Treating the fender flares
- Thread starter joniki
- Start date
ChasUGC
TJ Enthusiast
Sorry if you misunderstood me. I've suffered that problem for 20 plus years, trying so many things and none of them working, as I'm sure that many of us have done. I found a solution just in the last six months. As far as having to reapply it, it is no different than applying Armor-all to our tires like we've all been doing for decades. I reapply it after every car wash.
About as often as I used my hair dryer on the flairs to get them black again. I finally decided I didn't mind them turning gray... just like my hair did many years ago lol.
ChasUGC
TJ Enthusiast
I guess we are just a bit different. My Wrangler was my first new vehicle and likely my only. I took a lot of pride in my accomplishment at that time. I like to wash it and take care of it. When I wash it, I detail the tires and fenders so they stay looking nice. This is the reason it looks the way it does after 27 years of ownership. I'm also a single man, and maybe that's part of it too. When you find someone to grow old with and get gray with, then getting gray isn't such an issue because you do it together. When you're still in the hunt and haven't given up, you want to put your best foot forward. Maybe that's part of the reason. If you've found that someone then I'm happy for you. For now, it is just me and my Wrangler. lol.
Interesting. I’m thinking I am wrong. I just removed the cheap chinesium fuel filler door that looked like crap and before reinstalling the stock filler neck surround I hit it with the Floop Penetrol. Actually looks great. So there’s that…
Every review I have read says the Ceracote is super shiny. That’s gotta be your thing.. especially if it lasts that long.
I did the heat gun thing on my door panels. Not only did it not last, but the panels ultimately looked worse than before I did them.
OP
I agree... Taking care of plastic is like waxing the vehicle. I put Bumper Kote on the top and fender skirts twice a year, one hour tops total...
I never heard of using a heat gun on the door panels, I wouldn't expect good results there. It did work very well on my fender flares though.
Just got finished putting Pentrol on mine. I probably put it on twice a year. Is it perfect, no but it works for me.
It is what I usually use, as well. But I wanted to try the India ink, to see how long it lasts.
ChasUGC
TJ Enthusiast
Sorry if you misunderstood me. I've suffered that problem for 20 plus years, trying so many things and none of them working, as I'm sure that many of us have done. I found a solution just in the last six months. As far as having to reapply it, it is no different than applying Armor-all to our tires like we've all been doing for decades. I reapply it after every car wash.
Yeah, I can imagine, if I applied the heat gun to soften up the flares to allow the Mequires to soak in better. But, as you commented, that would be an awful lot of work. I need more time for the girls. I'm not as much of a catch as I use to be. lol.
ChasUGC
TJ Enthusiast
Yeah, I wish I had the energy and patience to wax my entire vehicle. Shy to say, I'll be at full retirement age in three weeks. Still, I just pull my Jeep into the shade and apply the Mequires and let it sit for 10 minutes. It takes 15 minutes tops. Hopefully one week soon, I'll have the energy to wax my entire Jeep. Washing and waxing the entire Jeep, applying Mequires to the tires, all the black plastic, vacuuming the interior, detailing it with Mequires, cleaning the white interior bedliner, detailing the floor mats, and fine cleaning the mirrors and windows, is a huge job, taking 2-3 hours. I rarely have that much energy at my age. Hopefully, my job and life stresses will ease up a little so that I can spend more time on my Jeep love. The single ladies at work do tell me how nice my Jeep looks. But, because of these intense sexual harassment claims going around in this world, I dare to ask them if they want to go for a ride. Instead, I'll just clean my Jeep. lol.
I used Penetrol on a badly faded set of flares. They look fantastic and water just beads up on them. It's only been a couple of weeks, so can't attest to the longevity yet.
I've had good luck with Mother's Back to Black.
It brought the fenders, and all other black plastic back to new looking and has lasted a year so far down here were we have this UV thing in large quantities.
It brought the fenders, and all other black plastic back to new looking and has lasted a year so far down here were we have this UV thing in large quantities.
Dozens of YouTube vids recommending it.
Short lived. It lasted about a week. I have pics posted here of my door panels before I had them dyed and you can see the end result of the heat treatment.
I tried that too. Returned it the next day.
ChasUGC
TJ Enthusiast
Same here. Like I said, 20 years of trying solutions. Finally, I found a winner, at least for the black plastic on my Jeep.
Is the cured finish matte black as you've pictured? Did a quick search for the stuff and find it is no longer available.. sold out everywhere unless I was to commit to a 32 oz bottle at about $50. There appears to have been an 8 oz and 4 oz available at some point, but no longer
Do you have a source?
Never heard anyone saying using a heat gun or hair dryer on the flares only lasted a week, mine always lasted several months.
It is the exact same plastic and fades for the exact same reason. Exposure to UV leaches the plasticizers out and the heat gun migrates them back to the surface temporarily.