How Much Does It Cost to Widebody a Car? Solved

How Much Does It Cost to Widebody a Car?

Widening the body of a vehicle is typically done to accommodate wider tires, but you may also choose to widebody your car for aesthetic reasons. There are several approaches you can take to widen the body of your vehicle, and they all come with different price points, labor requirements, and overall modification quality.

DIY Widebody

This option is the least expensive but also the most time-consuming way to widebody your car. Note that this is not a simple project, and you will not be able to drive the car while you are making the modifications. However, to help make sure you are doing the work correctly, there are plenty of online videos and step-by-step guides. Fortunately, there are very few specialized or expensive tools needed to do the modification; in addition to basic items like measuring tape and markers, you will likely need the following:

• Automotive fiberglass: About $1 per square foot on Amazon
• Color-matched paint: Cost depends on paint type, color, finish, etc. You can buy auto body paint at nationwide chains like AutoZone, or you can buy it from a place like ExpressPaint that matches your car’s color exactly.
• Foam: Cost varies; you can find sheets of high-density urethane foam for around $130 to $190 at craft stores like JoAnn Fabrics. You can also find this type of foam at independent foam and plastic manufacturers.
• Rollers: About $10 to $20 per kit on Amazon
• Resin: About $15 per quart at The Home Depot
• Sandpaper: Inexpensive at a variety of stores
  • For a convenient but also more expensive option, you could consider using an electric sander.

Also, if you decide to cut any panels while widening your car, you may want to use an undercoating protector to prohibit rust; to help you decide what to use, you can check out our comparison of popular undercoating brands.

Rolling Fenders

If you’re looking for a simpler DIY project, rolling your car’s fenders outward is an easier way to make the car body fit larger wheels or suspension modifications. It’s not a true widebody modification, but you can do it with a fender roller tool that only costs around $50. Rolling your car’s fenders essentially bends the existing body outward, reforming the sheet metal around the fenders. There are online resources and videos available that explain the process, as well as some step-by-step guides.

Pre-Made Widebody Kits

This option is generally less labor-intensive than creating a widebody modification from scratch, but it is also more expensive. If you have a fairly common car or truck model, widebody kits are available from several retailers, and prices will vary by make and model. Depending on the extent to which you want to modify your car, you can choose to buy a full kit or just specific parts (e.g., fenders, splitters, etc). A few online aftermarket auto parts retailers that sell widebody kits include:

• BodyKits.com: Offers kits and individual parts from around $300 up to $4,000. Kits for luxury and racing cars can cost well over $20,000.
• CariD: Offers kits from as low as around $250 to as much as $3,000. For racing and luxury cars, the kits can cost up to $6,000.
• Clinched Flares: Offers full kits for select car makes ranging in price from $1,750 to $6,000.
• Octane MotorSports: Offers kits and individual parts from around $400 to over $4,000. Kits for luxury cars cost up to $8,000.
• Pandem: Offers full kits from around $1,200 up to $5,000 or more.

These pre-made kits are relatively easy to install; you just need to remove the factory fenders and bolt on the new body kit. Since the kits are vehicle-specific, there is no guesswork involved in making it fit your car.

The kits will also come with detailed instructions, and it is likely that other people have used the same kit for their car, meaning there may be online forums and videos that can be helpful for troubleshooting. Keep in mind, there is usually some drilling involved on the fenders and quarter panels, which makes it very difficult to undo the modification.

Body Shops

Taking your car to a body shop for a widebody modification will ensure that the work is comprehensive and of the highest quality, but it will cost you more than building your own modification or installing a kit. Depending on the extent to which you want to modify your car, a shop may also be able to do the work faster than you can do it yourself, meaning your car will be drivable sooner.

Prices will vary drastically based on your vehicle make and model, the shop you choose, and the extent of the modification. Generally, you can expect to pay at least $2,000 for a relatively basic widebody modification for a common vehicle. To find a custom body shop and request a quote, you can search for body shops near you.

Related Modifications

One important thing to note is that if you are widening your car to accommodate wider tires, you may need to do some other modifications as well, such as adjusting the suspension, adding wheel spacers, etc. You can do these modifications yourself or take your car to a shop, but these can add to the overall cost of the widebody modification. For example, Advance Auto Parts sells pairs of wheel spacers for about $18 to $25 (about $36 to $50 for all four wheels).

Reversing the Modification

It can be difficult and expensive to reverse the process of widening a car body, since the modification may involve cutting or drilling into the panels. If you have a relatively new car and decide to widebody it, your car’s market value may decrease compared to an unmodified version, which may impact your ability to sell the car in the future. Regardless of the cost of the modification, almost all car modifications decrease a car’s market value, so you should keep this in mind before committing to an expensive modification.

In Summary

If you choose to create a widebody modification for your car from scratch, you may be able to do so for as little as $200 to $300, but it will be a labor-intensive process. If you just want to roll out the fenders, you can do this for just the cost of a fender roller. If you want to install a pre-made widebody kit, you can expect to pay anywhere from around $300 to a few thousand dollars, depending on your car and the extent of the modification. To get your car’s body widened professionally at a shop, you will generally need to pay at least $2,000 for a basic modification. Note that a widebody modification is very difficult to undo, and your cost can be much higher if you need to do other related modifications.