cracked at the fold and that is probably worse than most would do. This is factory 96 paint and I didn't warm it or try to keep it from cracking at all. It dosn't really show in the shot but the change from vertical to horizontal spans about 4 inches and that is the kind of gradual fold you want.




Good Luck!

[— Phatmiata —]

Check to see if anyone in your area has a fender roller and will help you out. If you want to buy a fender roller I think that MiataRoadster.com sells them online?

[— Phatmiata —]

EDIT I see you are in Orlandom FL, do you know RipRacer on the local forum? He lives in Orlando and has a fender roller, maybe he can help you out?

[SM16RMSM]

I forget the name if the guy who Mini_FD used but he did all four corners for 70 bucks I think. Been some time. He also drives a Miata. I will see if I can get the guys number for you.

[SM16RMSM]

Orlandom FL

Misspelled Orlando there buddy.

[— Phatmiata —]

Misspelled Orlando there buddy.

Says the Black Pot !!

[ya boy willz]

I forget the name if the guy who Mini_FD used but he did all four corners for 70 bucks I think. Been some time. He also drives a Miata. I will see if I can get the guys number for you.

Sweet, if you find his number and he still offers his services, let me know through PM. Thanks.

EDIT I see you are in Orlandom FL, do you know RipRacer on the local forum? He lives in Orlando and has a fender roller, maybe he can help you out?

No, I do not know him, at least I don't think I do. And there's a local forum? I've been missing out then lol I'm not looking at purchasing my own roller though. They're kind of pricey and I'd only really use it once.

[ozbrock]

I have no personal experience with him, but I found this guy browsing Craigslist. He seems to have tons and tons of experience and lots of photos to prove he knows what he's doing.

CL ad
http://orlando.craigslist.org/pts/4157347911.html

and his FB page
https://www.facebook.com/orlando.fenderrolling

[miata2fast]

I recently rolled the rear fenders on my car, and opted to do the relief cut method. I wish I would not have cut the reliefs as deep as I did, because it caused me to have to do some body work right at the rolled edge. It had a slight saw toothed appearance.

[charchri4]

Agreed ^^ Miatas are light enough material you don't need to cut reliefs.

[ya boy willz]

I know it's been a while since I posted in this thread but I hate leaving Threads unanswered so heres an update.

I got my fenders rolled near the end of December before the Christmas/New Years Holiday. I went to Carlito's Tires were they rolled all four corners for $80. While I wouldn't say I was disappointed with the results, I definitely wasn't happy with them. The paint cracked on several of the fenders, mostly on the part that was rolled up though so it isn't really visible unless your looking for it, it took them 2-2.5 hours to get it all done, and they used an Eastwood Fender Roller and Heat Gun. I am no longer rubbing though which was my main goal.

They did offer to Pull the fenders for me without mentioning an additional charge so that may be a plus for some of you super slammed/stance guys. If your someone like me who doesn't have a show car, isn't worried about some minor paint cracking, and wants their fenders rolled at a reasonable price then I would recommend Carlitos. If you have some higher end or show car with mint paint then I wouldn't recommend them.

Hopefully that brief review helps some of you who are looking for a shop to roll your fenders out.

[charchri4]

Well yeah of course the paint cracked it's not their fault at all. Sure heat and newer paint help but no automotive paint has the ability to flex enough not to crack when you bend the surface it's on 90 degrees. Did you not read the above posts? If you don't want your paint to crack, don't roll the fenders.