I was wondering if anyone had painted their inner plastic fenders (in the engine bay) on their cars. My car is a 72 Supreme. My plastic is fairly faded but not damaged, and the jerk that had the car before me looks like he dumped white paint on one of the plastic fenders. I was thinking I could use the SEM plastic/vinyl paint hopefully without the engine heat ruining it. Anyone have any experience using this stuff in the engine bay?

 

After removing them you could paint them but since you are painting plastic you're going to have to lightly sand the plastic so the paint will stick. If you don't, the paint will bubble a little and just fall off, esp under the hood

I used 125 grit when I did the Alero's fuse box cover, worked pretty well

 

I've got them both out and know that I will have to sand and clean, clean, clean. I've had good luck using SEM on some interior parts and was just wondering how the SEM would hold up with the engine heat.

 

I don't think you will have to worry much about engine heat. The bottoms of the fenders are pretty close to the exhaust manifolds but there should be enough clearnace that they won't heat up too much. If you do have a heat problem then nothing short of a high heat paint will stand up to it. Then again, I used VHT Super Hot on my exhaust manifolds and it baked right off.

 

First, are you really sure you need to paint them. Getting paint to stick to flexible plastic like this is tough. The paint spilled on them should come off with paint stripper. Try polishing them first with a mild polishing compound. You might be amazed.

If you have your heart set on paint, DO NOT sand them. Get them thoroughly clean then clean them again. Go to an auto paint store and find the right type of plastic paint for the material. There will be a matching etching compound or adhesion promoter that must be used.

 

Thanks for the replies. They are fairly faded and Joe made a good point about trying polish first. I really don't want to chance the paint peeling with engine heat even though I only have a 350. If it doesn't succeed I will go the painting route. Thanks again, I would have only been given smart-aleck remarks on ROP for this question.

 

I was told to use wash the bejesus out of them, SEM vinyl cleaner over and over (until the rag is pretty clean), then scuff lightly with a 3M pad and use bumper black.

Te results I've seen at OCA meets are pretty impressive. That's what I'm going to try when (IF?) I get my car back together.

C.J.

 

Any time you paint over vinyl, abs, or pvc ect. you have to use a "primer/adhesion promoter" available from paint suppliers otherwise its flake city. Try it "in" the wheelwell first for practice, then do the engine side when happy w/results.

Bud

texasred,

You've been touted as one who could decipher cowl tags, Have you read my thread?

 

On my 72 I just removed them and cleaned very good with a degreaser and detergent, after I did this , when they dried they were a chalky color, then I armoralled the heck out of them and let the armorall set over night before wiping off any excess, they look like brand new. If you want anymore details or a picture let me know kolb