Re-installing inner fenders

[yellomalibu]

I never put the inner fenders back in after the paint job in '01. Now I am getting ready to re-install them. I cleaned , sanded, and re-painted them with Krylon satin black. I also removed the broken, cracked, and hard rubber that goes on the bottom of the inner fenders where they touch the body of the car.

I imagine that something needs to be there to prevent squeaks and to prevent rubbing paint off (leading to rust)...

I picked up some air conditioning "dum dum" tape, and was going to fold it over (to double the thickness) and use it... but I'm having doubts. Is the rubber strip and "staples" available from a restoration company? If not, should I just use some rubber (like a vacuum line?) and try to make my own staples ? - hoping that I get them bent just right and crimped hard enough so that they don't rub the paint off the metal. ... or will using the "dum dum" tape be fine?

The Chevelle is not a matching numbers car in need of a "correct" restoration, but I don't want to have to take the inner fenders out to re-do something either.

Please advise.

[squirrel]

I tried that stuff once on a truck, didn't work out so well. I suggest you either get the right stuff, or maybe get some of the foam weather strip at the hardware store and use it instead. The repop parts would be the best way to go, it's a lot of trouble but probably worth it.

[cirgent]

Use the repro rubber but don't even try the staples, use some pop rivets with a washer on the rubber side so they don't pull through. Touch them up with some black paint and no one will see them.

[Loren]

Anything involving use of adhesive is going to eventually fail due to heat and movement.

To attach the re-pop rubber (the way to go) I just get some wire and use a pliars to bend it into a staple shape so it fits the existing staple holes, push it thorough the rubber, and it comes out looking and working just like original and doesn't take much time.

[ogre]

i used reman u channel for my truk. i glued it and taped it place prior to installing it. no staples. the tape was to keep from knocking it off as i installed the inner fenders. the rubber is still there.

[MadmanMark]

To attach the re-pop rubber (the way to go) I just get some wire and use a pliars to bend it into a staple shape so it fits the existing staple holes, push it thorough the rubber, and it comes out looking and working just like original and doesn't take much time.

I did it this way once. It did turn out looking just like original, but I'm slower than Loren and it took me so long I just glued the other one on. A few years later, when the glued one fell off, I just took off the other one and left them off.