Fender Bead Repair

M

mrraford

Senior Member
I've got a nice '31 fender with one flaw. The wire in the bead where the front curves back before slanting down has broken and the bead is beyond repair for about an 8 inch section along the front lip of the fender.
It has been many years since an older friend opened a drawer in his shop to produce a roll of bead replacement material to fix a similar project. He and his shop are gone now.
I see that Snyders sells a fender bead repair piece that looks promising but I'm wondering if that item can be adapted to the curve of the fender. Anybody here have experience with making this type of repair?
Barring that, anybody here want to share how they have dealt with such repairs? Are there materials available these days to make these repairs?
I would appreciate those with experience sharing. Thanks
 
Thanks for that advice Bob. My project is a bit different than they were addressing at Lionsgate. I need to replace the bead roll as it has been damaged beyond a pry and reroll stage.
Looking for source and experience with doing that.
 
Post a pic.
There are certain curvatures on an A fender that can only be talked from another fender or made. I make most of my patches to repair fenders. Because of the complexity of the visual curve I generally don’t sell patches for others to install …it takes some fit and tweaking it
I’ve have a piece of full length bead sold by them. I greatly respect Snyder’s efforts to our hobby. That bead is not acceptable by me…..hanging on shop wall.
 
Some folks have all the neat big mechanical tools for forming metal but most things can be made with a collection of basic hand tools like hammers, swages, and forming blocks or shot bags. I still use oxy/acetylene for gas welding. I haven't been on Metal Meet for a while but there is some good info on that site. One of the MAFCA restoration series of books has some good photos of a fender bead and patch repair.
 
I used 1/8" stainless steel rod instead of steel wire. Stiffer, but it won't rust and handles re-crimping better by staying in place.
 
I've seen the broken ends butted together (or nearly together) and welded, then reinforced with something like a 3" nail. The final appearance was restored with a bit of bog sanded to shape.
 
The serrations can be restored with a thread file …I forget the count
It’s good to weld the ends of donor bead wire to the wire in the fender
 
Some of the vendors have a bead patch that runs the entire fender. I used it but just cut the section I needed.
 
“Some of the vendors have a bead patch that runs the entire fender. I used it but just cut the section I needed.”

I’ve had those in the shop and the bead did not match well enough to splice. I make my own. But may have gotten better.
A bit pricy for me too.
 
change the fender out- save the old one to practice on till you get it right.......


Ive sold real decent front fenders for 150. you can find them if you look.
 
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