Replacing fenders

[ali_c20]

If someone buys the LMC premium fenders some pics and a review would be great.

 

[Rakkasan]

If you can make it out to Atlanta that’s where Auto Metal Direct has there distribution warehouse. Was there last week and picked up new fenders, core support, and tailgate for my ‘79.
Not only did I not have to pay shipping but they also gave my 10% off just for buying it direct at there facility.

Good guys. Got to talking with one of their installers who was working on the charger on the show graveyard cars.

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[Ronno6]

If you can make it out to Atlanta that’s where Auto Metal Direct has there distribution warehouse. Was there last week and picked up new fenders, core support, and tailgate for my ‘79.
Not only did I not have to pay shipping but they also gave my 10% off just for buying it direct at there facility.

Good guys. Got to talking with one of their installers who was working on the charger on the show graveyard cars.

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Thanks for that.
As a coincidence. I had JUST called AMD !
Their warehouse in in Buford, a bit NE of Atlanta.
I will have to plan a trip to my Son and his family. They are about 45 miles away,
but we always get there early anyway.
EZ to drive out, pick up stuff, then fight Atlants traffic (UGH !) back to his place.

 

[Ronno6]

I did pick up my brand spanky new radiator support yesterday.
From the listing, I believed it to be genuine GM...it was not.
It IS, however, CAPA certified, and I purchased it for less than the $$$ of shipping a new one!

 

[Ronno6]

Thanks for that.
As a coincidence. I had JUST called AMD !
Their warehouse in in Buford, a bit NE of Atlanta.
I will have to plan a trip to my Son and his family. They are about 45 miles away,
but we always get there early anyway.
EZ to drive out, pick up stuff, then fight Atlants traffic (UGH !) back to his place.

Both Summit and Jegs are very high on AMD stuff. ZERO returns (if they can be believed..)
Starting to sound like that is the say to go...........

I will talk to my body man about them,tho.

 

[Rakkasan]

Thanks for that.
As a coincidence. I had JUST called AMD !
Their warehouse in in Buford, a bit NE of Atlanta.
I will have to plan a trip to my Son and his family. They are about 45 miles away,
but we always get there early anyway.
EZ to drive out, pick up stuff, then fight Atlants traffic (UGH !) back to his place.

Lol. I here ya. I’m about a half hour south of the airport. Left at rush hour and made it up there and back before lunch so traffic is not that bad unless there’s a wreck. Good luck.

 

[Ronno6]

I need an inner finder as well.
It appears that, when packaged for pick-up, I should be able to get all 3 in the back of my F150 even with a tonneau cover.

 

[eskimomann209]

I got a fender well from kegs and it was perfect
I have a fender from some place online and it feels like junk

If you push near the vertical marker light the whole thing sinks in
And sounds VERY tinny when knocked on
@Rakkasan does yours do the same
If not I’ll order a fender from AMD

 

[Super-Dave]

I purchased a '74 about 5 years ago. It had some rust in the usual places and what appeared to be a replaced door and fender.

I ordered an inner fender and a core support from LMC. Holes didn't line up and had a number of fitment issues... thin as tissue paper. The core support had the wrong vertical braces in the middle and wouldn't fit.

We forced the inner to fit after drilling out the holes. For the core support, which LMC insisted was correct, we ended up cutting out the rusted parts of the OEM and the parts we needed from the LMC import, and welded them onto the OEM and tossed the rest of the import in the scrap pile. It was a little challenging welding thin crap to OEM but we were left with little choice.

Import fenders are a nightmare. Missing holes for rubber pads. Dimensions are +/- a quarter inch making decent gaps a virtual impossibility. If I had it to do over again, I would buy a decent OEM and cut and splice the parts I needed between the two and have OEM thickness as well.

And don't get me started on the import doors and trying to marry American internals to a Chinese door....

In the past I have shipped large parts from one coast to the other (stepside fenders in a custom wood crate) using Greyhound. They are very affordable and like to fill their luggage compartments whenever possible. But asking people to drive 5 miles to their local Greyhound (and yes, I had already checked the location before asking and offered to pay for shipping, time and gas) is like asking for their last remaining kidney. Nine months later, the part is still on CL.

Working on these trucks is a life changing event every day, but we still do it. We must be insane.

 

[Ronno6]

There are 3 CAPA certified manufacturers of 81-87 fenders, 2 in Taiwan, 1 in China, but I have not been able to find out who distributes them in the States.
I will give mine a good once over to see if I can fix the rust and dents before I get too serious about replacing them.
As indicated before, the AMD stuff is highly recommended by Jegs and Summit (who also sells 3 other brands.)

 

[shiftpro]

We must be insane.

What choice do we have? Mortgage our life for an 80K truck that is a piece of ****? You're right, we're insane (but for other reasons!).

I do feel your pain with the useless metal game..

 

[Rakkasan]

I need an inner finder as well.
It appears that, when packaged for pick-up, I should be able to get all 3 in the back of my F150 even with a tonneau cover.

Just for FYI if you go to AMD for pickup they won’t package the inners. They’ll give them to you just as they have them on the shelves. I guess that’s where the 10% off came into it.

 

[Rakkasan]

I got a fender well from kegs and it was perfect
I have a fender from some place online and it feels like junk

If you push near the vertical marker light the whole thing sinks in
And sounds VERY tinny when knocked on
@Rakkasan does yours do the same
If not I’ll order a fender from AMD

Just checked and nope. Want to say it’s 16ga steel but can’t find my gauge. There pretty solid but like everyone else says and per the packaging there all made in Taiwan.

 

[Ronno6]

Just for FYI if you go to AMD for pickup they won’t package the inners. They’ll give them to you just as they have them on the shelves. I guess that’s where the 10% off came into it.

That be fine with me......

Just checked and nope. Want to say it’s 16ga steel but can’t find my gauge. There pretty solid but like everyone else says and per the packaging there all made in Taiwan.

Heaviest I've seen advertised is 18ga............

 

[dhenderz]

Not trying to hijack your thread, but I am facing a very similar issue/question. Time to start repairing the cab on the 77. Looked at Brothers, NPD, Tabco & AMD. Below is the summary for the parts required (pretty typical list of parts). Interesting that NPD offers free shipping on an order of this size. That, combined with their slightly favorable pricing on some of the parts, puts them clearly at lowest total cost. AMD's shipping is just plain crazy. And some of their prices are way out of line with the others. So it seems they are out of the running regardless.

Of these companies, I believe Tabco makes their parts in the US. Not sure about the others.

So what are your thoughts and experience with these companies? If I go with NPD am I going to get LMC (Taiwan) junk?

Also, interesting that Tabco does not carry the OE style floor pans. They only have the drop in style, which I do not want. So regardless I won't be going with their pans.

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