Hey guys,

I have a white Dodge Dakota 3.7L 2005 Club Cab 4WD. I just did some rust repair/bondo work on my front and rear fenders (around the wheels). I've knocked off all the rust, used a rust reformer, bondo, painted, yadayada, but it's not winning any beauty pageants as is. Rust is gone now, but she aint pretty anymore lol. I currently have the stainless steel fender trim (like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Carrich-200...m/331955589247 which partially covers up the spots where I had to do rust work, but it doesn't cover the entire thing.

Any suggestions? I was looking at some like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Paint...s/271968608495
Bigger and such. I don't like the ~240 dollar price point though when i'm seeing Dodge Ram 1500 flares that are very similar for like 80 bucks lol. My dodge is the 4 door that wings open. Not full seats in the back etc. Would something like this fit?

Any suggestions or links appreciated!

 

Not from what I am seeing. Though, I have no clue what the differences would be.

Likely someone makes them for your body style....

 

I think you could have it done right by welding in the wheel arch patch panels then repainting.The rear wheel arches look somehting like this;https://raybuck.com/panels/dodge/200...-dodge-dakota/

 

Seems most of them on ebay are for the 4 full size doors, although maybe i'm misreading. I'll have to keep looking. It's just odd that the ones for the Dakota's with even fullsize doors are 3 times the price of similar ones for the 1500. Supply and demand though I guess!

 

Lack of supply and demand more like it....lol

 

Those patches look nice. I didn't even consider that as I thought the arch patches would be a good bit more expensive. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible welder and they'd probably end up looking pretty bad by the time I got done with them lol. The bondo job actually doesn't look that bad...Thankfully I got all (crosses fingers) the rust out before it ate the whole thing. Just bums me out how nice it could look if my bondo repair was covered. It's only about an inch above where my silver trim covers. I just replaced the bumper as well (which was in bad shape) and from the back it looks nice and the front looks nice as well.

Any idea about how much someone might charge to weld on the panels? I'm assuming the old would need cut off as well? I might try some fender flares if I can find some that cover it for now, but this might be an option down the road if the rust comes back anytime soon. I really gutted the rust though, so I'm hopeful that will be a good bit from now...we'll see. I'm in PA, and the salt just really likes to kill trucks/cars. I spray rust reformer underneath every season on our vehicles and it still feels like an uphill battle sometimes.

 

lol, entirely true! I forget that Dodge sold about 4 times as many Ram trucks as Dakotas in 2005. And then obviously more as time went on.

 

are the OEM Dakota TRX flares for the Club Cab, not cheap, but the fit is perfect. A while ago I saw a Club Cab Dakota with flares from a Crew Cab on it, I'm not sure how well they fit, but but they were on it anyway. There aren't any cheap flares available for our generation of Dakota.

 

oi, pricey! bummer there isn't something more affordable floating around. Nice to know they exist for my cab though. Maybe this is something that could go on my Christmas list lol.

 

Just be aware they are a discontinued part, so once they're all gone, you're not gonna fine them anywhere.
Some Mopar OEM parts sites show them as not available anymore.