Plastic adhesion promoter for painting fender flares?
- Thread starter Moab
- Start date
I did it about a month ago, no splotches, perfectly consistent.
Given you're at best batting a 500 on this, I'll wait and see if your longevity concerns have any basis in reality.
Good luck.
How are the holding up without the adhesion promoter? I am putting my flares back on tomorrow, and did what you did, except I used what Advance Auto Parts had in stock which was the Dupli Color plastic coating.
OP
Have to agree here. It's a half solution. Won't last long and isn't uniform like paint. If it was that good no one would be painting their flares. And more importantly no one would be going thru the pain that is removing and reinstalling them.
Yep, now pics and pics 6 months from now after being in the sun. This is a couple years in the SoCal sun, closer to 3 done with SEM color coat and low luster clear.
I just finished a set of exterior plastics. I'm refurbing one that I sold. So far on the interior I've done the steering column clamshell, the instrument cluster, the defrost dash trim, door panels, and the center dash bezel. SEM is pretty good stuff. About as good of a match as you will get with a rattle can.
What color did you use for the door panels? When I did my half door project, I did not use SEM on the inside panels, and was very disappointed with the results.
In the process of doing this to mine. I think me and Mr. Blaine were sniffing fumes at the same time. Went darker but used all SEM products except for the wax & grease remover.
Before (light gray, but faded)
After (Graphite)
Before (light gray, but faded)
After (Graphite)
That is the SEM Classic Coat in Dark Slate Gray. To be clear, I didn't paint the glove box door, knee bolster, air bag cover, speaker vents or the main dash. Just gave them a good scrub in hopes that some sort of Armor-all like surface treatment will make them presentable.
I'll get a side x side of the door panels to show the difference.
Thanks, as you know it's a lot of work but results are satisfying especially in these older vehicles. I'm using Color Coat here. Jeep was repainted last year and this darker gray looks really good against that red. But i've used the Classic Coat on my F150 with good results as I stayed close to the factory color there.
Rick deCastro
Member
Slightly off topic but has anyone used rattle can spray bedliner on badly scuffed/scratched flares? If so were you happy with the result?
OP
I bought Rustoleum bedliner spray paint first. Tested it on something. And it doesn't look good at all. But I have read many guys using spray bed liners on flares on other forums. And liking it. There are several brands though as you may know. It comes out with a much rougher surface that some complain is hard to clean. Dirt gets in the rough surface. And trying to clean it results in towel fibers being caught in the texture.
Having said that. I think if your mud guy it's fine. As your probably just hosing your rig off anyway. And maybe not that worried about an original finish.
Personally if your going to go with bed liner use it everywhere outside the Jeep. Like bumpers, flares, trim etc. It looks cool on the right Jeep done that way. Adds a texture to the Jeep that lends itself to rough outdoor 4 wheeling. But again the cleaning issue. I stuck with stock SEM paint. And a smooth finish.
OP
A couple notes about painting your flares:
I would strongly encourage the use of grey scotchbrite pads and not sand paper. The grey pads are for automotive use and are very aggressive. But not nearly as aggressive as sandpaper. Whatever tiny sand lines were left by the grey pads were minimal and covered with spray paint. I don't think sandpaper marks would fill in as nicely. I guess if you went with something very fine then your ok. But I found the grey automotive use scotchbrite pads to sand the flares very well. It get's the old paint or residue off without adding any sanding lines. And again the pads are very aggressive on there own. I bought a box of it off ebay. And now I have some real scotchbrite pads for stripping future parts. They are way more aggressive than the green ones. But don't leave all the sanding lines of sandpaper.
Last tip is from above. Use better paint can nozzles. The ones that come with the cans suck. The aftermarket nozzles spread the spray way better. No blotches. And they don't spit excess droplets either. They really lay the paint on the part and not all over in the air. It's very fanned out but directional. I can't tell you how much nicer the finish turns out. And how much less paint you'll use. I used only one can on all 6 of my flares. And that gave me 3 to 4 coats. I originally bought 3 cans. I have 2 left over for other parts on my Jeep. And the nozzles are dirt cheap. See my link to them in above post.
I would strongly encourage the use of grey scotchbrite pads and not sand paper. The grey pads are for automotive use and are very aggressive. But not nearly as aggressive as sandpaper. Whatever tiny sand lines were left by the grey pads were minimal and covered with spray paint. I don't think sandpaper marks would fill in as nicely. I guess if you went with something very fine then your ok. But I found the grey automotive use scotchbrite pads to sand the flares very well. It get's the old paint or residue off without adding any sanding lines. And again the pads are very aggressive on there own. I bought a box of it off ebay. And now I have some real scotchbrite pads for stripping future parts. They are way more aggressive than the green ones. But don't leave all the sanding lines of sandpaper.
Last tip is from above. Use better paint can nozzles. The ones that come with the cans suck. The aftermarket nozzles spread the spray way better. No blotches. And they don't spit excess droplets either. They really lay the paint on the part and not all over in the air. It's very fanned out but directional. I can't tell you how much nicer the finish turns out. And how much less paint you'll use. I used only one can on all 6 of my flares. And that gave me 3 to 4 coats. I originally bought 3 cans. I have 2 left over for other parts on my Jeep. And the nozzles are dirt cheap. See my link to them in above post.
Rick deCastro
Member
Thanks for the information. I acquired a used set of Rubicon flares that have some deep scratches that I thought I would put on my '04 Rubicon instead of the standard width aftermarket flares currently on it. I know that new Mopar Rubicon flares can be had but $420 to me is a bunch of money. Shame nobody makes aftermarket Rubicon width flares.
OP
I think they make them. But they are like 500 bucks. I'd smooth out the scratched ones you have with sandpaper and then grey scotchbrite pads. Maybe use a primer to fill in scratches?