Install XR fender flares

[dpike]

Green X and red check mark.

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[Sparty]

I ordered the XR fender flares a while ago and they arrived today. Took me about 1hr 20min to do and that was figuring out what is needed and taking all the pics to do this write up. I did it during my lunch break (was working at home). I would guess most people could do this in an hour or less.
One thing I was surprised by is each fender requires drilling 3 additional holes, but this is into plastic so it is easy.

Here is what I did and what I used:

Tools:

- Drill​

- 1/8 & 1/4 inch drill bits (3mm & 6mm)​

- Plastic rivet tool (this is the one I thought looked good and it worked well for me, Amazon)​

- 6 x 30mm plastic rivets (Amazon ones I thought looked good and happy with how they performed)​

- Trim tool, christmas tree tool or small screw driver to remove drilled out rivets​

- Angled cutters or knife. I have a pair of cutters that are straight bladed and they work great for this or zipties when you're snipping up against a surface. Highly recommend a set if you don't have one already.​

Parts: I'd recommend talking to Benny @AllMoparParts.com, for OEM parts. Great prices and customer service.
- XR rubicon fender flares (set of 4 - PN: JLRECONFLAREEXT)

68536652AA (front right)​

68536653AA (front left)​

68536654AA (rear right)​

68536655AA (rear left)​

How they are packaged. My fronts were a little twisted when installing but they worked themselves out ok. If yours are really bad you could soften with a little heat from a heatgun to help form them as needed. Just be careful to not over heat them.

A quick how to use these rivets, yeah its basic, but if someone hasn't before it lets them see what is done before they have parts in hand to figure it out.

Because of the loose fit, I had to put them in the gun. Push the gun firmly against the surface (perpendicular to surface) and then squeeze the handle. I found for this gun, rivets and application I had to reset and squeeze again because the pull wasn't long enough.

Rear Install
I started in the rear. Clean the area you're doing the install and dry.
Drill out the 5 existing rivets that need to be removed with 1/8in drill bit. Red arrows show which.

Pull the rivets out of the fender. I used this tool, but a trim tool or small screw driver will work. Do your best to not scratch the fenders, I didn't scratch mine but I think they look like they would scratch easy.

A note about drilling out the rivets.

The fenders (F & R) are hollow and I think I found all my rivet tips in the driveway with a little shaking of the fender and liner. If I missed any I'm sure they will shake themselves out in a short while. If you're concerned by this, you can pull back the fender liner to pull any that don't immediately fall out, but I wouldn't worry. You remove the rivet and it is just a 1/4in piece of the rivet head that is left which you've mostly drilled away already.​

Loosely install the fender flare. I did this by pulling the rivet until i felt a hair of tension. This makes it tight enough to hold, but not so tight that you can't move it. I put in all rivets of existing holes in. This allowed me to move it around a little to position it exactly where I want. They have quite a bit of play between the fender flare and the rivet size so I will see how this plays out when they get knocked around offroading. But on the fender flare the existing holes are all larger than the 3 new holes are which are a snug fit for the rivets. I think the 3 new holes will really help hold it in position.

Once fender flare is in position tighten the rivets down until the stem snaps off. For me most break with part of the shaft sticking out. I waited to trim these until I was done installing the 3 new holes and rivets.

Drill pilot hole w/ 1/8in drill bit in center of the 3 holes on the fender. Then chase it with a 1/4in drill bit making sure both times you are going in perpendicular to the surface. I have a bit of experience with this stuff and didn't use a center punch, if you are feeling nervous a center punch can be helpful to prevent drill bit walk. With soft plastic like this I just push into it hard and do full speed and don't get walking... I use a center punch with metal.

Trim the stems up to make them look nice. I used straight bladed cutters, but a knife or other such tools would all work fine.

A note about drilling with fender flare installed:

At first I thought of installing the fender flare with a couple sacrificial rivets to be removed and then drilling the holes. I don't think this is a good idea because there is nothing holding the fender and fender liner together to get those holes aligned. Also if the fender flare is installed you're not going to miss your mark. And lastly if the fender flare is tight against the fender, I do see any issue the fender bulging or something causing a fitment issue. I think there are many more fitment issue potentials drilling the holes w/o the fender flare installed.​

Front Fender liners
You'll need to turn your wheel a little to get access to the rear couple rivets.

Drill out and remove the 6 stock rivets (red arrows). The lower most one is left in place.

