Greenstealth

My front wheel wells are pretty faded. I'm thinking of spraying them flat black, anyone else run into this yet?

EDIT: So I finished this project and thought I'd post pics. Pretty easy job. First, you will need to remove the old plastic. Taking the wheels off is not necessary, just jack the correponding wheel to which you are working on up and that slack in the suspension should provide adequate space to remove the plastic. There are six fasteners in each pece. Both pieces will have two push pins in the wheel well, and four bolts underneath. I use diagonal cutters to GENTLY grip the pins and pull out with, the other bolts underneath will include two 7mm head screws and two 10mm head bolts. Once you have removed the fasteners, gently work the plastic away from the fender starting from the bottom and working your way up, there are four or five clips holding it in place and thats pretty much it. I apologize for not having pictures of the removal or installation method, it isn't difficult IMO even for a novice. Reinstallation is the reverse order of removal, again, nothing tricky here.

Products you will need


you will also need some acetone, the wife or significant other or the neighborhood hussy can help you here if you don't have any laying around (nail polish remover)

This is my driver side. Now you guys see why I went to such lengths...

The passenger side wasnt much better

So i scuffed them up with the Scotchbrite and then wiped them down with acetone and let them dry off for a little.
This is what they looked like prepped

I sprayed a few coats of paint and kept getting blotchy white spots (most likely due to shotty prep work)


I let them cure for two days and i scuffed them down again and resprayed. This time I got the desired effect. (note the apsis emblems that the other person who lives in my house bought for me at carlisle )


I'm happy. It's an improvement.

barneyz06

try mothers back to black or griots vinyl and rubber spray. freshens them right up.

383vett

Another product called Back to Black.

TORQJNKY

Or you can just remove the paint from the inside of the barrel. Much easier to wipe the brake dust out than trying to keep the gray paint looking good.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-z...me-wheels.html

Kenny94945

+ 1 Mother's brand name - Back to Black.

Try that first. Might even be available at WalMart.

I am not a fan of your painting idea.... plastic wells can flex, chipping, flaking issues.

Kingsize

Yep... Back to black will take care of it for you, as mentioned above.

ByByBMW

Good link but we think he meant the plastic fender wells, not the wheel barrels.

dmuellenberg

Mine were getting pretty bad too, with a lot of scuff marks (62k miles now). So I just ended up getting new wheel well liners - but don't get them from a dealer! You can get them for a little over half the cost of what a dealer will charge you at gmpartsdirect.com.

Greenstealth

I would consider the back to black idea (i have it and I know how well it works) but they are faded to a smoke color. I bought some flat black bumper paint (made to flex). I'll see I can get some pics and chronicle the journey.

TORQJNKY

Yeah, my bust. Misunderstood.

rapidroy

Check out the ads for Black WOW thru Google - seems like it would be great for your issue.

moose.b3

ByByBMW

My secret is Stoners "More Shine" tire dressing, lightly applied, allowed to sit for a minute or two then wiped off. Works great.

Mr. Gizmo

The back to black product works very well but is a short term solution and you have to constantly apply it.

I was thinking when mine get to a point of looking faded, I would use a krylon paint made specifically for painting vinyl or plastic surfaces. Its about 10 bucks for a spray bomb of it. You could try that first, then if that does not give the desired look you can spring for some new ones.

Good luck and post some before and after pictures. Would like to hear what you finally do.

skudlw

get the undercarriage spray from Griots. They will look like new.

forg0tmypen

Take them off and paint them with some flat black dupont bumper spray. Theyll look great.

Greenstealth

I scuffed them up with some 3m brillo stuff, wiped them down with acetone and sprayed them with flat black bumper spray. They didn't come out perfect, definitely improved but not exactly what I was looking for. There were some light spots. I think this was most likely due to my prep. I'm going to sand them down with 400 and respray. I'll try to get some pics up.

Greenstealth

Bump for pics. Sorry about the size of them.

rikhek