Radiusing a fender is basically a general term used to describe cutting the fender opening, usually enlarging the diameter in order to accommodate and “frame” larger wheels. Hot rod guys do it all the time because a lot of them are running crazy size wheels/tires (especially in the back). Also because it’s the only way to ensure their fender openings end up looking the same side-to-side, since a lot of those cars aren’t perfectly constructed from the factory to begin with. This is especially the case when these guys had replacement fenders that weren’t always an exact duplicate of the original.

Anyway, this is something I foresee we will be seeing a lot more of from the big dog cars from Japan. It’s one thing to radius a hot rod fender (or the fender of any full frame car or truck) since there’s rarely an attached inner fender to contend with. Typically, you can cut the fenders on full frame cars or trucks your heart’s content with out worrying too much about compromising the integrity of your chassis. But, when you start radiusing the fenders of a unibody car… now you’re playing with power. AND when you have a rear door to deal with… more props to you when you can work that all out. Here’s some examples of radiused fenders…

Take notice of how the top edge of the champagne Honda Accord front fender well is like in line with the door handles.

Compare the fenders on the Accord above to these stock fenders. The top edge of the front fender is more in line with the bottom of the door handles.

This car… just check out how much the rear fender invades into the rear edge of the door! Pretty awesome job recontouring the door.

I have no idea what kinda car this is. I want to say a Crown, but, I’m sure I’m way off. Look at how beautifully that rear fenderwell FRAMES that huge Weds Kranze Ratzinger wheel!

I’m embarrassed because my car is nowhere near as nice as the others I showed above. But, I did this photoshop of an old picture of my car to illustrate, side-by-side, how radiusing the fenders can create a dramatically different look.

Ultimately I think sliggity slamming a stock fendered car over big wheels will give you that “slammed” look… but sliggity slamming a car with radiused fenders over big wheels may not make it appear as low upon casual glance. But, then you realize that the wheels look like they actually fit the car (and you can still run them flush to the fenders, not sunken), and the car body itself looks sleeker, lower, wider, meaner. All this because you’ve effectively reduced the fender height, and make the car look like it was actually MADE to ride that low (think exotic sports cars). I wonder when we’ll start seeing such madness in the US…

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