Hi everyone! First time poster but not new to the website, thanks to everybody for their posts to get me familiar with our new to us '04 Disco with 73K miles. While the car has been whipped into shape by me (60K service, rear rotors and pads, ABS ground fixed and other small items) the fender flares look something awful and was wondering if anyone had painted or undercoated theirs? I know there are replacements available but the $300 plus is hard to swallow and was thinking some high build underseal would look decent against the silver paint... Thoughts or suggestions?

 

sure have. the rear ones i just taped and painted right on the truck. the fronts i took off because the adhesive was loose and i wanted to re-attach them with new adhesive. i did my in wal mart 98 cent flat black. just because they were sun faded. *NOTE its still wet here so it looks spotty but it dries perfect.

 

sweet...I was searching the posts the other day to find this info...I too have an Silver Disco II that needs some flare lovin. I think I will attempt this weekend with a low gloss black rattle can.

 

Very cool! Did you sand or rough up the flares before painting? How's the wear on the paint, has it held up fairly well so far?

 

I have too! Its very easy, but you do have to do a little prep.
The most important thing is the sanding. Once you tape off everything, use a fine grit sand paper and smooth out all the rough spots. This will make the final product much nicer.

For paint, I used Rustoleum Satin black. I didnt like flat or glossy so Satin worked for me.
The key to painting them is to use alot of layers. Do one very light layer over and over again. Let each layer dry before moving to the next. It does take a while, but it will be worth it. You dont want to have bubble from painting to heavy.

Its an easy process and looks great if you do it right! Dont be shy with the tape! I also used newspaper to protect the paint even more.

 

My paint has held up very well so far. Its been on for about 7 months and its lasted through a hot summer. Be sure to use an outdoor paint for plastic or it wont lant long.

 

Has anyone tried using the bedliner type product?...I have a friend that did the bed of his pickup and that stuff seems indestructable....any thoughts on using that on the fender flairs?

 

Thanks Cam, all good points!

Tastandish, I was thinking of using a highbuild underseal product which is similar to a spray in bead liner product and should be somewhat flexible as well. It's my wife's car and she's not into the "rugged, four wheeling" look so might stick to the spray paint option but don't know how long it would last in the 100+ degree Texas heat...

 

yeah you have to sand it and get all that road grime off. won't hurt to clean it as well. i taped it and used extra newsprint you can see some paper in the bottom of my picture.

as for paint, i love wal mart flat black. hasnt failed me yet. i put like 7 coats on there... went thru 4 cans. one for each flare. i have seen whole trucks painted in bedliner.. for me its to expensive and in the end all you really are doing is painting plastic. IMO it doesnt make sense. i would use that money to make new flares.

 

Oh yeah, good point.
After sanding I used rubbing alcohol to clean the plastic. The cleaner the better!