trimming cladding

[AK Falco]

If you go on the Harbor Freight website, & find that particular instrument of certain destruction, you'll find that it's a Japan saw, which makes a straight, relatively smooth, cut.

They cut on the "pull" stroke, so they take a little getting used to...

Although I can definitely see the humor in trimming the cladding with a machete......

Ldub is right these japan saw's are extremely sharp and will cut anything, wood, plastic, cheese, rib eye steak! probably your plate too.

[VX KAT]

I took the plunge today and ordered my 285/60-18 rubber.....so that means my cladding will need to have some trimming when I get them installed.

I've read several posts that mention a "triangle" shape cut out from the front of the front wheel well and then I saw the great pic Ldub attached above. Going to print that and take it to the install shop for their reference so they can do it.

Question: Hopefully wont have to be doing the BFH routine to any metal in there, is there any other cladding areas that need trimmed? (No lift, just the bigger tires above). Don't want any surprises if possible.

[Ldub]

I took the plunge today and ordered my 285/60-18 rubber.....so that means my cladding will need to have some trimming when I get them installed.

I've read several posts that mention a "triangle" shape cut out from the front of the front wheel well and then I saw the great pic Ldub attached above. Going to print that and take it to the install shop for their reference so they can do it.

Question: Hopefully wont have to be doing the BFH routine to any metal in there, is there any other cladding areas that need trimmed? (No lift, just the bigger tires above). Don't want any surprises if possible.

I can't take credit for the pic...just wish I could remember who to give photo cred to...
I horked it from another members gallery...

As long as you're mounting the new skinz on stock rims, you should be OK...but there are never any iron clad guarantees against "no surprises"...

Can't wait to see the pics...:_drool:

[MSHardeman]

Kat (Sue), with the tires that you are describing you should only have to trim the point off of the front cladding which is a MUCH smaller piece from what is shown in the picture Dub posted.

If you stand next to the front tire (let's use the drivers side as an example) and look right in front of the tire you will see that the cladding comes to a point. This point is at the very bottom of the cladding at the front of the wheel well. The only thing you really need to do with the 285/60/18's is knock that point off. I turned my wheels until they hit that point to give me a reference on where to start cutting. I HATE to maul my baby so I cut very little off to begin with and then kept sanding and sanding until I had just cleared the tire.

If you went with the Nitto Terra Grapplers that should be all you need to trim. I was stock height with the TG's for my first three Moab's and never had a rubbing problem. Moncha had the TG's and was stock height this year and I don't believe that he had any problems either.

You're going to LOVE your new tires.

[VX KAT]

I went with the Cooper Zeon LTZ, it's a new tire and looks very similar to the TGs and the Toyo Open Country A/T, a bit more aggressive than the O/C. RiffRaff pointed them out to me. Weigh 49 lbs (just a tad less than the O/Cs, and about 3+ lbs less than TGs)

They're hard to find, had to order them and will take almost 10 days. These tires come with a 50,000 mile warranty too, which is almost unheard of I thought on tires like this. They're UTQC rating is 520 so they're going to last a lot longer than all the ultra high performance tires I'm used to putting on my cars (in the past).

This economy is really different.....negotiated with local tire shop against the PepBoys "buy3 get 4th free offer".....PepBoys was $161/tire +m/b + tax. Got the tire shop to include a free alignment (when needed on VX or FJ), free rotating and balancing for 10 times, "membership" in their tire club, free flat fixing (plugs), all for $720 out the door (including AZ sales tax).....plus they're local so I don't have to drive to Phoenix Pep Boys 90 miles for anything. They're also going to take my old tires on consignment. I also have them listed on Craigslist.

I LOVE to negotiate on all "car" things, I love torturing car sales people the most though! They assume I'm just an innocent damsel in distress and don't know a thing about tires or cars....ha ha ha...are they wrong!

Will let you know how they fit and post pics too.
These pics aren't in my size just some "real" pics I found online that gave better perspective on tires since I can't find them anywhere in any size to see in person.

ah, one question....why didn't I get these BEFORE Moab????

[Marlin]

Sue,
Which wheels are you going to put them on? How did the putty hold up on the chipped wheel?
Those tires look sweet, leave it to Riffraff to find some unique hidden tire out there...

[VX KAT]

OEMs, not getting new wheels right now ($$).

The MightyPutty held onto the rim most of the day on Wed. I tried to take any rocks on the left so that right front wouldn't be as stressed, especially air downed like it was to 18 psi. Those lip edges were sharp! It finally fell off shortly before we finished Hell's Revenge, but THANK YOU for thinking that up, I'm sure it helped the sidewall not get sliced wide open.

That big missing lip chunk was just too severe for me so I met up with "circmand" on Sunday in some podunk little town in Northern AZ and bought one of his used 18" OEM rims. Now the chipped lip rim will be retired to the shed (and one day maybe used as a full size spare). I'm thinking I may buy another OEM rim from circmand in a while. His remaining ones had road rash on the rim, but still would be a great backup.

[rowhard]

Sue,
Which wheels are you going to put them on? How did the putty hold up on the chipped wheel?
Those tires look sweet, leave it to Riffraff to find some unique hidden tire out there...

Not bad for a lazy officer as you once said