My flares wer'nt lookin to hot so I wanted to paint em. I started to take them off but broke a couple bolts from the retaining ring. So I stopped and called my local stealership, they had the rings at $25 a pop, around $200 for all of them. So I figured I'll just tape everything off and then paint. I did get one off and painted it a satin black looks great. I will soon learn that was a mistake. last night I was putting tow hooks on the front bumper and I had to trim a little plastic for the new hooks. I used a heat gun to soften the plastic to make an easy cut with razor knife - like butter. So while I had the heat gun out I went over my fading front fender (almost white), as the heat hit the fender it turned black, like new!!! I wanted to take some pics before and after but just kept going. The fender came out awesome, and NO PREP WORK for paint. As you go over your flare it looks like the gun is "painting" it. Now my problem is the one flare that I did paint kinda stands out (satin). I'll probly paint all flares and bumpers, and grill, etc. soon so I wont sweat it. But before you paint yor flares try a heat gun - 10 x's easier and turned out great!!!

That's awesome. Pics of the results?

I'll get some pics up later today - try it you'll be amazed

I want to pop a dent out of one of my rear bumper corners and I have been looking for a reason to buy a heat gun so I might just do that.

Here's a pic of a corner bumper, you can see where I hit it with the heat gun and where I left it untouched. Also a pic of the xj after the heat treatment.

That is awesome! Thanks for sharing your find.

Awesome! I can't believe that works that well. Nice looking Jeep Stickey, I think your Cherokee has helped me make a decision regarding reattaching or removing the body trim on mine thats starting to peel up. Yours has a lot cleaner look without it. You should post some facts about your XJ in your signature, the folks on here would probably be interested in knowing what lift and tire setup your running etc., I know I would.

I did the same thing a while ago and looks good but will quickly fade again on you they way the did for me acouple of days in the hot summer sun.

Also if you are not careful they can come out spotty. In the end i wound up using krylon fusion satin black plastic paint they look great and hold up well prep only involved washing them and wipeing down with paint thinner.

not if you put a couple coats of mothers back to black on there then they should stay good and black

I'm sure they'll fade again, but it only took about 15 min to due this. I wont have a problem doing it again when needed, however I still plan on painting the flares, the grill, and the bumpers with some Krylon.