Pulling rear fenders?

[SA E30]

I've been struggling to pull the rear fenders on my car.

I have already pulled the front ones, but now I want to pull the rears out and they're being stubborn.

In the rear I have already rolled the fenders and pulled the vertical lip out with a hammer and dolly, but now I actually need to pull the rears out to match the fronts, and the double skin is having none of it!

I've had some intentions of cutting the inner sheet metal, pulling it and then re welding the skins back together. I'm just a bit worried about creating waves.

Any ideas?

[shiboujin]

The rear arches aren't welded together. They have seam sealer. You won't be able to pull it. You can unfold the metal, remove all the seam sealer, then roll, then try to weld it back together but good luck with that noise.

[SA E30]

Yoshi, I'm pretty certain they are welded. The arch to the wheel well. At least that's what I can see and was told by Garey on the forum, who has welded m3 quarter panels to his car.

[shiboujin]

You're talking to a guy that tried, then cut off his wheel arches. Maybe early models are welded, but my car was seam sealed and not welded.

[lovnbmws]

I did this to my 87is. I started with the front like you with hammer and dolly and when I got to the rear I found a nasty surprise. The seams were spot welded and seam sealed. I spent a lot of time with a grinder cutting out the spot welds to separate the panels. The seam sealer makes a very nasty smell when it gets hot… do yourself a favor and stay away from the black smoke. Because of all the under body coting and seam sealer I opted not to re-weld to avoid inhaling any more carcinogens and filed the gap with fiberglass filler. I still have alot of work left to do...

[SA E30]

Looking great, I did much the same as you just described. I rolled out the lips ground the lips back at the spot welds and then hammered the inner wheel well flush with the outer skin, ground the inner skin a bit more then folded the outer skin back, then rolled and pulled the fender out with a 50mm steel pipe, adjusting the coil overs with each pass to get the desired pull.

[bwawuz02]

@lovnbmws, what are your rear wheel/tire specs?

[Vivek]

I think they're like style 71's, ummm 17x7(.5?). Looks like he's missing a lug bolt...

[Greilly]

I am new to the forum. I have a 1990 325ic convertible. My son mashed the rear fender so I am replacing my right rear quarter with a unit from a local junk yard. my manual says a lot of weird things that seem counter-intuitive. im working through it. One section shows that the outer skin (fender) is bonded to the inner fender using a panel sealing compound. the sealer is shown to be used around the fuel filler door and around the lip of the wheel arch. when replacing the outer fender skin, the manual describes how the arch is folded, so the inner fender is crimped with the outer. I get all that. are these who metal sections also sealed together with panel sealer? Could they also be spot welded? I can't see any obvious spot weld divits, like i can elsewhere on the fender. how can I get the old fender off without distorting the shape of the metal? I can cut as much as I want off the donor car, but it is not appearent that cutting a portion of the inner fender will make the job of seperating the steel without distortion easier. and if I do cut a liberal portion of the inner fender away, where should I make that cut? the manual covers a lot of bodywork specific to the convertible, including this proceedure, but i get the impression the author assumes the panel removed will be discarded and not reused. therefore it is of little use. can anyone help tell me how to seperate the fender specifically in the wheel arch area?