maxxtreme

Hi guys, i want to share this trick for restoring fenders and trim on my 97 Granny laredo, first of all i must tell you that i was sick of seeing my old and pale fenders so decided to search an easy and cheap way to refresh plastic with no success, everything i found were miraculous creams, heat guns, and paints, NO WAY!! ´cause none of these last enough. Yesterday i was washing my Grand cherokee and i realized that scratching the plastic with my finger nail, plastic turned dark grey again so i made a test with a soft metal brush and here is the result.


tools needed:
1 soft metal brush
1 pair of brave hands
20 pounds of nuts
100 pouds of patience.

watertrucker

Nice ZJ. Thanks for posting.

basegrinder

well, you're just taking off the oxidation right?

maxxtreme

Hi Basegrinder, in fact yes, when you are brushing the fender, you can see a lot of white powder comming off. I must tell you that i am very pleased with the result. Cheers guys!!

maxxtreme

Thank´s Watertrucker, i just got it last January and i´m trying to give it back its glory days ´cause it was very poorly maintained. Cheers!!

ZJMAX

I heard a heat gun will also bring back the original dark color.

Max

basegrinder

paint looks decent. Chrysler was one of the worst for green paint. I have the forest pearl green and the side are decent...roof and hood are dust. I just leave the mud on it

maxxtreme

Hi ZJMAX, i also have heard that before, but thinking about it deeply, if sun burns plastic then heat gun will burn it worst, because of the amount of temperature. There are many videos on youtube showing fenders repaired with heat guns and then, a few months later, they look even worst, i decided to try this with the brush, and it worked fine to me, then i wanted to share my experience. cheers!!

maxxtreme

Thank´s basegrinder, this week i removed the seats, center console, and the carpet, and washed everything with a good amount of detergent and degreaser shampoo, and of course a 200 PSI washing machine. Next step is a "paint refreshment"... and later, when i fix my pocket´s hole, some nice coil springs. I´ll show you the results later, cheersss!!

andrewmp6

You could paint it the body color like the higher trims or bedliner.

maxxtreme

Good morning Andrewmp6, painting fenders is also a good idea, in fact that is what i did to my wife´s ford escape but this vehicle, although it is 4x4, is used only in the city and on paved roads, and my cherokee....come on, it is a "jeep thing", you can understand!!

dave1123

Yeah, but it has to show SOME kind of wear, or it looks like a mall crawler. Half of the mystique of jeeps is making it look like it's been off-road, or ready to get rough.

My brother had a '75 Chevy Blazer that was his "baby". He repainted the whole body, then took it into the woods on a hunting trip. We had to skirt a lake shore by hugging the pine trees. They dragged down the whole side of it and he yelled "My paint!" Then he relaxed and said "Oh well, after all, it IS a truck, right?"

maxxtreme

Amén my dear friend!!

dave1123

Actually, remembering my plastics heritage, UV light is what causes the plastic to degrade. Polypropylene plastic without UV inhibiters will become brittle as glass. That surface powder is caused by UV light and being in Mexico, you get a lot of sun, right? LOL.

maxxtreme

Hell yeah, i live at the south-east of México and sun is really anoying sometimes because we are in the tropical forest so moisture increases thermal sensation and plastics just die in a short period of time, at this moment we have 36 degrees in the shade. so i´ll get a reeaallyy cold beer!!! cheers guys!!