Fiberglass Fender on XL

[dale farley]

The front fiberglass fender skirt on an XL; is that a Prevost part or a converter part?

[Gil_J]

I'm pretty sure that's a converter part. Prevost factory fenders were black rubber.

[dale farley]

I may have messed up. I asked the Prevost parts guy if he had the fiberglass fender, and he said he did, so I ordered it. Then I started wondering about the rubber ones. I am hoping the rubber was on the earlier ones, but I'm afraid that's not the case. Did the 99 CC have rubber?

[dale farley]

I called Prevost first thing this morning, and they verified that the fender they are sending is rubber, not fiberglass. Fortunately, I was able to get it cancelled. Do any of the other converters have the fiberglass front fenders on the XL or was this unique to American Carriage?

[dale farley]

Well, I did find the supplier for fiberglass fenders. Artistry in Motion INC in Junction City, OR. Delivered to a business, the price is $695. They were the original supplier for American Carriage. Now I need to decide if I want to attempt to repair the damage to my existing fender or order a new one. If I do the repair, I'll have about $225 in it (allowing $100 for materials). If I order a new one and have it painted, I'll have about $900 in it.

Another option would be to order two new rubber ones and have minimum paint on them similar to what Country Coach did.

[dale farley]

Well, here's the update to my fender saga. I took the fender to a local body shop and they wanted $950 to repair it (15-20 hrs labor). The fender was torn almost all the way in to on the left side and had damage on the right side also, plus the bottom lip was destroyed over half way around. I went to WalMart and bought some fiberglass material, resin and a little Bondo and worked on it for several days, doing the best I could with a lot o f help from You Tube.

I was very confident that the structure was stronger than new, but it looked very rough, and I knew I couldn't do the finish work. I took it back to the body shop when it looked like the second picture, and they said they would do the finish work and paint for $280 (4hrs labor and $100 for paint), so I gladly left it with them. They did a fantastic job, and I saved several hundred dollars, so I'm very happy with the results. I removed the good fender from the other side of the bus and took that to the shop to match the color.

1st picture - the finished product
2nd the fender after I did extensive fiberglass work
3rd shows part of the original damage I did when I caught the fender on a metal post

[Denny]

The fender looks great Dale. You did a great job on it and saved money also. Definitely a win/win situation.

[Gil_J]

Thanks for the update. It's amazing the level education and confidence that can be gained from You Tube. The finished product looks great.