My fender flares are kind of faded and getting gray in some places. Do you guys have any advice on how to rejuvenate them. Should I paint them? Someone told me shoe polish (Sponge bottle black type) works. What do you guys think?
Tips on restoring fender flares?
- Thread starter mrblue5150
- Start date
I have had decent luck using a tiny propane torch to bring color back to plastic. I do know it will rejuvenate the factory flares some, how long will it last....that I don’t know. I’m in the same boat as you as my flares are faded as shit. I recently bedlined them with rustoleum bedline in a can then topped it with clear coat. About two years ago I did only bedline and it got mud stained and faded really fast. So far the clear is helping out. I think the best solution is new flares but if you’re like me, there are other parts higher on my priority list.
Lot of threads out there but I pulled mine off, sanded and clear coated with the rattlecan and put 3-4 coats of black spray paint. To do it right (or learning to ) takes a work.
I would scuff them up with a very light grit sand paper and spray them with SEM Landau Black paint.
It's a dead-on match for the factory color. I don't think you can get any closer!
It's a dead-on match for the factory color. I don't think you can get any closer!
My heat gun produced results with my previous TJ's faded flares that made me happy. Takes 5-10 minutes per flare, just keep the heat gun moving.
This isn't my TJ but it shows my experience precisely.
This isn't my TJ but it shows my experience precisely.
What I did on mine... remove, wash with dawn dish soap, degrease with a wax & grease remover (has to take years of armorall type crap off), bulldog adhesion promoter, 2 coats of SEM bumper & trim black. Held up for 8+ years and once dry and cured you can go back to putting armorall type spooge on it. Or not.
Tray Burge
TJ Addict
Please, don't do this! I know this is going around as a fix, but this only brings the plastic's oils to the surface and will eventually make the plastic weak and brittle therefore more prone to cracking.
What works is a water based "back to black" type product, worked in with a stiff detail brush, let it sit over night and then wipe off the excess.
The finish will run in the rain, but it won't get that "gummy" build up feeling. Just re-apply when needed and the more you do it, the slower it will fade next time.
I threw everything in the books at mine, even Mothers "back to black", had zero effect. The 15 years before I owned my Jeep it sat outside most of it's life, I doubt there's a product that could have helped them. Understand they were not black, they really weren't even grey, they were so faded they looked like an ugly white.
Tray Burge
TJ Addict
lol! Mine had only gotten to the gray stage and were salvageable, but I guess there would be a point of no return and need refinishing or replacing all together.
SEM Black Trim paint seems to work wonders from what I have heard but have never tried it.
I bought a $20 Wagner Fumo 300 heat gun at Home Depot and did this on the sway bar cover. Here are pics before and after. Honestly neither do justice and both look too similar to each other whereas in reality the before was much lighter than it looks and the after a little darker.
As @Tray Burge says I don't think this is the best solution. I did mine probably more out of curiosity than anything else as it's hard to believe it'll work. I'd wager to say that what he says is true and that this just brings the plastic's oils to the surface thereby making it more brittle.
That being said, my sway bar cover is a pretty inconsequential piece for me to experiment on and satiate my curiosity. I have no qualms about doing this on any piece of plastic that isn't going to be seeing much, if any, flexing/stress/etc. Even then, I probably wouldn't ever do it to anything twice. Then again, it was dulled after a whole 19 years, if it keeps it's color after just another few years I'll be satisfied.
For what it's worth, I don't think mine turned out splotchy at all. I did a slow, even coverage a few inches away and I did a fast, repetitive coverage concentrating on a small area as well (same distance, like two or three inches maybe) and got the same results. I preferred the latter method. After a little bit of zapping it with the heat gun the black just pops out and you move on.
I bought a $20 Wagner Fumo 300 heat gun at Home Depot and did this on the sway bar cover. Here are pics before and after. Honestly neither do justice and both look too similar to each other whereas in reality the before was much lighter than it looks and the after a little darker.
