Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Ok this is more a question out of curiosity...

Fender flares, do the serve any other purpose, except looking awesome (like a snorkel or some such)?

At around R8-R9k, surely they must have more than a decorative purpose?

Now I am a complete novice (like with most things), when it comes to fender flares, so I want to know, if you fork out the dough, what do you get?

My biggest fear on my patrol is that a rock hits the under side of the quarter panel and breaks it (got a diff protector from Peter so that fear has dissipated), so will an aftermarket fender flare provide more of a protection than the crappy plastic ones that are standard on the 4.8? Or do you get them when you have a wider tyre than the normal rims that are on the vehicle to prevent mud getting flung up (that’s a very expensive mud guard).

So what are the benefits of fender flares (and yes they look freakin awesome!)?


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These replacements are firstly cheaper than Nissan factory flares, a set of flares from nissan are close to 20k the last time I checked.

They are wider than factory so allow wider tyres or rim offset without covering yourself with mud.

They can be fitted with self tappers or rivnuts & fasteners (my suggestion), this removes the need for the nissan clips & makes removal & cleaning much easier.

They are also well made & look good, so the look does play a role I suppose.

hugejp wrote:These replacements are firstly cheaper than Nissan factory flares, a set of flares from nissan are close to 20k the last time I checked.

They are wider than factory so allow wider tyres or rim offset without covering yourself with mud.

They can be fitted with self tappers or rivnuts & fasteners (my suggestion), this removes the need for the nissan clips & makes removal & cleaning much easier.

They are also well made & look good, so the look does play a role I suppose.

Thanks for the reply. Makes more sense now


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One thing to keep in mind though:

If you rip the Nissan flares off 9r crunch them on an obstacle, there is no damage to the underlying bodywork.

If you have bolted on after-market flares, the same may not apply (depending on how tough they are)...