A Flare For The Dramatic

Story and photos by

Andy Cohen

It’s a tale as old as the automobile itself, how do ya keep the crap off the side when your not off road and trying ta fling as much brown stuff as possible? Better yet, how do ya keep the local Gendarmes off your back while they look at your lifted truck and think of how many ways they can make you unhappy?

Ta Daa! Xenon to the rescue, with the advent of new body styles and ever changing lift laws the aftermarket is scrambling to keep up. Fortunately Xenon has the cure for most ills and in our case that happens to be the biggest, baddest, bitchinest SUV on the planet; the Ford Excursion. Ours happens to be lifted 11 inches with tires and they happen to stick out enough to make life miserable after detailing the black beast. I had the chance to discuss my problem with John Reynolds from Xenon at the recent SEMA show and he clued me in to the fact that flares for my truck would be available shortly after the show.

I drove out to the factory to pick up the flares and check out what's new and after arriving home I couldn’t wait to get started. Check it out, four flares installed in about an hour. That’s my idea of a great driveway project.

The Xenon Kit comes with everything you need, four flares, a package of self tapping screws, adhesive promoter, 3M double sided tape and very comprehensive directions.

The directions also give some very good hints to help the first timer who has never undertaken an install such as this before. In this case lay the flares out in the sun to make them more pliable.

As with any installation read the directions first! I spent a few minutes prepping the surface of the Excursion with a clean towel and some alcohol. It is important to make sure the surface is clean and free of foreign matter to ensure a good bond between the double sided tape and the vehicle surface.

The instructions recommend using 80 grit sandpaper; I had none so I improvised with Scotchbrite.

After roughing the outer edge of the flares, wiping it clean with alcohol and applying the adhesion promoter it is now time to apply the supplied double sided tape.

Anywhere the tape has be split because of either starting a new roll or making a bend, make sure you pull the edges back a bit so you can peel it off after you have them in place on the vehicle.

This is where the funs begins, and if you have a helper (which I did) or another pair of hands this part will go much smoother. The look of consternation on my face tells the tale, after you place the flare against the truck and peel the tape back, you must then drill the self-tappers into the very narrow lip to help hold the flares in place. Ross Perot once said “measure twice drill once” he must have been installing a set of fender flares when he said it.

After you have installed the flares it is a good idea to go around the truck again to double check the tape is holding, if you are doing this on a cold day a blow dryer of heat gun will go a long way to making life easier and keep your sanity about you.

Here is the rear all buttoned up. According to Xenon you have two options with their urethane flares; you can paint them (duh) or you can leave them black and treat them with some type of UV protectant. I chose the latter and after I installed them I applied several coats of Meguiar’s new tire shine, the same stuff I use on the tires, you can coat once and get a matte look or after several you get a high gloss shine.

Here is a pretty good ¾ shot so you can tell how far they stick out, about 2 ½ inches. In our case enough to cover the tires and keep them from spraying the sides of the truck every time it happens through a puddle or when the idiot down the block waters the street.

Xenon

2891 Via Martens

Anaheim, CA. 92806

800-999-8753