Flare Fiasco Help

M

mjmck

New member
Good Morning Guys & Gals,

Long story short someone painted our JK factory Sahara flares with bedliner that faded badly. We purchased new Bushwacker knock off flatty flares from a vendor on eBay. Took 1 month and 2 separate packages to finally receive. I began installing them yesterday, and boy did was I in for a surprise. The kit was missing several pieces of hardware, so I made 2 separate trips out to the hardware store to purchase. The inner fender pieces didn't fit well at all and once they were installed I couldn't get the flare to bolt to the inner support pieces! The quality of this kit was just horrible.

Has anyone purchased this kit off eBay? If so how was the install? Has anyone installed the genuine Bushwacker kit? Was the install easy and did the pieces fit well? Any pictures of the installs of either. I'm extremely frustrated, I want to get these to work somehow but am at wits end...

The seller is refunding an unknown portion due to delayed shipping etc. but doesn't seem to care about my frustrations on quality of the pieces and install difficulties. I personally want to throw the kit away and purchase the Genuine Bushwacker. But by then i will be out close to $1k!

Help.....

Old flare removed and inner liner cut as directed:
Zrb6eQf.jpg


Complete hardware kit prior to install:
NiuDokx.png


Poor castings, the mating edge is all over the place:
smbZFTA.png


LED light install:
whSGltj.png

mwLDEJf.png


Dimples to predrill:
KRH9ZJk.jpg


Drilled dimples that don't line up at all:
wlUdTEA.jpg


Inner piece fitted into flare. I dont know how you would get these lined up!:
C6wrrlA.jpg


Wavy top edge:
eE8u4BS.jpg
 
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Sorry about your troubles. This is a perfect example why good quality parts can be more expensive. There is a ton of time involved in R&D. I have the Bushwacker flares on my WJ, and they weren't cheap and were a time-consuming process, HOWEVER, they fit absolutely perfect, every lines up, they hug the body perfectly, they are sturdy, haven't faded, etc. Every time I wash the Jeep, I am still amazed how well these fenders fit. Good luck with whatever you do, but I wouldn't continue with the knock-offs if I were in your shoes.
 
I had the bushwackers on my 2 door and they fit perfectly. Install didnt take me very long at all, and no drilling or grinding of the flares was needed. Sorry you got such a bad kit, but thats what typically happens with anything plastic thats a knockoff.

Really proves the whole "its expensive to be cheap" mantra.
 
WJCO said:
Sorry about your troubles. This is a perfect example why good quality parts can be more expensive. There is a ton of time involved in R&D. I have the Bushwacker flares on my WJ, and they weren't cheap and were a time-consuming process, HOWEVER, they fit absolutely perfect, every lines up, they hug the body perfectly, they are sturdy, haven't faded, etc. Every time I wash the Jeep, I am still amazed how well these fenders fit. Good luck with whatever you do, but I wouldn't continue with the knock-offs if I were in your shoes.
Click to expand...

I have honestly purchased knock-off flares before for a Silverado and they fit very well for the cost, but yes agree that a perfect fitment may not be there with a lower quality product. But how the heck can you sell a product I cant even get to bolt on!
 
Andy5160 said:
Sorry to hear about your experience, is there a way to trim it to make fit? If not maybe it makes sense to trim factory fenders, sand them down and paint as well
Click to expand...

Quite possibly, will have to wait for a full day for me to even think about tackling this project again. Still haven't seen a dime from the seller. He is getting negative feedback anyway for this mess.

Honestly I strongly dislike (politically correct) the wheels stickin' way past the flares look. Plus it flings crap all up the side even while just driving down the highway. I haven't seen a trimmed set of OEM's that offer the amount of coverage I like, otherwise that's the route I would go.
 
Wow. I installed the Bushwacker flat flares on my JKU with no snags. It was a little time consuming, but all pieces fit together very well & I was not missing any hardware. Scratch awl came in handy!

Sent from my Pixel XL using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
I quit reading at "knock off" and "install troubles". Buy the real thing or suffer the consequences.
 
No troubles at all with the install of my Bushwhackers. I did take the time to trim a little excess plastic from the edges of the pieces that mount to the body. Those were the only thing that I felt they could have done a better job on. Even then, that was 10 minutes at most with an exacto-knife, and you wouldn't have seen it once the actual flares were mounted, I'm just nit picky. The screws lined up perfectly, no issues there either.
 
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