As I did with the rear I recommend loosely setting the fender flare in place with partial pull on rivets to get the alignment where you like and then tightening rivets until the stems snap off.
Drill the 3 new holes as required like with the rear, 1/8 drill bit for pilot and 1/4in chase. Be precise and don't round out the hole because that will make for a loose rivet fitment.

Repeat on both sides and your done. Here are some before and after pics to show coverage. I'm running 17x8.5 w/ 0 offset, or 4.75in backspace Method 701s for reference and Nitto Ridge Grappler 35x12.5-17 which have only about 1000 miles on them so far
Before:

After: Wheel is turned a little to the right (passenger) side here and not perfectly straight.

here is the splash up on the stock fenders. After I drive in some rain I’ll report if I see rooster tails or not and hopefully a reduce splash up. But the shape of the flare is thin so not much surface for dirt to stick to.

Update after some rain driving.
I don’t see the rooster tails coming off the front tires. There may still be some but is small enough that I’m not seeing them while driving. Clearly there is some water coming in front and over the flare on the front and some rear kick up onto the front fender. Rear flare looks like it is doing about the same, clearly an improvement with some kick up front and rear of the fender flare.

Dude....@brewski !!

This was perfect. 10/10. As others mentioned, you should be a techincal writer.

I mean...this was by no means rocket science, BUT....with a lack of instructions with the kit, this saved me a TON of time thanks to you. No matching up or going back and forth. It was straight-forward. Probably got the whole thing done in 25mins.

A+ and a star for the day for you

 

[brewski]

Dude....@brewski !!

This was perfect. 10/10. As others mentioned, you should be a techincal writer.

I mean...this was by no means rocket science, BUT....with a lack of instructions with the kit, this saved me a TON of time thanks to you. No matching up or going back and forth. It was straight-forward. Probably got the whole thing done in 25mins.

A+ and a star for the day for you

Thanks. I design medical devices for a living and started that career doing Ops writing service and assembly instructions, I’ve had some practice . I like being helpful and it gives warm fuzzies knowing the efforts I put in helps others.

 

[GrayWolf.Overland]

For Sport, Sahara and Willy's fenders, you can still install these but have to slightly modify the rear flares to fit the curves on the non-rubicon fender.

On the rear I had to cut 2 pressure relief notches then use a heat gun to slowly bend and fit the rear fender extension to match my fender's line. (see 3rd picture)

I installed these today on my JLU Sahara

 

[PDXSting]

Great write-up! Also love the green and bronze combo

 

[Onward4x4]

I got mine installed on the Willys yesterday.

I did have to trim the rears to get them to fit due to the curve that fits Rubi fenders but not Sport fenders. Fronts were not a problem.

I put them on as I had to push out the wheels a bit to eliminate a small rub that developed after installing the lift.

Again, thanks to @brewski for the great write up!

Looks great. You think you can take more detailed pics of the rear? I am concerned about the bending - for some it hasn't worked that well. From the picture, so far as I can tell, yours looks pretty nice and evenly bent. So more detail pictures would really be heklpful--if it's possible. Thanks in advance.

 

[JL MADDOG]

Looks great. You think you can take more detailed pics of the rear? I am concerned about the bending - for some it hasn't worked that well. From the picture, so far as I can tell, yours looks pretty nice and evenly bent. So more detail pictures would really be heklpful--if it's possible. Thanks in advance.

I will take more pics.

Do you want to see them from the side plus the top where they mate up to the OEM fender?

 

[Onward4x4]

I will take more pics.

Do you want to see them from the side plus the top where they mate up to the OEM fender?

Thank you--Awesome!!!
Side, top and where you had to drill holes. And anything else you think is helpful!!
Thank you so much!!

 

[JL MADDOG]

Thank you--Awesome!!!
Side, top and where you had to drill holes. And anything else you think is helpful!!
Thank you so much!!

I can't show you where I drilled holes but the info on where and how many is shown on the Hot To posted on page 1 of this thread by @brewski. I did the install exactly as he has it posted with the exception of trimming the rear flares. All that took was some measuring, angle matching and a dremel tool with a cut off wheel. I did do some quick filing and smoothing of the cut edges to remove any burrs.

I didn't have to bend three of the four rear flares. One was a bit off so while I worked on the other three I left the fourth one sitting on the driveway in the sun. It was pliable enough to bend in the right directions and I installed it while it was still warm. Once it was fastened to the fender and cooled, it formed to the fender quite well.

