want to paint fenders

I am thinking about color matching my fenders to match the dark blue factory paint job. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appropriated.

Thanks

 

You will need to remove the flares to paint them, and when you do, the small clips that hold the flares to the fender/box will likely break. So you'll have to get some more from the dealership. They're cheap though.

The only real thing I'd say to look out for is to make SURE you don't rip the rubber gasket/moulding that runs the top of the flare. They're glued on, and you can't buy them separately. So don't ruin them. Masking them is a real pain too, so take your time so that you only have to do it once.

 

If I were to just remove the grey plastic fenders would there be anything underneath that would stop me from just leaving them off? I guess Im wondering if taking off the plastic fenders would be a better solution for me then painting them.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

there are little square holes that the retaining clips go into. Some keep it off and just have the holes

 

I see that you are in Cali. I imagine that there is a high chance of you getting pulled over if your tires stick out more then your body if you don't have the fenders. At the very least you most likely won't pass the safety inspection

 

Im just asking about the grey plastic fender flares that go around the wheel wells. Not the actual metal fenders. I dont know if Im using the proper terminology or not. I was asking because I have seen tacomas without any sort of fender flare and thought maybe I could just pop mine off and be done with it. Painting could get expensive and I have a tendency to break plastic when I try and take it off. I have a lot of motorcycle plastics I have replaced

 

check my build, i painted mine but had em done professionally. if youre serious about it, youll get it done professionally for probably 200 bucks for both.

 

Looks great marioso. I think im going to get them done professionally. I don't want to f it up and be out even more money for another set.

 

::::Bumping this thread rather than starting a new one::::

Okay, I have two fender flares that have completely lost their paint. I went a head and removed the rest. I can tell that not only were the fenders never sanded, there was no primer applied and the paint chips were very thin.

My truck says in the build sheet it came from factory with painted fenders. So I think the original job was piss poor, and some-one tried to repaint them. Or something like that. I have an area on one that isn't chipping, where I can see a paint chip that was very small that was painted over.

Really this is the only issue with my truck, That now my passenger rear and driver front fender flare is mostly chipped away.

So I guess for now I just want to remove them, and then get them repainted at a later time.

What is the best way to remove them?

Or option 2, just get some color matching paint, sand and re-spray myself. (as a temporary fix).

Since its only 1 & 1/4 flares (just the front passenger piece on the bumper) that need repainting.






These pictures were taken a week or so ago, its very much worse now.