Tired of the same old, faded, dull or cracked fenders?  Or maybe you want to change the color scheme of your trusted Fourtrax 250R.  What about that fixer upper you just bought and you want it to look respectable again. What ever the reason you have for buying new plastic, you only have 4 choices to choose from; OEM 250R, OEM 400EX, Fullbore, and Maier.

Each of these plastics in the past has had drawbacks. With the OEM TRX250R, you only have 2 choices for colors, and it is real expensive. However, the fit and finish is outstanding.  The OEM 400EX is quite a bit cheaper, price wise, but it requires modifications, special mounting brackets, and only comes in 2 colors. Fullbore comes in numerous color choices and the fit and finish are good.  But the plastic is expensive and at times, hard to come by.  The Maier plastic is the cheapest route to go and they offer the widest assortment of colors.  The show quad builders generally stay away from Maier plastic because of its dull finish and the plastic is not predrilled to fit your seat pan screws or latches.  For years we have heard in the chat rooms and forums that people will not buy Maier because of this.  Maier must have been reading this too, has they have a new version, just for those needing that extra polished look.

Jeff Lewis from Maier contacted us to inform the public that they are releasing a new "Shiny" version of these fenders. All Maier products are thermoformed out of a flat sheet.  They have changed there material from an high-density polyethylene to a polypropylene with a cap sheet that gives the products the high shine. The new material is much harder to form but well worth the extra time and effort.  Jeff assured us that these new fenders would not disappoint us.

Upon arrival we carefully checked everything out and marveled at how shiny the fenders actually are.  Jeff was right when he said we would not be disappointed.

We started off by bolting the seat and mounting latches to the rear.  Everything lined right up and the seat set squarely on the fenders.  The fronts use a mounting bracket supplied by Maier to attach them to the frame.  After getting the front fenders at the right height we tightened down the enclosed locking nuts and installed the rear fenders.  The rear fenders lined up perfectly.  Even better then the previously installed Fullbore fenders.  Another nice thing about the Maier fenders over the OEM is that if you want to take them off it is a breeze.  Just unscrew the 2 front bolts and undo the Velcro strap in the back and these fenders slide right off.

The new shiny fenders by Maier are thicker and more durable then the OEM and Fullbore plus they come with a 1 year warranty on them for cracks under normal use.  (Editors Note: Crashing into a tree or off a double is not considered normal use.)  The cost of the new material is a lot more.  They have however decided not to transfer all the cost increases, and have absorbed a large portion of the increase.  The end result was a small 3% price increase that went into effect February 16, 2002.  All prices listed on their website are for the new shiny plastic.

If anyone is looking to replace their fenders not only for the Fourtrax 250R but on other ATV models, Maier is the new King of the block for replacement options.

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