Broken bead on Fender

daveymc29

daveymc29

Well-known member
Passenger side, rear fender on my coupe was welded at the bead at 12 o'clock if facing the side of the car, another way of saying it is at the top of the wheel arch. That weld has broken and there is about a two inch rip about straight up the fender. How is the best way to peel back the fold of the bead to replace the wire reinforcement? I have very few body tools, a few dollies and probably three good hammers and not much skill in working metal. I can usually pound out a dent if it is small and get it where I can paint it without it showing, but this would take some time and skill. I'm wondering if it also takes a special type of tool? I'm no welder, but have a friend or two that are good. My thinking is that laying the wire open is probably a lot of work and if done carefully it would be easy for someone to weld it up and I could then close the bead over the new wire and work on making it ready to paint, the painting part I'm okay with, Need pointers on getting to that point though.
Thanks,
Dave Mc Arthur
 
Mike V. Florida said:
There are two ways to get it done, The right way and farmers fix.

Farmers fix, weld in a length of "music wire" along side across the crack extending 6" in each direction.

The right way, http://www.modelahouse.com/tech/fender/fender1.html
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D I clicked on the link and started reading and all the while I am thinking "I'm liking the way this guy is doing this repair!". Towards the end of the Tutorial, I started to recognize things in the pictures so then I just shook my head at myself. Good prank on a failing memory!!
 
I saw that some of the vendors sell a length of fender replacement edge with wire already built in. Is this any good as I have a front fender with a chunk missing.

Mike
 
If you need a section I would ask around.

Odds are real good someone has a bad fender with a section. Then you know the piece is close enough and likely very cheap. I have a couple of fenders that I would sell to a local guy who needs pieces cheap.
 
i welding the bead up and then took a peice of flat iron and bent and formed it to fit inside the fender and layin the bead, (about 6 in) i pulled the fender in where it should be so the side was straight and clamped it then welded it in place. Now i do not have aweak spot to crack again. I then filed and put a little filler to smooth it out, its black and you cant even tell it was ever touched!
John
 
The way I know of doing this repair is to cut out the sheet metal parts that's damaged. cut back at least 2" from the weak area. Unroll the wired edge. You can do this with a pair of straight wire cutters or a small flat screw driver used as a lever to open the edge. You'll find the wire is rotted so cut it back until you have good material. Now grind everything clean. Make up a new piece of wire. (Fence wire work well) and weld it into place at each end and grind this smooth. Stand back and make sure the wire line is following the contour of the fender. Then you can cut a piece from a old fender or make up a repair panel for the sheet metal and weld it in. Here's a couple of shots from a Jag I restored, using this procedure to replace the fender panel.
John Poole "The Old Tinbasher"
 

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