Removing fender flares

[difflock]

Hey folks,

I am in a bit of a silly pickle. Today I tried to remove my fender flares to do a thorough rust inspection on my W460 LWB.

I got remove the 10mm bolts holding them on. The bolt holes are so close to the "lip" of the body panel, that I am unable to fit a relatively thin 10mm socket behind the panel. I've been trying to use a pair of Vise grips to catch the bolt, and was able to successfully get a couple off, but there must be a better way.

How did the PO manage to get these put in place if the bolt is so close to the metal that a tool wont fit? Is there an obvious tool I'm missing?

As always, thanks for the help.

[DesertStar]

I thought those bolts are 7mm or 8mm ? If they are that close to the sheet metal, maybe use a flat edge between bolt and panel to keep the bolt from turning?

[difflock]

I thought those bolts are 7mm or 8mm ? If they are that close to the sheet metal, maybe use a flat edge between bolt and panel to keep the bolt from turning?

I tried a stubby flat head screw driver for that, had success with one bolt but the other few were spinning. It's a really tight area...

Going to try to think of a better flat edge to use.

[DesertStar]

Its been awhile since I removed.....can you get an open end wrench in there?

[difflock]

Thinking about it more, a stubby wrench may fit, looks like I'll have to invest in a set.

Thanks for the tip!

Still open to any other quick and dirty solutions others may have!

[andyrog]

I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to get some of these out over the weekend. A royal pain, but I got them out.

[Flanker525]

I had to do this twice a few weeks ago and I curse whoever decided to use slot headed bolts on these things. Mine were rusty so I had a bit of trouble narrowing down the right socket size but I do believe mine were 8mm. Yours could be different but yes that lip does get in the way.

The easiest solution I found was to actually just break them off. I could not fit even a stubby screw driver in the flare so I held that end with a pair of locking pliers and the other with a 1/4 inch rachet with a deep 8mm socket. Enough opposite twists on the pliers and the rachet at the same time and eventually they would snap off even if the socket wasn't perfectly aligned. If I was going to remount them I would use my M5 hex head bolts so that you could at least hold one end with an allen key.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=17182

[difflock]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

My bolts definitely fit a 10mm socket, so I don't think I'll be able to snap them off by hand. I've though of cutting the bolt with a dremel but don't want to damage the flares.

Waiting for the stubby wrenches to come from Amazon later this week, will report then.

[Flanker525]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

My bolts definitely fit a 10mm socket, so I don't think I'll be able to snap them off by hand. I've though of cutting the bolt with a dremel but don't want to damage the flares.

Waiting for the stubby wrenches to come from Amazon later this week, will report then.

If you use a dremel make sure you have a few extra cutting discs ready to go. I did have to partially cut two out with mine and they ate right through the disc that I had.