cleaning mud flaps

[bha280]

I just recently got a car with mudflaps but they are faded bad. What is the best way to bring them back to looking new? Just some tire shine stuff or is there something better?

[Burton]

I would suggest cleaning them very well scuffing them up with a gray or red Scotchbrite pad, which can be found at any auto body/paint supply place, and some standard auto parts stores. Then use an adhesion promoter and spray them with a can of Trim Black which can be found at places that sell either Duplicolor stuff or SEM stuff. Duplicolor can be found at many regular parts stores, and the SEM stuff is usually only at auto body supply places, but I reccomend making the extra trip and spending the extra money for the SEM product, it's a much more quality product.. Even with the good stuff, you can have them looking awesome for under $30 and a nice saturday afternoon.

 

You might get them to look a little better with some tire/trim shine stuff, and maybe even better looking just with scuffing them a little and knocking off the faded black. But, they will look a TON better if you just take a little time to restore them. Plus, if they have any minor chips or scratches, those can easily be fixed during restoration.

[bha280]

Thanks Burton. They are kind of spongie, hard but not what I was expecting, do you think that paint won't crack too bad should they get bumped or something?

[Burton]

Thanks Burton. They are kind of spongie, hard but not what I was expecting, do you think that paint won't crack too bad should they get bumped or something?

 

 

Well, most of those "Trim Black" paints on the market are expected to be used on flexible parts like bumpers and trim, so they don't crack usually.

 

 

If you want to be really sure you get a good flexible paint, take a mudflap in with you to the auto body supply place and show them the mudflap is flexible and what you want to do with it, and they will make sure you get the right products.