Need some opinions on flares

So my fender flares and front bumper are extremely faded, and the top coat is starting to come off. I have a replacement front bumper cover en route (paintable). I've been looking at getting some flares are well. The question is do I go with the matte black flares to match the matte black front bumper? Or get the flares painted / bumper painted (gloss black or color match)? The local body shops want between $1500-2000 to paint the existing flares/bumper. Im thinking I can get the price down if i get some replacements and do the removal / install work myself.

Then to throw in another decision, the local LineX shop quoted around $1000 to do the bumper/flares in paint matched bed liner.

I've got a blackout theme going, but I'm not sure it black fenders wont be too much black.

Edit: I've owned the truck for 3 months. The faded plastics were a result of the previous owner.

 

Why not just repaint them?

 

The body shop wanted a lot of money to repaint. A large part of the quote was in labor to remove/sand/prep/re-install. Im not sure enough in my skills to have a go at painting them myself. The thought would be that the price would come down a lot if the parts were already removed an in a paintable state.

 

You might consider wrapping them.

 

Have you had a professional detailer look at them?

If the clear coat is peeling, not much you can do about that but the discoloring can likely be buffed.


Since you don't know how to take care of your paint, I vote Line-X. But go black on the flares.

Such a crime man, USE WAXES AND SEALERS!

 

I've only owned the taco for 3 months. This was all the previous owners doing....

 

I love LineX, will make it look a bit more rugged and should hold up pretty well to anything.

 

Second the linex look

 

That guy should be punched in the dick.

 

Linex the whole truck

 

He took the truck to the dealership for maintenance every 5k, but apparently liked to take the truck sun tanning. I'm taking it in for a professional detailer on Friday, and will see what they are recommend. I'm leaning toward swapping my grille for a color matched (keeping my current insert), and black linex the front bumper and flares.

 

I bet the front bumper can be buffed to look brand new (bad news is you'll want the whole truck buffed to match lol). The flares might be toast. Line-X would look great. Post pictures of that if you go that route.

 

At the moment, I'm thinking of lineX coating on the flares/front bumper, and swapping my grille surround with a color matched one (keeping the black insert though).

 

I found some fenderglass baja fenders online for $500 a pair. They are white I believe but hey... BAJA

 

Go no fender flares! Or at least take a picture for me when they're all off

 

LOL

 

To give yourself an idea for what they would look like blacked out, just derp them and see if you like it. Then you can easily remove it when you decide if you like it.

 

I bought a couple cans yesterday for that exact purpose.

 

So i picked up some Rust-oleum blasted metal peel coat. Figured it would be the best replica of linex i could find to test out the look. I think it works (Dont mind the runs - its coming off later this afternoon).

 

I can almost guarantee they will not want you to "prep" them yourself... and if you did, I'd be surprised if they would cover any of their work...