Thinking about painting my "sun gray" flares. I was wondering if it is a good idea to just take them off, sand them down a bit, and spray them with krylon or rustoleum. Any tips?

Taking them off

http://dailydriventj.com/trim_painting.shtml

Leaving them on

http://articles.jeepforum.com/Krylon_Fusion_Flares

I hear its a bitch to take the flares off so I am going to try the leaving them on way!

I painted my old ones with Krylon Fusion and just left them on and masked them. Don't really need to sand them, but just make sure you clean them really good wo make sure and wax or oily residues are gone, and you should be good! I think i used MEK to clean my flares prior to painting them.

Hey Steelman, hate to ask but what is MEK?

It's a solvent.

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/m4628.htm

I used this just because I had it in my garage. You could use xylene or acetone too.

Dont sand them, just wipe down with your choice of solvent, mask off, spray with Krylon Fusion Black paint, Mine turned out great, very easy one day job...

i think i will do this on a nice day but i really want some bushwacker flares

Do yourself a favor if you take your Jeep off road at all and save your cash! I had some that I ran for a while (someone GAVE them to me), and though they didn't crack like many others seem to have had happen to them, they sure did snag on every tree and rock that I got near! I went back to a new set of stock flares that someone gave me.

Thanks guys, will definitely do it tomorrow.

I would go with the Krylon it holds better

They turned out great, will post pictures soon.

You do not have enough space for a ratched so you gotta use the regular wrenches. If you find a regular wrench that has the ratched motion, its easy. What i would do is loosen them a bit so I can slide in a sheet of newspaper behind them to mask them off. When i did mine, i took them off. It took long time with the regular wrenches since you turn, take it out, start from the beginning, turn a bit more, take it out start from the begining and on and on. Once you have 1 bolt off, you realize you have 6-7 bolts left just on that one flare.

i thought you could buy that Mother's Back to Black....I was told this but havent tried it yet

Has anyone tried the heat gun method for refinishing grey fender flairs? Jst wondering how long it last? Does it really work?

Good Idea Trip!!!

I may do this soon as well.

The problem with the back to black is that it only lasts about a week and then you have to redo it. Painting is a longer term solution and costs about the same.

I use that plastic sheet they put on the front of LCD monitors when you take them out of the boxes, stuff is thin and freaking strong, slides right in there with no loosening just watch your fingers though it's pretty sharp. I bought a batch of a 100 monitors last year for a customer and saved them up just for stuff like this.

I left them on and did the method of loosening them a bit and sticking newspaper behind them, worked really well. Even if you manage to get a little paint on the Jeep, you can get a rag and put a little gas on it and whip the spray paint off, just make sure you do it before the spray paint sets.

I tried the heat gun method and it really works. Go to Home Depot and get a good one. Try it. If you don't like the results, return it. Doesn't hurt to try.

Tomorrow most likely i will try the heat gun method. I just got a heat gun from a buddie today so i'm ready.. just gotta wash the jeep and i'll give it a shot.

What's the heat gun method? Did I miss a link that explains it?

alright i just did the heat gun method.

When looking for a heat gun, look for one that blows lots of air. You dont need much heat for this as much as you need blow. I dont know if a hair drier will work however if one is looking forward to this, you can try it.


Anyhow few tips. Make sure its a hot hot hot sunny hot day and park in the sun, oh and did i say hot day? If its a colder day it will make your job harder and the flares will have lines on them. Start from the bottom on front or back of the flare (not top) since its easier. Go up and then start from the bottom again. Do not start from one end then go to the other end and go back, it will look like crap like that. Simply start from bottom, go to the top and then jump back to the bottom again fast and start over. Hold the heat gun end minimum 3" away otherwise it will be also create lines. Go one pass, then go another pass over it. Dont go slow as that will create circles. It should take you about 4-5 seconds to get from the bottom end of the flare to the top end of the flare where it curves.
At last go bottom to top, not side to side.

Unpainted, unheated..


This was the first flare i did. You can see the circles and the lines. Also its quite cold so that made it harder.


front of the same flare, i went short way side to side and you can clearly see the lines.


passenger flare (using the motion tips i gave above however still cold day, front are painted and chipping)

Looks good, but what are you doing? Are you heating it up and then wiping it off? Any chemicals being used? Please explain, I would like to try it this weekend.

Simply clean the flares.. wash them whatever you wanna do to get mud off. Let them dry out. Take the heat gun. Its like a hair dryer, but hotter. Turn it on high and from 3-4 inches away (NO LESS), heat the plastic up. As i said keep the heat gun moving in a straight line (not side to side but bottom to top and then start from bottom again to top and repeat). Dont stop otherwise you will get circles. Once it heats up it will get shinny but it has to cool slowly and evenly as possible otherwise you will get lines.

I wonder if putting it in the oven will work lol.

what kind of paint is that krylon fusion?
it´s not available here in germany and i´ve to search for something similar.

When you use the heat gun, how long before it fades again? And can this still be done if the flares have been painted before? or should I use a paint stripper first?

If you're going to paint them, that plastic sheet from the LCD tvs is just mylar which can be found at any office supply or art supply store. It's used for printing on transparencies.

paint them, heat gun method is easier but no more than 2 months after, they will look like a zebra. original colors and dark colors on stripes. They will last no more than 3 to 4 months all together.

Any recommendations on which solvent to use to clean the fenders?

go to auto store ask for auto solvent for paint prepping