Replacing front fenders (1 Viewer)

[Supra88]

My cruiser has spent its entire life in the salt belt. The front fenders have developed some impressive rust rot on them in the last year or so. The problem has accelerated from having sliders with no mud flaps.

I bit the bullet and ordered used fenders from cruisersparts.net yesterday. Does anyone have recommendations on the best way to approach painting them to get a close match? The install looks pretty straight forward from what I can tell.

Thanks!

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Take them to a body shop and have them sprayed?

 

[ENGINE er]

Its easy, just hope that cruiser parts not only sends the parts in the next 30 days but sends the right parts. Always a craps shoot with those guys.

 

[r2m]

I agree with Trunk Monkey. If you have a body shop do it, make sure they're done correctly. If not already base coated, have them base coat and then the correctly matched body paint color and finally, be sure the do a good job on the clear coat!
Whoever had my rig before me had another hood put on and painted. Now the clear coat is peeling off and I live in So. Calif.
Bottom line, have it done RIGHT if you can afford it. It will pay dividends in the long haul.

 

[TXLX100]

Unless it's black (and not faded) you will need the hood and front doors blended to match the new fenders.

 

[fireball]

What color is your truck? If they just spray the fenders and don't blend the doors and hood you will most likely notice a small color difference.

 

[Supra88]

River rock mica. My biggest concern is how well it will match. Is it worth trying to get them painted ahead of time or will they have to repaint everything to get it to match?

 

[fireball]

Like myself and the poster above said, if you want it to match they will need to blend into the doors and hood. That all needs to be done at the same time with the fenders on the truck.

Depending on how far you want to get into it and how long you plan to keep the truck, you could do a little extra rustproofing on the backside of the fenders with some bedliner or raptor liner before giving them to the body shop.