Krylon recommends prepping "old plastic" by cleaning with an ammonia based cleaner. I washed mine down with pure ammonia, which seems to have prevented any fisheye blemishes or orange peel. The flare itself still had some minor pitting, which showed through the new paint job, but I expected that. And I was hesitant too sand too deeply. I have no idea exactly how thick the flares actually are.

If you really want a smooth finish, there are some plastic resin fillers you can use to eliminate the pitting.

 

use 160 grit paper... sand a bit... clean with mineral spirits or a tack clothe or paint thinner... the reason you have the "fisheyes" is becuase of oil from your hands, the road, deposits left by rain, bird turds... everything that has touched your flares in forever... once you are certain they are oil free, coat them with about 3 coats of primer/sealer... they make special primers just for plastics that will help the actual paint bond better... let that dry for a few hours and then hit it with some 240 grit paper... sand and sand and sand until really smooth... clean again with said oil removing cleaners... apply multiple light coats of the paint you have and enjoy... i used to paint yachts... a paint job is 90% prep work... we would prep a boat for 2 months and it would take 1 day to shoot the final paint...

 

Update on painting, re-prepped flares (sanded more rough spots, cleaned with ammonia). Now to the fun stuff, bought Krylon Fusion Satin Black, painted one fendor looked great but was way too glossy, stripped back down, went to get flat Fusion, that was a no go, no one had it. Bought some SEM Bumper Flat paint, worked great on passenger side, looks stock. Driver side different story, must have been temp because prepped same way but orange peeled real bad. I guess I'll strip those two back down and try again tomorrow because its beer and game time.

Thanks for the input

 

Was the passenger side in the sun and the driver's in the shade? If so just turn your truck around to catch the morning rays and warm up.

 

50-55 isnt too cold.. especially not for rattle can... temperature mostly affects the set up of the paint or cure time or if it will cure at all... surface contaminants cause the orange peel/ fisheye effect your getting... if it gets below 50 i would just hold off till it gets a little warmer... but above that you should be fine...

 

Thanks Roverflo and Discoxd,

Yes things got better once I got some sun warming them up, but I'll try the higher grit paper and spirits on them and redo that one side,

 

ALSO!! USE black bumper spray paint...

I used this on my 90 VW GTI with ALL plastic bumpers, fender flares etc.... do the prep right, paint in warm weather, and LIGHT coats.

They only thing you have to worry about is using a high pressure stream of water on it...it might remove some paint... other than that, i have loved the results..