I have a 97 TJ and like em all the flares faded to a nasty gray. So i took em off and had em painted with automotive grade "Spice" paint to match the top. looked GREAT at 1st but the paint didn't stick very well. What can I do? My 97 XJ has body color flairs on it (factory I think) thet still look new. As did my 01 XJ. No peeling etc. Are they molded in color?
painting wheel flares
- Thread starter volaredon
- Start date
Saddle Tramp
New member
I'm not a painter and have not had flares painted before but I know the flares need to be primed with a proper flexing agent first as a primer. Without it you got nothing.
plain ol' Rustoleum? that would have been cheaper than the qt of paint I had mixed. (I did the top, the bumpers etc too; which are all holding up fine)
the guy that did this called the paint co and asked; he himself is a body shop instructor at the local career ctr and because this is such a "waxy" plastic he didnt know how they would hold up. It sterted cracking and peeling when I went thru a car wash and once paint starts to peel it don't stop til there's no more left. Can I but a set of flares molded in a color at least CLOSE to "spice"?
Green body+spice interior+black (ok.. faded to charcoal gray) looked silly. I had so many comments on how nice it looked when all the plastic had fresh "spice" colored paint on it. (so I guess I wasnt the only one that liked it)
I've had this TJ for 10 years and don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon either.
the frame rotted; I put everything on a newer frame. It sat 18 mo because I was under Dr's orders not to drive a stick. (bad leg injury and that air cast-moon boot thing, was too big to work the pedals anyway w/o hitting 2 pedals at a time) but I ain't selling it. but now with 4" of snow on the ground and up to 10" more on the way before this storm ends tomorrow, my Wrangler breaks thru it better than my 2WD 3/4 ton Dodge pickup could ever hope to.
the guy that did this called the paint co and asked; he himself is a body shop instructor at the local career ctr and because this is such a "waxy" plastic he didnt know how they would hold up. It sterted cracking and peeling when I went thru a car wash and once paint starts to peel it don't stop til there's no more left. Can I but a set of flares molded in a color at least CLOSE to "spice"?
Green body+spice interior+black (ok.. faded to charcoal gray) looked silly. I had so many comments on how nice it looked when all the plastic had fresh "spice" colored paint on it. (so I guess I wasnt the only one that liked it)
I've had this TJ for 10 years and don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon either.
the frame rotted; I put everything on a newer frame. It sat 18 mo because I was under Dr's orders not to drive a stick. (bad leg injury and that air cast-moon boot thing, was too big to work the pedals anyway w/o hitting 2 pedals at a time) but I ain't selling it. but now with 4" of snow on the ground and up to 10" more on the way before this storm ends tomorrow, my Wrangler breaks thru it better than my 2WD 3/4 ton Dodge pickup could ever hope to.
xt master
New member
All I did was use some wet sand paper I had laying around.Think it was like 1000 grit.Lightly sanded and two coats of Rustoleum paint.I also did my heater vents inside along with the center console bezel around the radio.Cost me about $10 for 3 cans of paint.Only thing I have not done yet is the license plate holder.That is next.My vents inside I used Dupli color in a rattle can to match the outside paint color.
No, the Saharas were body color.
blkrubi88
New member
Yes! But they are painted to match from the factory!
lambo
New member
O.k. Check it out.. While watching the show extreme 4x4 they used a heat gun and ran across all the moldings that are the black that fades to grey. Like magic the things looked brand spankin new....Just be carefull not to melt it.......Sweep the gun like a spray pant and you will see how close you get with the gun before it gets to the point were it will defect you part. Buy this I mean melt it out of shape.. Good luck..
Rubiconhd
New member
I am a painter and they did not get the mold release agent off of the flares before painting. any quality shop will warranty their work. a plastic adhesion-promoter should have been used along with a quality urethane sealer with a flex additive, along with hardner in the basecoat and flex additive in the clear coat.
I know taht he used the adhesion promoter and the hardener.
as far as "quality shop" it was but it was a school; and the teacher, in taking them to paint for me, said that he was leery of the type of plastic taking to the paint that well; he even called PPG and asked them for their recommendations and I guess that even they said, that they didnt know how well it would hold up on those.
"mold release" I have heard of that but being this Jeep is a 97 and I had this paint work done in early 2009 I would think the release agent would have been baked off by then by the sun?
his concern was the "waxiness" of the plastic used on those flares. I have 3 peeling of the 4.
as far as "quality shop" it was but it was a school; and the teacher, in taking them to paint for me, said that he was leery of the type of plastic taking to the paint that well; he even called PPG and asked them for their recommendations and I guess that even they said, that they didnt know how well it would hold up on those.
"mold release" I have heard of that but being this Jeep is a 97 and I had this paint work done in early 2009 I would think the release agent would have been baked off by then by the sun?
his concern was the "waxiness" of the plastic used on those flares. I have 3 peeling of the 4.
Crazy4diesels
New member
Are the factory painted flairs fiberglass? They seem to be harder than the black ones (I have black ones) ? The black ones look and feel like they might be polyethylene. If so, nothing will stick to them very well for long. - John
That very well could be the case; made of a different material. if so I may well be looking for a set of "sahara" ones as they were all body color.
what about the aftermarket wider ones? are they paintable?
(OK OK I mean will paint stick to them for more than 6 months?)
Crazy4diesels
New member
Not sure about the aftermarket ones. I checked out one wide aftermarket set that were a harder plastic (not too flexible) and figured they'd break on the trail. Those might have been paintable with a plastic paint. I liked my flexible black stock flairs better - they flex and bend and snap right back pretty well. My plan was to put Rubicon wheels on the Jeep and I could have used the extra inch of flair coverage. I ended up putting skinny Jeep Liberty wheels on it which kept the tires tucked under the stock flairs. Best of luck - John
prariepunk
Active member
I used the Krylon Fusion paint on mine (they were grey from factory) & they stayed black but I painted the rear ones with a spray on bed liner & they stayed until I took the jeep to the car wash
