yes they can scratch the fenders, but man a race weight lift off hood is a huge weight savings over the original especially once you take out hood hinges, and the front latch, i dont mind putting mine on by myself, and ive had the hood on and off by myself hundreds of times and have put only one or two scratches on the fenders, if youre driving more of a racecar i wouldnt mind, a showcar tho.... id go with a hinged hood just my .02