DIY Wheel Well Care

[Velocitybts]

This is a very important area of the vehicle for appearance reasons. Those of you who have aftermarket wheels tend to totally cover the well area so it is not as important to you, however when those front wheels turn you can see inside there. Nothing ruins a vehicles appearance worse than faded, splotched, worn looking or even dirty wheel wells.

Typically people spray them with tire dressings or silicone after cleaning their cars to make them black again, which only lasts till the next rain or dust in the road. A lot of Detailers also spray them with some type of black spray paint to accomplish this too. That doesn't really look good due to high and low spots, rough and smooth areas and the overspray issues. There are plastic restorers that can be purchased for all plastic parts on the outside of the cars, then those can be treated to keep them nice. However with a car that is not new, then the liners are worn for sure and anything other than a coating to mask flaws won't work, except to bale and shine them up. Lets go for the clean new fresh look that won't grab up dirt.

I am very OCD when it comes to my personal cars. I do paint corrections for stress relief and when it comes to this area there are no real solutions that don't attract dirt, messy, and make the liners appear new. I thought about replacing all liners with new ones, but they are about 100$ each well. So rethought it and I know there are spray coatings that are applied to cars underneath so looked into that. Most of them put a rubberized clumpy coating similar to the coatings used up North for rust prevention on the bottom of the cars. What I really wanted was something that would make them look new, smooth and not like something was just sprayed on and made to work.

I recently sprayed my grille with Plasti Dip matte and was quite surprised how smooth it laid down. Also have been through some traffic with debris and figured I would have chips out of it, but no, it is still smooth. (I originally was going to paint the grille, but shading it down would be a nightmare, so went this route to see if I liked it) I wanted the liners to have some type of gloss to it and not be matte, so I looked into the Plasti Dip Gloss enhancer and said why not. Take out the liners, clean them perfectly, then spray with PD and then the GE. Even if there is a few nicks or scrapes on liners it should lay down pretty flat and hold up pretty well. Can always re-spray easily to make them perfect again.

This is the process of what I did to achieve stellar results.

This is what the liners looked like before removal and cleaning.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/b2FcqL.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/eyb2FcqLj)

I removed the liners one by one and thoroughly cleaned the suspension, and all the plastic parts under them, along with anything that had dirt, dust and especially the trays on the front up by the strut which hold tons of pebbles and road sand. After thoroughly cleaning the well area, I blew it off using the Metro Sidekick blower, then dressed all areas with a spray on sealant. This will lessen the amount of dust that collects under the liners also. Also protects the rubber and plastic from weathering. This is what the finished well area looks like before the liners were re-installed.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/UoUc5h.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/ipUoUc5hj)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/r8fO5o.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/ipr8fO5oj)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/909/xer5vp.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/p9xer5vpj)

The liners were sprayed with degreaser and washed on all sides with a brush till they were perfectly cleaned. Dried with the blower. Then I sprayed a healthy coat of Plasti Dip Black on the inside portions and any areas that would be seen. I let that dry and then sprayed the PD Gloss Enhancer on top of that to give it a shine. One pic the GE was not totally dry. I sprayed the pieces in a field near the house to prevent any type of overspray. I do not suggest doing this near a car. I took all bolts and plastic plugs and nuts and washed them by hand with a brush to clean them up. Re-installed the liners and they looked amazing. Here are some pictures of what they will look like. When outside in the sun, the wells look totally clean like they are supposed to and really helps the appearance of the car.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/5jTVb2.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/id5jTVb2j)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/oDaUG1.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/ipoDaUG1j)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/661/ZH0eY9.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/idZH0eY9j)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/QI7mbM.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/f0QI7mbMj)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/G2rgvr.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/eyG2rgvrj)

As you can see in the next two pictures the well areas are extremely difficult to tell anything other than a dark space. That is what you want in the end. These pictures were taken two weeks after apply the coating. The wells have just washed clean with water at this point. I am sure I will have to take soap and a sponge to them soon. I have eliminated using all APC on this car except the tires themselves, and I use AMMO Mud for dressing and typically just a wipe with a spare mitt and soap and they come clean, so no APC yeah........ Hope this helps some of you in cleaning up the appearance of your vehicle.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/673/TrNgSI.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/ipTrNgSIj)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/538/iwV8nV.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/eyiwV8nVj)

[281]

Sweet, thanks for sharing!

[KMdef9]

Nice work, looks great!

