Fading Plastic on my XJ

Both trim panels on my 98 XJ on the sides, as the fender flares are gray as oppose to black what they should be, painted them with a Dupli Color - Black Bumper paint, and after two months the paint came off while pressure washing the Jeep. Same thing happened to the rear bumper of my Jeep-when i bought it it was all galvanized steel ... with all the paint missing. Paint came off as well... any ideas? What did you use to paint yours and how is it?

I used a blow torch to make mine black again. Go over the flares evenly, just as if you were using spray paint-but a little faster. It'll do the trick. Oh yeah, wash them first and let them dry.

lol.... dont mind my language... but are you Fuc**ng Serious?

He apparently is. Another discussion about this is found in some thread about the best free mods or something like that. You don't heat up the flares to melt the plastic, just enough to make them black again. I've never done this, but i think i would equate it to de-fraying a rope. You just always keep the torch moving, never stopping.

I Hope This Helps,
~Jeremy

Purple said:

Both trim panels on my 98 XJ on the sides, as the fender flares are gray as oppose to black what they should be, painted them with a Dupli Color - Black Bumper paint, and after two months the paint came off while pressure washing the Jeep. Same thing happened to the rear bumper of my Jeep-when i bought it it was all galvanized steel ... with all the paint missing. Paint came off as well... any ideas? What did you use to paint yours and how is it?

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Did you prep the surfaces before painting them? The bumper, i would clean it really well (sand blast it, or atleast use a scuff pad), and then prime it before i painted it. The flares, i would test out the torch idea on the underside of the flare to A) see if it does work, and 2) practice before doing the visible part.

~Jeremy

Yeah, I'm completely serious. The flares on my 99 were in terrible shape. I'd used "Back to Black" and all kinds of stuff, pretty crappy results. Then I was on Jeepforum and somebody was talking about using a blowtorch.. I gave it a shot and the result was waaay better than Back to Black. Just get a small butane torch the second the flame hits it (keep the nozzle of the torch about 4" away) the plastic will be almost black. Once you try it, you will the hang of it quickly.

It's been a few months now and they still look good.

lol, will do that tommorow and post pics...
as for the bumper first i used sand paper, fine but not too fine to get rid of all the elements and make it.... porous? is that the word? and then cleaned everything off with a paper towel, blown air on it, and cleaned it with acetone before painting.

Hope 1990XJ4x4 doesn't see this. He smells gas....

mudpuddle said:

Hope 1990XJ4x4 doesn't see this. He smells gas....

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Can you say BOOM? LOL

Be biggest part of painting anything is prep work. The second is the proper type of paint for what you're painting. I come from a visual display background, so painting is almost second nature for me. The first thing is clean the area to be painted well of any grease old paint, dirt, mud etc. Once it's cleaned well, the old paint is easily removed by a light sanding. Mask off the area to be painted not to over spray, and get a GOOD primer. Don't go cheap, as you get what you pay for. Once the primer is on, and has been let to fully dry, then you take your colour and paint it. If you're using spray paint, use thin even coats. You'll get a better finish with no dripping or globbing doing it this way. Just spray as many thing coats as you need, waiting between each to dry before the next one. You could probably do all you flares in a weekend, as long as you have a garage to work in, or some nice sunny days. Just don't do it when the temp is too low though, as most sprays don't work well at all. Once your done, just be careful with them for a few weeks as they will 'cure'.

Another things you may want to try, which I've been toying with the idea of, I just got the replacement tank into my 90XJ, in which I cleaned all the crap off of it with a wire wheel on my drill, then using a spray that is intended for spraying bedlinings of trucks that don't have an actual bedlining, I covered the entire tank to seal it form rusting and found it work really well. You may be able to use the same product for flares, or the lower body trim. Has a nice non-shiny textured look to it, and inexpensive to buy.

Good luck. Hope you get it repainted without problems!

ps, another thing you could do is remove them fully when you paint them as well, which would mean you wouldn't have to worry about taping off at all. Just hang them when you spray them! Hell, it works great with mannequins!!

I went to my local auto paint store, not an Advance or Auto Zone and got this stuff called "Bumper Coater". It comes in a few colors and goes on plasticy trim pieces great. The same company made an adhesion promoter that you spray on first and then put color on while it is still wet. It says that it is made for pieces that you can't sand to well. I have had it on my Jeep for almost a year with no chipping or fading. I used it on my door handles as well. When Spring comes, I'm "painting" the black side trim with the stuff. I think it is a great product that did exactly what I wanted it to. If you want, I can check the manufacturer and color code when I get home.
Matt

You might want to consider the use of urethane/polyurethane binder-based paint. They provide greater flexibility and exterior durability, although they are more costly. But, my solution to the flare fading is to occasionally apply black Kiwi shore polish -- waxing the flares. Seems to even hold up to the ravages of the arizona sun.

lol.... ok. ... will try some of those and post results how do you remove the side door trim?

I have heard that the new Krylon 'fusion' plastic paint is supposed to be good, have not tried it, I generally wipe mine down with Mobil-1 using the drippings from the empty containers. Works for a while but is not a long term solution.

You should try those Mr. Clean erasers. Most of the stuff is wax build-up from those drive-thru washes, even the ones you do yourself. Thats why the torch works. It burns off the wax. Mr. Clean erasers do the same and at about $3.00 for a pack off 2, you can't go wrong. I did this on my z-71 that had the same problem. worked like a charm.

Purple said:

lol.... ok. ... will try some of those and post results how do you remove the side door trim?

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If it's like my '90, you can't remove the side trim at all. It's glued on, unless you intend on cleaning and glueing it back on. Personally I didn't like the trim, so when I replaced all the doors since mine were rusting nicely around the door handles as it is originally a Northern Ontario car [now back in Ontaro] so I just decided to take it all off, Will do my own custom trim on it instead of the typical factory one. Eventually when I can afford the $$$$ for some body work and having it painted, I won't have my doors different colours than the body, but hey, it runs like a champ, which is first and foremost important. Just have to do my NSS, but unsure if I will be able to do myself. Limited tools at my disposal unfortunately, and don't want to pay for a new one.

I painted my brother-in-law's Ranger flares w/ that Fusion paint. It worked well and after a couple of months w/ car washes and all, it seems to be holding up good. The Ranger flares are textured though unlike the XJ's (atleast mine), so that may make a difference. I didn't even primer, just cleaned and painted. Had all 4 done in about an hour. I'm gonna paint mine when the weather decides to warm up again.

WV Jeeper said:

I painted my brother-in-law's Ranger flares w/ that Fusion paint. It worked well and after a couple of months w/ car washes and all, it seems to be holding up good. The Ranger flares are textured though unlike the XJ's (atleast mine), so that may make a difference. I didn't even primer, just cleaned and painted. Had all 4 done in about an hour. I'm gonna paint mine when the weather decides to warm up again.

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Being textured does make a difference, as it has something to hold to. It's why it's best to give a sanding before priming and painting. It will definitely stick better than if it's not.

Will the torch trick turn grey trim black?

I used Forever Black... it was like 20 bucks from 4 wheel drive hardware. Took about a half hour to do and my fenders and trim are still as black as the day I did it. It has been... 6 months or so.

i havent had a chance of power washing my xj yet, pretty cool tempreatures here and no rain, but if anyone of you with painted flares had good results with washing them (5x plus ) let me know what kind of paint you use.