I was going to bend the soft metal tabs with a screwdriver, but was worried about a glance off and scratch'in something so I just took an open end wrench, got the first couple of flats of the bolt head turned out and after that I was able to turn them out with my fingers. When I reinstalled the fender I replaced the lock/bar washer with the tabs with regular washers and put some blue Loctite on the bolts threads. I trust the Loctite more than that lock/bar washer especially when the bolts unturned so easily.