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Painting Fender Flares

48K views 36 replies 31 participants last post by  ChasUGC 
#1 ·
I was tired of having faded flares so I decided to paint them. This is how I went about doing it. Hope this helps the next guy.

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03
This is my Jeep. It's a 2003 TJ.
I used Kyrlon Fusion Satin, 2 cans.
I decided to take off my fender flares so I wouldn't have to worry about overspray. I used a 1/4 drive 5/16 socket to remove them. I would suggest getting a ratcheting box wrench if it's in the budget. That would make it a lot easier. There are quite a few nuts and bolts that hold them on. There are some "christmas trees" (push pins). You can try and reuse them but I went ahead about bought about 12 of them.

So I took off the front fenders.

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03
Then I removed the rears. You will also have to remove the wheel well covers. These are held in by the christmas trees. I went ahead and cleaned all the dirt behind them.

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03
Once I removed all the flares I washed them with some soap and water. I also washed and waxed behind the flares. waxing is up to you. I also preped the front plastic piece that covers the sway bar.

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03
This is after the first coat. I put on a total of 3 light coats.

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03
This is the finished product. It took me about 3 hours with everything. But I also enjoyed a nice cold adult beverage in between coats of paint.

By jhardyjr, shot with EX-Z75 at 2007-08-03
 
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#29 ·
Just did mine w/Rustoleum truck bed liner spray paint. Kept flares on, masked everything, and sprayed away. They looked so good I had to keep going and spray the front & rear bumpers, the trim around the gas cap, and the headlight bezels. It looks outstanding! I'll post up pix when I get a chance.
 
#30 ·
I had to remove my flares in order to install my rock sliders...and they needed painting too. Since I painted my sliders with Rustoleum BedLiner I thought my flares would look best if they matched. I had to grind nearly all the bolts off that used the rivnuts. Then grind the rivets down so that I could push them through the body panels. Wasn't a hard process once I figured it out...but the first couple was a PITA. I tried to put various wrenches on the rivnuts to hold them in place, etc. Nothing would keep them from spinning. There are 18 bolts/rivnuts in total (3 on each plastic piece), only four unscrewed properly. The screws/nylon nuts came out just fine, with the assistance of removing the rear inner fender guards. Then I drilled out the rivnuts that I hadn't had to grind off. Since my sliders would cover up lower five rivnut holes on each side, I drilled the remaining 8 holes to 3/8".

For the flares, after trimming them for the rock sliders, I washed them well with a scotch-brite pad and soap, being sure to remove any stuck on road debris. Then degreased them with Marine Clean. Once well dried, I applied three coats of Rustoleum BedLiner, waiting a couple minutes between coats. I let them dry for a day before installing. I also did the same for my license plate bracket.

Re-installing the flares was a breeze since I had already fit and trimmed them. Where the screws/nylon nuts were originally, I put them back on. For the 8 bolts/rivnuts, I used 7/16" nylon push rivets (Lowe's or hardware store). The nylon rivets hold the flares very solidly, and will make removing the flares very easy in the future.

The flares and sliders actually match color perfectly...the difference in the picture is just lighting and how it falls across the flare.
 

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