I did have to cut back the front of the rear flares as the Sport fender opening is slightly different than the Rubicon fenders. I went back about an inch from the end and cut them off at an angle that matched-ish the angle on the front flare.

 

[JL MADDOG]

Thank you--Awesome!!!
Side, top and where you had to drill holes. And anything else you think is helpful!!
Thank you so much!!

Here you go.

Rear fender, from the back:

Top of rear flare:

Angle cut on leading edge of rear flare. Note that just forward of the cut the Sport/Willys fender opening starts to curve. The flares will not bend enough without cupping and twisting so I cut it just behind the rivet shown for best placement.

Rear flare looking from front to rear:

Front flare looking towards the rear:

 

[Rock Hopper]

Looks great. You think you can take more detailed pics of the rear? I am concerned about the bending - for some it hasn't worked that well. From the picture, so far as I can tell, yours looks pretty nice and evenly bent. So more detail pictures would really be heklpful--if it's possible. Thanks in advance.

Just a reminder- If you have a non Rubicon you can now get the non Rubicon fender flares off of Amazon. No cutting, no reshaping and no redrilling holes in your fenders. That alone is probably worth the 80 bucks they charge for these. Putting a square peg in a round hole didn't make sense to me so I ordered a set. I just got mine delivered and they look to be OEM quality. Even the packaging was top notch. I'll be happy to do a side by side comparison since I also have an (uninstalled set of OEM Rubicon XR flares) sitting on my workbench.

Here is the link;

Front & Rear Fender Liner Fender Trim Extension Protector for 2018-2023 Jeep Wrangler JL JLU 4 Pcs https://a.co/d/9NFooeh

Hope it helps.

 

[Onward4x4]

Here you go.

Rear fender, from the back:

Top of rear flare:

Angle cut on leading edge of rear flare. Note that just forward of the cut the Sport/Willys fender opening starts to curve. The flares will not bend enough without cupping and twisting so I cut it just behind the rivet shown for best placement.

Rear flare looking from front to rear:

Front flare looking towards the rear:

Thank you!!!

 

[Onward4x4]

Just a reminder- If you have a non Rubicon you can now get the non Rubicon fender flares off of Amazon. No cutting, no reshaping and no redrilling holes in your fenders. That alone is probably worth the 80 bucks they charge for these. Putting a square peg in a round hole didn't make sense to me so I ordered a set. I just got mine delivered and they look to be OEM quality. Even the packaging was top notch. I'll be happy to do a side by side comparison since I also have an (uninstalled set of OEM Rubicon XR flares) sitting on my workbench.

Here is the link;

Front & Rear Fender Liner Fender Trim Extension Protector for 2018-2023 Jeep Wrangler JL JLU 4 Pcs https://a.co/d/9NFooeh

Hope it helps.

I know, I found that out too late. I ordered the Mopar and now I am stuck with it unless I want to pay a restocking fee... I figured the fronts are no issues and a little trim for the rear ones isn't that big of a deal... Thanks for the info just the same.

 

[TheBirdie72]

Just a reminder- If you have a non Rubicon you can now get the non Rubicon fender flares off of Amazon. No cutting, no reshaping and no redrilling holes in your fenders. That alone is probably worth the 80 bucks they charge for these. Putting a square peg in a round hole didn't make sense to me so I ordered a set. I just got mine delivered and they look to be OEM quality. Even the packaging was top notch. I'll be happy to do a side by side comparison since I also have an (uninstalled set of OEM Rubicon XR flares) sitting on my workbench.

Here is the link;

Front & Rear Fender Liner Fender Trim Extension Protector for 2018-2023 Jeep Wrangler JL JLU 4 Pcs https://a.co/d/9NFooeh

Hope it helps.

You got them installed before I could…

 

[Rock Hopper]

I know, I found that out too late. I ordered the Mopar and now I am stuck with it unless I want to pay a restocking fee... I figured the fronts are no issues and a little trim for the rear ones isn't that big of a deal... Thanks for the info just the same.

No problem. I was in the same boat. I had not installed the Rubicon (Hi line fender) ones yet, so I figured rather than spending an hour or two drilling addional holes in my fenders and then having to fit/mold them in place, I would just buy ones made for them. It's definitely a learning curve.

On the plus side these are not that expensive, so if you find that you've made a mistake, 80 bucks gets you back on track.
Let us know how the install goes and if you are happy with the results. That's really what matters.

I'm thinking I can repurpose my original set to someone with a Rubicon.

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