The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Seams in reproduction fenders?

What do people do to fill the seams in reproduction front fenders? They look lapped and spot welded. More welding and grinding? Fill the seam with putty? I have a set of original fenders I’ve been working on, but they are so thin in some places I’m thinking of getting reproductions.

I’ve never seen seams on the exposed portion of fenders on AD trucks so a picture would be great.

Depending on where the thin area on the original fender is determines the method used. They make patches for the lower portion of the back of the front fender and the front of the back fender. In any other area, a patch is formed from 18 gauge metal and butt welded into place, ground smooth, then Bondo’d over.

The fenders I have sat (on another truck) for a very long time. Very small amount of rust through, which I can fix easily with patches. They are so pitted that I’m afraid that the sand blaster will leave them looking like they are made out of screen. Not a spec on paint left on them now.

The reproduction fenders look to have a vertical seam below the headlight. I’ve never seen a finished truck like this, and I’m sure some of the trucks I have seen have aftermarket fenders so I’m assuming people have a standard way to fill this seam.

I welded the seam, and body filler to blend it in.

Don't know any history but I too have seen what your talking about. Maybe GM had a mold/die change at one of the plants?

FWIW - Below is a screen grab of one of the reproduction fenders mentioned that shows the "seam". Every one of the vendors I saw these advertised in web ads showed the exact same "seam" in their offered fenders. Makes you suspect that the fenders are all made by the same source company (maybe?) and it's all that's available these days, besides original fenders.

I've seen that seam on pics of reproduction fenders. It's probably there because it was cheaper to form the fender and then put the seam there rather than drawing the steel in a single piece like GM did.

If that's a lap seam that's spot welded, I'd be inclined to cut it and butt weld the seam in a single thickness, then metal finish it and maybe a little filler. If you're not going for a show quality restoration, then maybe use some seam sealer on the underside and use filler on the front to blend it in. Robert (MPandC) has photos of a "ghost" line in the otherwise flawless tailgate off a modern truck where someone used a lap seam for a repair. The double thickness changes the expansion/contraction properties as opposed to the adjacent single thickness.

Pa Farmer, If your sandblaster knows his stuff, you might have him do one of the original fenders to see what happens. Original steel is better than repop IMO. Maybe there's enough metal left that you can use a skim coat of filler (recommending the stuff with metal in it for that.)