Treating the fender flares
- Thread starter joniki
- Start date
Anything you coat the plastic with is temporary. I just use a UV protectant to keep it from turning gray. My wife likes her Jeep shiny. 
Anything you coat the plastic with is temporary. I just use a UV protectant to keep it from turning gray. My wife likes her Jeep shiny.
View attachment 510182
Is that the big v8? You ever tempted to steal her tie rods after a rough day on the trails?
Just a 4.0. I had a V8 in mine. FWIW, the tie rod on hers is twice the diameter of a stock TJ. It doesn't have the bend in it like the ZJ V8 one though. Not sure if it's hollow or not.
Last edited:
Ir0nH3@d
Member
do people not paint flares anymore? couple hours of work and they look great for many years
I used to use Krylon Fusion. They looked fine until I dripped gas on them when filling up or hit a branch on a trail.
Some of us do, we just don't talk about it any more purely due to silly threads like this one. IYKYK and you do it right. The rest is nothing but temporary bullshit.
Way too much trouble to remove them for painting and I'm not patient enough to mask them properly if I tried painting while still on the Jeep. Penetrol for me.
I know I’ve seen a video of someone using cards on a Jeep but can’t locate it. Best I can do.
Yep, I've seen that, but I can Penetrol the top and all the flares in far less time than it would take me to just do a proper masking job for painting. But, to each his own.
I my experience, you can only get by with Penetrol on the flares if they've never had a heat gun on them. I put Penetrol on my extremely faded hard top and it turned out looking brand new and still does 3 years later with no further applications. My flares, however, had been heat gunned by the previous owner. When I applied the Penetrol, they actually looked worse and were extremely blotchy.
I ended up doing a quick and dirty rattle can job to hold me over until I replaced them. Ended up getting some Rubicon flares and now I'm about to refresh them with some new paint and slap them on.
ChasUGC
TJ Enthusiast
Like anything on a vehicle, it requires maintenance. Try filling up your engine with oil and not maintaining it and see how temporary that is. Try not waxing your vehicle or washing it regularly and see how temporary that is. I tried painting my last set of fenders and it was temporary too, and turned into a horrible mess. Although they are painted, you can't wax them, because the fenders are textured. Then, road rocks and tree branches will ruin the paint, making it scarred, pitted and peel. It isn't baked like the exterior paint, so it will lift. Over time, it will look worse than before you painted them. Mine lasted a few months. The paint started oxidizing too. The only real solution is to maintain your black plastic just like you do to your exterior paint. It only takes me five minutes after every wash. I just don't apply my plastic conditioner in the sun. It lasts until my next car wash or a heavy rain. Even fluid film is temporary, especially during floods or heavy rain. We have all seen the horror stories of undercarriages rusting out on Jeeps because of a lack of maintenance in inclement weather conditions. When, I wash my Jeep anyway and I just condition my black plastic too. There is nothing on or in a vehicle that doesn't require regularly maintenance. Even the floor requires vacuuming occasionally. I like to wash my Jeep every one to two weeks. I like to wax it every two to three months. I condition my black plastic after every wash. I guess it would be nice if I had one of those expensive Lambo's or Ferrari's and I could hire a detailer or driver to maintain it. But, I don't have that luxury of a life style and I have maintain it myself. I think I've done well with it so far, as long as I can maintain my health to do it.
Last edited:
Or, you could use SEM Bumper Coater once and be done with it. And no, getting it on the paint isn't a problem. A perfect masking job takes maybe ten minutes to apply and seconds to remove.
My wife can get a set of flares off the rig by herself in about 7 minutes per flare. If I let her use my Milwaukee Fuel 1/4" small head ratchet with a short socket, it would take even less time but she can buy her own damn tools.
Nope, we are however, smarter than a plastic nut. Just use a pair of cloth gloves that have been dipped in the grippy stuff on the fingertips.
Jerry, I’ve asked members a billion times not to do that.
ChasUGC
TJ Enthusiast
Not according to the instructions. According to the instructions, you basically have to remove them to scuff and prep or risk ruining your paint. Then, you have to give them two to three layers. This requires hours of prep, and it is a thin layer. Then, the instructions say to wait 48 hours. This is basically paint. Then, you have reinstall them. And paint will oxidize, chip, and pop. This is a three day job. And basically a masking procedure to cover up a problem.
The video makes it look so quick and easy.
And a new set of flares probably cost less than all those products they say you need to do the job right.