Paint flaking under fender flare

I pulled off my fenders flares today to prep for the Bushwacker install and noticed that paint is starting to chip on the driver side, strange since it's a well protected area. Luckily no rust. Occasionally I'll take some big hits on the trail that have chewed up the oem flares so I'm thinking that could be the cause.

I do plan on taking it in to a body shop sometime this week to get a quote but would love to hear TW's opinions. Is it something to even worry about since it'll be covered back up?

 

Bump for opinions

 

?? If it’s covered up or not in a visible location,just hit with spray paint if it’s not flaking.if flaking then maybe hit with fine sandpaper before you hit it.at least get the bare metal covered..just my opinion..spray paint is cheap!
Or some type of rubbing compound? I am not into body work,but rust can be a killer!

 

Thanks, I'm not above spray paint just want to make sure it's taken care of properly.

 

Get the quote from the body shop and go from there.

The issue I see is you can spray paint it and cover with a new flare and who cares, its all covered?
Well... if it starts rusting from the inside out your gonna be hosed by the time you figure it out.

If you’ll get a shop to redo that small panel for a good price I’d go pro fix.

If it’s going to cost too much I would sand the area VERY well. Treat with a de-ironizer and then thouroughly spray paint.

I think my threshold would be $250

 

That paint damage definitely looks like it's from panel flex. Fortunately it's under the fender cover anyway, so if the paint you put on doesn't match it won't matter. Sand it down until you're not getting any more flaky paint and then hit it with some waterproof primer and paint it.

 

That's my thinking, I don't want to DIY it and be surprised with rust down the road. Thanks for the input, I now have a better gauge of how much this should run me at a shop. What grit sandpaper would you use there?

Agreed, not too worried about the paint matching up perfectly. It's on an area I'd cut to fit bigger tires, but that's down the road. Thanks!

 

Yup, flexing the metal will cause the cracking & flaking. What Noelie84 said but, use an etching primer against the bare metal, then a gloss blk to seal it. Mask off within the boundaries of the new flares to prevent overspray from going everywhere.