Ever think about plasti-diping the suspension and a-arm? Since you blacked out the rest, that silver suspension really stands out.

[rbss]

looks good I might try this my wheels wells are trashed. Ill post some pics if I get time to do it this weekend!

[Supergus1]

Thanks for the write up! I can't wait for a long term report to see how it holds up to regular washing and detailing.:xyxthumbs:

[Velocitybts]

Nice work, looks great!

Ever think about plasti-diping the suspension and a-arm? Since you blacked out the rest, that silver suspension really stands out.

In those pictures the suspension was raised to above the highest level for driving to help with the work on the car. When the car is lowered to normal levels, the two pics at the end, the suspension doesn't show. But.... started to think about that, but it could end up being a pain if I ever needed it to come off. Big flat areas the stuff can just peel off in one clean sheet. But wires, and other areas might be difficult. I wanted to keep the OEM like new look which is what was achieved. However if totally sprayed, then I think it would start to look junky, not improved. IMHO


looks good I might try this my wheels wells are trashed. Ill post some pics if I get time to do it this weekend!

If you can, take the liners out to do the cleaning. You will be amazed at how dirty the underneath parts of the wells are. Clean them while your there.


Thanks for the write up! I can't wait for a long term report to see how it holds up to regular washing and detailing.:xyxthumbs:


I will be glad to shoot pics in 6 months. Will be in NoVa for the rest of the winter and spring with the car. Likely will be some snow, salt, and plenty of in climate weather to go through. Where I am at now, sand is everywhere driving and the Michelin Pilot Super Sports pick up everything and throw it in the wells. So far I have just rinsed them off.

[kathyrose]

I read and found the post quite useful. Thanks for sharing the automatic break system of a car.

[EVOlved]

I read and found the post quite useful. Thanks for sharing the automatic break system of a car.

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[Zelfiris]

For the guys who are going to try this out, make sure you don't use APC to wash the plasti-dip areas. Plasti-dip come off really easily if you hit it with APC. I have purposedly strip off bad plasti-dip jobs on wheels that were cake with brake dust (turns brown if you didn't already know) by using OPC

[CarolinasFinestDetailing]

This is where CQ UK comes into play another good coating is C.A.R Bulletproof for this area.

[Velocitybts]

For the guys who are going to try this out, make sure you don't use APC to wash the plasti-dip areas. Plasti-dip come off really easily if you hit it with APC. I have purposedly strip off bad plasti-dip jobs on wheels that were cake with brake dust (turns brown if you didn't already know) by using OPC

Thanks for this, I didnt know but don't use APC anywhere on the car either so wouldn't effect me, but yes might ruin someone else's work so Thanks for posting this.


This is where CQ UK comes into play another good coating is C.A.R Bulletproof for this area.

Can you elaborate on this process or the materials used. Would be good for this thread. Yes if liners are new then a coating would be easy I would think, but if used and won't clean up perfect then what?? Thanks for this help

[haris300]

Good info and awesome results.

[expdetailing]

I'm going to be a jerk here and say that you shouldn't have done that. How are you going to dress, or clean these plastidipped areas when they get dirty? It seems a thin coating of plastidip is not going to be resilient enough to handle the abuse taken in these areas of the vehicle. If you can just scrub them with soap, and they look new again, then I am wrong here. For your sake, I hope I am wrong.

[Zelfiris]

Thanks for this, I didnt know but don't use APC anywhere on the car either so wouldn't effect me, but yes might ruin someone else's work so Thanks for posting this.

You're welcome!

[swanicyouth]

I have to tell you, I admire your dedication to complete this project and your attention to detail. I also think the initial results look great.

However, wheel wells are continually pelted with rocks as you go down the road - that is how the original fender well liners got "dirty" or "marred" in the first place. Plasti-Dip is no where near as durable as that original surface. It will pock-mark and eventually peel - likely looking significantly worse than what you started with.

I can't see just adding more Plasti-Dip as a continual solution at this point. Also, Plasti-Dip once it's all worn and pocked-marked can be a near nightmare to completely remove 100%. Getting all this Plasti Dip out of these wheels wells in the future to go back to factory maybe a monumental task.

The best way I've found to handle this is to just keep everything clean with a Wheel Woolie and coat the clean plastics with DLux for a factory look. The initial gender wheels didn't look bad to me - they just looked like they could use a cleaning. I don't see how Plasti Dip will prevent the future need to clean the wheel wells.