Mud flap restoration (1 Viewer)

[staggrlee]

I've been looking for a year for a set to buy and found nothing but the odd one here or there, or the insanely over-priced set on eBay. figured I'd take a stab at resurrecting mine.

Started by doing some brutal wire brush rust and rubber excision, followed with lots of rust converter and then a JB Weld skim coat with some SS wire mesh clamped in place, then a top coat followed by some brush-on PlastiDip, some flat black on the brackets and Sharpie oil paint pen for the lettering.

Didn't take any final pictures before putting them on. I'm so done with mudflaps for a while -- hopefully.

 

[staggrlee]

Crumpy in the background envious of all the attention.

 

[Spook50]

Man I so wish someone would make reproductions of the OEM mud flaps. All mine are long gone and I desperately want a good looking set. Looks like a great job on yours. I'm jealous....

 

[TheNeek]

My fronts are going to need this kind of treatment before too long. Nice work.

 

[staggrlee]

If the brackets are sound, pretty sure just about any mud flap can get a 2nd life.

Things I learned:

• JB Weld can be thinned with acetone and brushed on, use disposable glue brushes
• Use a bit less than recommended hardener for a more flexible cure
• Use wax paper between clamps/surface, peels right off afterwards
• The paint pen is easiest to dab on to get consistent coverage without streaks and the paint is more apt to self-level
• Do a couple light coats of white paint, but be quick about it, the paint sets fast and overcoating dissolves the previous coat(s)
• Wet sand lettering with at minimum 1000 grit and clean up any stray paint and then carefully top coat and leave alone
• Replace all the body grommets/clips even if you think they're OK, you're likely to find a couple that were stripped or had broken "ears"