Plastic fender liner replacements

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
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toyfiats
Posts: 313
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 9:24 pm
Your car is a: 1981 Fiat Spider
Location: Concord, CA

Plastic fender liner replacements

Post by toyfiats »

I know the earlier Spiders came with a little panel to protect the inner fender cavity, but has anyone come up with an alternative to the plastic fender liners that came on the Spider 2000s? Mine are finally cracked beyond repair, but between wider wheels/tires and lowering it I'm always scrapping them, and have had to trim them (thus weakening them) over the years to keep the rubbing to a minimum. Before I go and spend $150+ on a new set I was curious to see what others have done (if anything).
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bradartigue
Posts: 2183
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:35 pm
Your car is a: 1970 Sport Spider
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Plastic fender liner replacements

Post by bradartigue »

The replacements aren't as good as OEM, not by a long shot, they're just cheap thin plastic. Cosmetically they look fine, and they seem to fit nicely. The bad thing about the liners, OEM or not, is they tend to trap moisture and crud between them and the car body, exacerbating the very thing they were installed to prevent.

As a preventative measure you can remove the liners, clean and coat the fender interiors with good (SEM) fender liner or trunk bed spray, then install the new liners over this for the cosmetic part if you like that.

Most enthusiasts keep their cars so clean these things aren't relevant.
wizard124
Posts: 752
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:27 pm
Your car is a: 1980 124 spider FI
Location: Sheridan, WY exSan Rafael, CA

Re: Plastic fender liner replacements

Post by wizard124 »

Image

The patch was a cut piece of rubber. I think if my liners had multiple cracks, I would try to lay some fiberglass to the backside.
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