- Joined
- Apr 3, 2022
- Messages
- 453
I Installed the WH Gorilla Flares today. Great product. I spent several hours looking at a ton of pics on the web of Broncos that have these installed. There is a large variety of prefrences for installation. Becasue these are flexible, they can be installed in multiple differant ways. Forward, further back, higher, lower, and even stretched some. Really great product!
Moving from the rear of the Bronco forward, almost everyone installs them with the rear flare almost touching the bottom edge of where the taillight housing and rear quarters meet. The Flare then goes up and is anywhere from 3 inches below the body line to 1/2" if running huge tires. I set mine up at about 2 1/2" below body line at the top. However, the real variant comes with how folks install the next section from the bodyline down to where the end of the flare hits the bottom of the quarter panel. Some folks have this very vertical. probably 70' or 80' down. This puts the end of the flare about 5 or 6 inches away from the rocker panel seam. It also emphasises the wheel opening to make the tire look much closer to the front of the wheel well than the back. Others move the end of the flare up closer to the rocker panel seam which decreases the angle the flare goes down and also makes the distance from the front of the tire to the flare larger. On the front, pretty much the same issues except in reverse. The front of the flare pretty much ends right at the seam between the fender and the grill on almost all installs. However, the rear of the flare can be mounted close to or away from the rocker seam.
I mounted the front flare with the same measurement from the rocker seam as the distance the rear flare had to the rocker seam. It looks symmetric. The two angles of the flares that go down to the rockers are also closer to one another (the rear is still greater than the front but not nearly as much as many of the installs out there). This also makes the distance the tire appears from the rocker on front and the back the same and I like the symmetry of that look as well. I really like how they turned out and how they look. Few consideration:
1. If you mount the rear flare close to the rocker seam you will be eliminating the quarter panel support rod. Not a bog deal because the very small section of quarter panel left does not require any support...it is very rigid.
2. If you have both the main and aux fuel tanks as I do, the flare comes pretty close to the aux tank opening. I actually cheated a bit on that side of the install and lowered the flare 1/8" lower to give me more clearance. No biggie in that you cant see both sides at the same time and 1/8" would be hard to spot. (The front on that side matches the back).
3. In the front, the inner fender well/kick panel area shows just a bit below the flare. That section is just a double flat section and I might trim an inch or two off of it...not sure yet.
4. As everyone says and the instructions make clear from WH, the most important thing is to get them parralel with the body line. I measured twenty times I think to get them right. I used lightly clamped vice grips to hold the flare in place rather than tape. It worked great.
Like I said, lots of ways to mount these and do whatever you think looks best. Just sharing what I did. Overall, very nice product. I'll now take them off until final assembly post-body work and paint.
Moving from the rear of the Bronco forward, almost everyone installs them with the rear flare almost touching the bottom edge of where the taillight housing and rear quarters meet. The Flare then goes up and is anywhere from 3 inches below the body line to 1/2" if running huge tires. I set mine up at about 2 1/2" below body line at the top. However, the real variant comes with how folks install the next section from the bodyline down to where the end of the flare hits the bottom of the quarter panel. Some folks have this very vertical. probably 70' or 80' down. This puts the end of the flare about 5 or 6 inches away from the rocker panel seam. It also emphasises the wheel opening to make the tire look much closer to the front of the wheel well than the back. Others move the end of the flare up closer to the rocker panel seam which decreases the angle the flare goes down and also makes the distance from the front of the tire to the flare larger. On the front, pretty much the same issues except in reverse. The front of the flare pretty much ends right at the seam between the fender and the grill on almost all installs. However, the rear of the flare can be mounted close to or away from the rocker seam.
I mounted the front flare with the same measurement from the rocker seam as the distance the rear flare had to the rocker seam. It looks symmetric. The two angles of the flares that go down to the rockers are also closer to one another (the rear is still greater than the front but not nearly as much as many of the installs out there). This also makes the distance the tire appears from the rocker on front and the back the same and I like the symmetry of that look as well. I really like how they turned out and how they look. Few consideration:
1. If you mount the rear flare close to the rocker seam you will be eliminating the quarter panel support rod. Not a bog deal because the very small section of quarter panel left does not require any support...it is very rigid.
2. If you have both the main and aux fuel tanks as I do, the flare comes pretty close to the aux tank opening. I actually cheated a bit on that side of the install and lowered the flare 1/8" lower to give me more clearance. No biggie in that you cant see both sides at the same time and 1/8" would be hard to spot. (The front on that side matches the back).
3. In the front, the inner fender well/kick panel area shows just a bit below the flare. That section is just a double flat section and I might trim an inch or two off of it...not sure yet.
4. As everyone says and the instructions make clear from WH, the most important thing is to get them parralel with the body line. I measured twenty times I think to get them right. I used lightly clamped vice grips to hold the flare in place rather than tape. It worked great.
Like I said, lots of ways to mount these and do whatever you think looks best. Just sharing what I did. Overall, very nice product. I'll now take them off until final assembly post-body work and paint.
