I'm trading in my 03 Superduty on a new 05 F150 Supercrew next week. I'm one of those guys who can't leave anything stock, so I'm looking for ideas. I'm just going with an XLT and have not decided on color yet. I do like a little two tone paint to set things off, so I think I am going to put a set of flares on and paint an accent color.

In the past I have used both Bushwacker and EGR. Anyone have pics?

My color choices are:

White truck with Shadow Gray flares
White truck with Prairie Tan flares
Prairie Tan with Dark Stone flares
Silver with Shadoe gray flares.

Also going with the 2" autospring and 285 or 295s.

MJS

 

I've got the Bushwacker Pocket-Style...check the gallery for more pics.

 

I have purchased them but I haven't installed them yet. Waiting to get them painted. How much did it cost you to have them painted? How hard is the installation?

 

I paid $165 to have them painted at a body shop. Installation was actually pretty simple, but I had a buddy that helped me out and at times I'm really glad the extra set of hands were there. The front set are a piece of cake, but the back require some extra effort. You'll find that at times you really need to put some heavy pressure on the flares to get the holes to line up and that really takes an extra set of hands so you can tighten the screws while maintaining that pressure. All-in-all, it was easy, just have an extra person there to help if you can.

I guess its a good thing that they require that extra pressure because you aren't drilling into the side of the truck, you want the flares to be secure...mine are very secure.

 

Did you drill the holes in the flares first?

 

Yeah...I drilled the holes and put the stainless steel hardware on and then had them painted. I guess that is personal preference as to whether you like the stainless look or not. I wanted to have them painted so I installed that stuff before having them painted. Since the hardware is decorative only, there should be no reason to ever have to remove it once installed, so painting over them isn't a functionality issue.

 

Sorry one more question. How can you tell which ones are the front and which ones are the rear?

 

Well...this may be hard to put into words...but the ones for the rear have the bottom piece on both ends that jet out perpendicular (at a 90 degree angle) from the rest of the flair. This portion of the flare actually goes underneath the truck on installation. The front ones only have this on one end. If you take one of the flares and hold it up next to your truck, you will see what I'm talking about.

Also, if you look on the inside wall of this portion of the flare that jets out you will see "L" or "R" etched into the plastic. At least I think it is "L" or "R"...it might be "F" or "R". Its been a while since I put mine on, so I'm not sure. Whichever it is, it either stands for left/right or front/rear. You might have to turn it in some light to see it because it is kind of hard to see. I don't have any close-up shots to illustrate it, but hopefully you can make this out from what I've said here.

Oh yeah, I should have said this before on your question of drilling holes before painting...per the instructions, even if you aren't going to get the stainless hardware painted, you should drill the holes prior to painting. You don't want to be drilling into your newly painted flares.

 

Sweet. Thanks for the Info. Painter coming to pick them up at 4.

 

I have a few questions. from what dirtworm said you dont have to drill into the fenders. I always liked the look of the pocket style fender flares but assumed you had to drill into the fender for all those bolts arround the rim of the flares. are you saying those are just for looks and you dont have to drill into the fender. if so I just might have to het me some. also they come unpainted, are they black. I want mine to be black anyhow and want to know if I could avoid painting them. also how far out do the flare?

 

OK. The bolts on the flares you do have to drill for. Thats for the flares. The Fenders themselves you don't have to drill on. They come in shiny black plastic. Look ugly unless you have a black truck.

 

Like Joe said...the bolts that you see on the outside of the flares are purely decorative. They never touch the side of your truck. The flares mount using the existing holes under your fender-well. You don't have to do any drilling what-so-ever on your truck. The only drilling to be done is on the flares themselves to insert the bolts.

I think the flares would look fine if left unpainted. Check out the Bushwacker website for some examples.

Joe: Post some pics when you get yours back and installed on your truck.

 

I think it depends on the color of your truck. For me, the black wasn't working well with my silver on DSG..

I'll definitely post some pics once they are painted and on.