Metal Cloak Arched Tube Fender and Rear Corner Install

This year with my tax return I decided I wanted to buy some tube fenders and rear corner protection for my Jeep. The day that I got my return, I immediately called Metal Cloak. I was able to get a pretty good deal on the front arched tube fenders with the 6” flare, the rear corners with the 6” flare and the turn signal LEDs.

I decided to go with Metal Cloak because it was the only tube fender provider that I found that let me retain my stock air box, and had matching rear corners. This way the only thing I needed to buy was some spray paint and primer, and a drill bit.

I did quite a bit of prep work, as I decided not go get powder coating since I could not afford it. I started by laying all the pieces in the garage. My original idea was to paint each side, let it dry and flip it over to paint the rest.

After I did one in this manner, I decided it would take a long time to paint every single component, so I hung them from the straps that I hang my hardtop on that are screwed into the ceiling. This proved to work quite well.

I would paint a coat, let it dry, sand it using different sandpapers depending on how many coats I had used, and repeat. I had a 1000W utility light setup to help in the drying process. I would say overall it took me 10 hours to get everything painted and looking good. I used a satin black on all of mine, and did about 4-5 layers on each piece over a 1-2 coat primer.

I did the work with my step-dad Luke, as he has a sick TJ himself, and is really good with tools and automobiles.

We decided to do the front first, mostly because it was likely going to be easier, and the thought that I was drilling a bunch of holes into my Jeep was ringing in my head.

The first thing we did was remove all of the stuff mounted to the fenders. We then removed the fenders completely, and removed the package trays.

At this point we could start installing the front fenders. We started by installing the package trays that were supplied by metal cloak. We could then bolt on the inner fenders.

After that we bolted on the tube fenders themselves.

We did the same thing on the other side, and re-attached all the devices we removed from the stock fenders.

Tighten everything up, and all that was left on the front was to wire up the turn signals. Metal Cloak gives two options for doing this. We choose the method of leaving the stock turn signals on the vehicle, and just splicing into those wires. This was all pretty straight forward, and their instructions were concise.

We called it a day after finishing the front. I estimate that the front took 4-6 hours with two people, but if I were to do it again, I would imagine I could do it in 2-4 hours.

It was time for the rear. After removing the rear fender flares, giving it a good wash and a wax as well as removing the license plate, license plate holder and tail lights we were ready to go.

It took us a little while to get everything line up the way we wanted it. I would highly suggest using clams as pictured below. We then pre-drilled all the holes using the appropriate size bit. It is very important that the panel does not move during this, so make sure it is secured very well.

It was then time to start putting the nuts and bolts on. We learned the hard way, but I would highly recommend doing the nutsert portion first. After the nutsert is installed bolting the rest on was fairly easy. Since I have a newer TJ, the evap canister is located behind the passenger tail light, it was a bit hard to get this bolt tightened, but with enough socket extensions it was doable.

This install was fairly easy, but I would recommend doing it with two people. So far the fenders have held up very well, and I would definitely buy from Metal Cloak again.