Front fender advice

[Costjo]

My front fenders are toast on the bottom mount points. Im trying to decide If I should get new aftermarket panels or just buy lower fender and repair the original.

Does anyone have bad experience with newer aftermarket panels from like black dragon or whoever? I'm told they might not line up right and arent good quality.

What is best option from your experience doing either or?

Thanks, Joe

[240260280z]

Hey Joe,

You can get fenders from Nissan. They fit well.

[Montezuma]

MSA sells Nissan fenders as well.

[Costjo]

Blue, Which Nissan sells them? I called locally and they cant get them.

Just spoke with MSA they dont sell Nissan fenders and the one they did sell they were having design issues so they dont sell any at the moment.

[Montezuma]

Too bad they stopped; I bought one from them with a Nissan part # on it. Do a search here on this site for the part # take the part # to your local Nissan Dealer and order it.

[240260280z]

I bought one ~5 or 6 years ago. I assumed they would still have stock.

[djwarner]

Courtesy Nissan lists them as available from the warehouse with 2-4 days delivery for just over $300 each. PNs are 63100-N4700 and 63101-N4700.

[Costjo]

Courtesy Nissan lists them as available from the warehouse with 2-4 days delivery for just over $300 each. PNs are 63100-N4700 and 63101-N4700.

$300 plus $200 shipping no thanks. If they shipped to local Nissan for free might be worth it. I guess nobody has any experience with aftermarket ones.

[siteunseen]

I'd think if Courtesy can get one your local dealership could to. I've always had good luck at mine with the right part numbers.

[240260280z]

$300 plus $200 shipping no thanks. If they shipped to local Nissan for free might be worth it. I guess nobody has any experience with aftermarket ones.

I think they were $275 CAD here and I picked up at the local Nissan dealer. Try those part numbers at a few of the Nissan shops in Miami. You should be able to eliminate shipping.

[EhlersRS]

Guys,

I've been meaning to update you on my recent experience buying new OEM fenders from Nissan. Last summer (July 2013) I checked at the local Nissan dealer here and they were able to get both sides. I didn't have the money to buy new fenders then, so I had to wait until the tax return came in earlier this year. On March 24 I went to Nissan to order both new fenders and they could only get the left side (63101-N4700). They said the right side (63100-N4700) was no longer available. I went ahead and ordered the left side in hopes that I could also find the right side somewhere else. I paid $430 for the left side (63101-N4700) locally and didn't have to pay any shipping, although it was shipped from Nissan in California.

Then I started making phone calls to find the right side fender. First I called MSA to find out if they sell OEM Nissan fenders. The person I spoke with said they do sell Nissan fenders and in January were able to get the right fender for someone. They would have to get the fender from Nissan, so I decided to call Courtesy Nissan. Courtesy did not have any right fenders in stock and once again were not able to get them. She checked the inventory of some other Nissan dealers and gave me the number of a dealer in California to call. She said they had 2 in stock, so I called them next. The guy in California said they did have 2 right fenders in stock, but they were being shipped to Australia. So, he gave me 3 more dealers to call: Lyncburg, VA, Atlanta, and Palm Springs. Lynchburg showed 2 right fenders in stock and the other dealers showed 1 in stock, so I called Lynchburg Nissan. They did indeed have 2 in stock, but they didn't have the packing materials to send one to Iowa. When the dealer gets parts delivered from Nissan, they come in plastic boxes that must be returned, so they didn't have any large boxes for the fender. I arranged for the nearest UPS Store to package and deliver the fender, but I had to wait for the Nissan parts department to drop it off. I bought the fender on March 25 for $277 (no tax) and finally on March 28 they delivered the fender to UPS. The cost for packing materials and shipping was outrageous, but with the inventory of new fenders drying up, I decided to bite the bullet (so to speak). I paid $363 to have the fender shipped and it arrived to Iowa 4 days later in pristine condition.

After ordering the right fender from Lynchburg Nissan, I spent some time talking to the parts manager. He owns a 260Z and after learning that the right fenders were quickly becoming "not available", he kept the other right fender for himself. He also mentioned I would have been charged more for the fender if he had known this. I'm glad that wasn't the case, because the shipping costs were so high.

Judging from how difficult it was to find a right fender and that MSA no longer sells Nissan fenders, I'd guess these NOS fenders will soon be gone from Nissan completely. There were probably just a dozen right fenders left in the U.S. Nissan inventory when I purchased mine (that's just an educated guess).

Joe, there have been several discussions here, where guys have used aftermarket fenders, such as those sold from Black Dragon. The consensus is that aftermarket front fenders (and hoods for that matter) need a lot of work to properly fit. One guy from this forum bought Black Dragon fenders and they fit so bad, he used them to repair his original fenders. My suggestion would be to use the Tabco lower repair panels to fix your original fenders, granted the rest of your fenders are decent.

Robert S.

[grannyknot]

I bought brand new fenders from Nissan 2 yrs ago and they don't line up well with

the doors. At some point I'm going to have to take the car to a body shop and have them fix it.

If I could do it over I would have tried harder to find old fenders in good condition.

Chris