why are people afraid of guard rolling?

[malibu Q]

i'm certainly feeling nervous about guard rolling at the moment. Borrowed an Eastwood style roller from a friend with the plan to roll my Malibu guards. Had a practice on a dark green BG Astina and made a mess of it. Maybe I rushed it a bit, but the end result is the guards now look pulled out like I see on some American Helladouche cars. It seemed to want to pull more than roll while I was using it. I'll be up for a bit more practice before I use it on my own car. Any tips folks?

[emily_mx5]

pay someone to do it!
I dont often take that route and try to at least give everything a go, but permanent body work goes to the professionals.

I would say you are doing it to quickly and with too much force. You should be able to roll them without pulling; a flat roll should not be visible from the exterior.

[MattR]

What are these guard rollers people talk of?????

On all the cars I've had that have needed a little help with clearance, a rubber mallet, patience and a gentle touch is all that is needed to fold the lip over so it doesn't catch the tyre.

[emily_mx5]

^ A tool to do that properly lol
Bolts to the hub, spins around.

[MattR]

Rubber mallet soft touch and patience, maybe not as quick, but just as good

Bugger using all this new fangled special tools. If it can't be fixed with a hammer, then it's not worth fixing, or it's an electrical fault.....

[malibu Q]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
The roller I have been using is identical to the one Emily pictured.
My concern is the same as Narita's, that if you do a terrible job at rolling the rear fender, you can damage that entire panel; and once the metal is stretched, it's very hard to get it back.
As I stated previously I rushed my first practice which did not help, and I will certainly take it more slowly in future.
But I will continue to practice it until I perfect the rolling technique, there's plenty of junk old cars around here and I know that I'll be much more OCD on my own car than anyone else.

MattR, do you use any sort of dolly when tapping them up with a rubber mallet? I ask because I've heard of people using a phone book with good results.

[MattR]

When I have "rolled" guards using a mallet I just used my hand where needed.

I basically start at one end of the lip and gently tap it over a little at a time along the lip. As I said, you just need patience and a soft touch to fold the lip over without stretching the metal too quickly or too much in one go.

[mazdaz]

I have the guard rolling tool like the one pictured and a heat gun. Have done a few cars now. It does take practice and you must set the tool up correctly..with practice you can also pump the guards.

Two methods to steer clear from

1 jack up car place phone book between Tyre and guard,,,drop it.
2 Anything involving a baseball bat and driving forward.

[project.r.racing]

i brought the picture guard roller on ebay for $80. left the car out in the hot sun and did the rolling. done. simple.

[oztrackdays]

We just used a heat gun and a big rubber mallet takes less than 30 mins and job done.