86' S10 fender advice-- Help please!

[Girlwithwheels]

My bf has a 86' s10 that's bodydropped 4" and his wheels rub on his front fenders really bad... it's hard to find wheels that are narrow enough to tuck, and we're short on money so we can't afford wheels right now anyways.. so we're looking for some advice on flaring the fenders (how should we flare them?) or if ya'll know of any fenders from other trucks that might not take too much work to customize them to fit. Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jessica

[s10xtremist]

Colorado front clip conversion! :D

How bad they rub is what will determine what you're gonna need to do for clearancing. You say it's "really bad", so either some serious fender reshaping, control arm shortening, or getting some stock wheels with more backspacing (Camaro, 'Vette, 4wd S10, etc.) along with some spacers may be your only options.

[mreed]

I've never seen a square body that needed the fenders flared...shim the uppers. A little bit of negative camber isn't going to wear his tires as long as the toe is set right at ride height. An easy way to see for sure if it is in fact the alignment that is causing the issue is if the wheels tuck in the rear. If they tuck without needing the fenders flared that means the front is actually cambered positive. (This only works on square body S10's)

Seriously, his truck won't get any respect if it shows that corners were cut.

[Girlwithwheels]

I've never seen a square body that needed the fenders flared...shim the uppers. A little bit of negative camber isn't going to wear his tires as long as the toe is set right at ride height. An easy way to see for sure if it is in fact the alignment that is causing the issue is if the wheels tuck in the rear. If they tuck without needing the fenders flared that means the front is actually cambered positive. (This only works on square body S10's)

Seriously, his truck won't get any respect if it shows that corners were cut.

Thank you, he said he'll try shimming it out.. he said he knows that the shimming would help it but he wanted his tires straight up and down so he had even tire wear. He said there's no shims on the side that is rubbing. He said his front driver side is rubbing and his rear passenger side is rubbing but the other sides tuck...

[mreed]

Nitto Neo Gens and Nitto Invo's are built specifically for vehicles with negative camber. I'm sure that other tire companies offer a similar solution but I only know Nitto. Cheap too. My 205/40 17's were less than 70/each.

The bed deal could easily need aligned as well since the last time I saw he still had leaf springs.

Shimming them will work...I've been rolling the same negative camber on the same alignment and tires for more than 3 years and have very minimal wear. Not even enough to need to rotate them.

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l194/reactivecustoms/0419080219.jpg

[mreed]

I'm sure he has found a solution by now but I saw this pic and thought of you. This guy graphed in the lip of a 2nd Gen. Not something I would have thought would look good but he pulled it off. Maybe keep this in mind as an option?

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l194/reactivecustoms/10105270_200866113273.jpg

[mreed]

Actually he did it to the front and the rear. I like it. Too bad he didn't take the time to better align the front bumper...that really kills it for me.

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l194/reactivecustoms/10105270_2008624546187.jpg

[Hicks84s10]

yea that bumper is major vboner kill, othern that looks clean as hell.

[s10xtremist]

I know what you guys mean. I subscribe to a few custom truck magazines and all too often I see an 88-98 full-size or 98-03 S10 with thousands of dollars of custom body work done, but the damn headlights are crooked.

[spydaloc]

MREED,
what are the tire sizes on the s10 blazer and the s10 truck in the pics? I want to go with like a 20" tires & rims setup on my '87 s10. It has bullet drop spindles on the front and leafs on the rear so its already lowered. Presently has low profile 225/50/15 on it. Also, a lil off topic - I have an 8.5 " eaton posi with 3.73 gears for the rear. My dillema is that the rear end they sent to me was a 8.8 from a 2003 S Blazer 4x4 and it's 5 inches too wide. This after the first two rear ends I bought were not the 8.5" the sellers said it'd be. They are 7 5/8" rears. Can I use the axles out of the the 7 5/8" rear end and use in the 8.5/8.8" rear from the 2003? If not, what axles do I need to get for the 2003 rear end? I want to use the larger rear end. Thanks for the advice and all help provided. I can also be reached by phone at 616-366-1912 if anyone would desire to call because I'm not always at the PC or online to get messages quickly.

[mreed]

My Blazer has 245/30/22's and the S10 has 205/40/17's.