As @Tray Burge says I don't think this is the best solution. I did mine probably more out of curiosity than anything else as it's hard to believe it'll work. I'd wager to say that what he says is true and that this just brings the plastic's oils to the surface thereby making it more brittle.
That being said, my sway bar cover is a pretty inconsequential piece for me to experiment on and satiate my curiosity. I have no qualms about doing this on any piece of plastic that isn't going to be seeing much, if any, flexing/stress/etc. Even then, I probably wouldn't ever do it to anything twice. Then again, it was dulled after a whole 19 years, if it keeps it's color after just another few years I'll be satisfied.
For what it's worth, I don't think mine turned out splotchy at all. I did a slow, even coverage a few inches away and I did a fast, repetitive coverage concentrating on a small area as well (same distance, like two or three inches maybe) and got the same results. I preferred the latter method. After a little bit of zapping it with the heat gun the black just pops out and you move on.
If what I did several times produced "all blatchy" results I wouldn't have recommended it here.
I don’t have a heat gun so I used a little mini torch. I don’t have picture of doing flares but here is the trim around steering column. It’s not perfect but is no longer an eye sore.
Krylon fusion, hands down. After I used it, I went through two Chicago winters with my flares. One of the two winters was record-setting. The flares still came out looking great.
A couple nuggets of advice:
First, follow the instructions exactly how they’re written on the can. I've seen people in other forums complain that "Krylon sucks, my flares were chipping a couple weeks after I used it." Then they describe their process: they ignored the label instructions completely. One guy still had visible dirt on his flares and just sprayed over it. Needless to say, he was flamed into next week.
Second, remove the flares. Some folks swear by taping off the flares from the rest of the Jeep or even squeezing index cards between the flares and the fenders. Removing the flares, in my opinion, is the much better option. Not only will you save yourself the worry of overspray, but you'll be amazed by the amount of dirt you'll find lodged between the flares and the fenders. Removing the flares gives you an opportunity to clean all that crap out.
Which brings me to my third and final point: get a ratcheting wrench. If I remember correctly, you'll need an 8mm wrench. Because it's flat, the ratcheting wrench is a godsend tool in this situation.
I really wish I'd made a video when I did all this myself.
A couple nuggets of advice:
First, follow the instructions exactly how they’re written on the can. I've seen people in other forums complain that "Krylon sucks, my flares were chipping a couple weeks after I used it." Then they describe their process: they ignored the label instructions completely. One guy still had visible dirt on his flares and just sprayed over it. Needless to say, he was flamed into next week.
Second, remove the flares. Some folks swear by taping off the flares from the rest of the Jeep or even squeezing index cards between the flares and the fenders. Removing the flares, in my opinion, is the much better option. Not only will you save yourself the worry of overspray, but you'll be amazed by the amount of dirt you'll find lodged between the flares and the fenders. Removing the flares gives you an opportunity to clean all that crap out.
Which brings me to my third and final point: get a ratcheting wrench. If I remember correctly, you'll need an 8mm wrench. Because it's flat, the ratcheting wrench is a godsend tool in this situation.
I really wish I'd made a video when I did all this myself.
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So you have no personal experience with using a heat gun on your flares. And as I said, that isn't a pic of my previous TJ's flares, it's just one I found of someone else's part-way through the process.
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Airjunky
TJ Enthusiast
I also drive a Chevy Avalanche, that has a ton of plastic over the bed. The forum users who have tried the heat gun trick report that it fades again, usually worse. So use something like 303 on it afterwards.... sunscreen for your stuff!
That said, I've had great luck with two products.... Wipe New. Inexpensive and very easy to apply and lasts for months.
And Carworx Refinish Restorer. A bit more time consuming to apply, but also lasts for months.
That said, I've had great luck with two products.... Wipe New. Inexpensive and very easy to apply and lasts for months.
And Carworx Refinish Restorer. A bit more time consuming to apply, but also lasts for months.