I need what's considered to be "the best" method for DIY fender rolling.
I've been able to find many links, but was wondering what you've all tried, or if you had favorite write-ups that you could link to.
Or does Tire Rack still offer rental of their tool just to make things easy?
I'm not concerned in the slightest about cracking paint, i'll just rattle bomb back over it for the time being.
I used a baseball bat. How's that for DIY?
Here's some video support.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDTK9IjKIYU
bravenrace wrote: I used a baseball bat. How's that for DIY?
Ditto.
bravenrace wrote: I used a baseball bat. How's that for DIY?
This is the method i always find, and i'm fine with doing it, i'm just looking for the best write-up at this point. 
splitime wrote: Here's some video support.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDTK9IjKIYU
Thanks! I'll give that a watch when i get home tonite.
I'm hoping a baseball bat will be sufficient for what i need to do. I need to roll the lip on the rear fenders, and get maybe half an inch clearance further.
The tire rack tool is sweet if you can get your hands on one. You really have a lot more control.
Somewhere on the web is a write-up of a homemade version, fabricated from a junkyard VW jack and a roller from a boat trailer.
But the baseball bat method works!
To avoid cracking, use a heat gun. Get the paint nice and warm and it'll deform smoothly.
We have one of the Tire Rack rollers here at work, I used it to do some mighty rolling on one of our cars. Great piece of kit.
I used a piece of 3" exhaust tubing we had laying around, since the radius was larger than an alum baseball bat, which I've done as well, it tended not to 'wrinkle' the lip as much, but both times were for track cars whose 'appearance' is a distant item # 98 on the importance list...
I would think any person who frequents this board can figure out how to make an eastwood style roller
This is one I made out of a VW jack
Tip cut the center out of an old steel wheel to avoid any machining headaches
This one I made from scratch. A straight up copy of the eastwood unit
Both work fine but to be honest. If I just need to flatten the lip I do it faster and better with a body hammer and a dolly.
BBB.
Dr. Hess wrote: BBB.
Lost me there.... 
ditchdigger wrote: I would think any person who frequents this board can figure out how to make an eastwood style roller This is one I made out of a VW jack
berkeleying awesome. Kudos.
I've seen the baseball bat/rolling pin/exhaust tubing methods in action, all with pretty horrible results.
I can build one of those, no problem. I need to get about 2" of 'stretch' to cover the fat tires I got. Will the roller or the baseball bat method work to get that much clearance?
Jensenman wrote: I can build one of those, no problem. I need to get about 2" of 'stretch' to cover the fat tires I got. Will the roller or the baseball bat method work to get that much clearance?
I need the answer to this as well. I'm looking for up to an inch of stretch. Would rather just use the baseball bat method because i can't justify buying the tool from TireRack for $270 or whatever it is at the moment.
IIRC, a few years ago, some guys locally just chipped in and bought one, did all their cars in one day, then put the roller up on ebay/CL. See if some local autoxers will do a group buy...or build one.
ditchdigger wrote: I would think any person who frequents this board can figure out how to make an eastwood style roller
The frame I can do, but is that truly a boat roller? What is the wheel and where can one be sourced?
Please and thank you
The amount of stretch available is going to depend on your fender design, I think. I was able to get about 1" out of the Miata front fenders before I stopped trying, and you can't tell unless you know what you're looking for. I probably could have picked up some more, but I didn't need it.
93celicaGT2 wrote:Dr. Hess wrote: BBB.Lost me there....
BBB - Base Ball Bat. As in BBBTH, like:
17YO WM S/P BBBTH
Translates as:
17 year old white male status/post BaseBall Bat To Head...
A softball bat will work too, if you need more room. As will a hunk of pipe or some tubing. And I rolled the fender off the tire on the MR2 (RIP) with a tree branch found on the side of the road after wrapping it (the MR2) around that F150 (damn F150s).
93celicaGT2 wrote:Jensenman wrote: I can build one of those, no problem. I need to get about 2" of 'stretch' to cover the fat tires I got. Will the roller or the baseball bat method work to get that much clearance?I need the answer to this as well. I'm looking for up to an inch of stretch. Would rather just use the baseball bat method because i can't justify buying the tool from TireRack for $270 or whatever it is at the moment.
We pulled out about 1" w/the exhaust pipe, but like I said before, ONLY DO THIS IF YOU DO NOT CARE HOW IT LOOKS (i.e. function > form)...
Dr. Hess wrote:93celicaGT2 wrote:BBB - Base Ball Bat. As in BBBTH, like: 17YO WM S/P BBBTH Translates as: 17 year old white male status/post BaseBall Bat To Head... A softball bat will work too, if you need more room. As will a hunk of pipe or some tubing. And I rolled the fender off the tire on the MR2 (RIP) with a tree branch found on the side of the road after wrapping it (the MR2) around that F150 (damn F150s).Dr. Hess wrote: BBB.Lost me there....
My brain didn't want to separate Base and Ball i guess. My bad!
Raze wrote:93celicaGT2 wrote:We pulled out about 1" w/the exhaust pipe, but like I said before, ONLY DO THIS IF YOU DO NOT CARE HOW IT LOOKS (i.e. function > form)...Jensenman wrote: I can build one of those, no problem. I need to get about 2" of 'stretch' to cover the fat tires I got. Will the roller or the baseball bat method work to get that much clearance?I need the answer to this as well. I'm looking for up to an inch of stretch. Would rather just use the baseball bat method because i can't justify buying the tool from TireRack for $270 or whatever it is at the moment.
I can always go back over it at a later date when i repaint. A couple ripples (probably won't be bad) and some cracked paint (likely to be horrible) i don't care about at the moment. Nothing that can't be fixed with some bondo and sanding, right? 
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