JakeBhs09

I want to paint the silver fender flares and door trim on my 99 4runner Limited.

I know kregg has done this to his rig and i have looked through his build up and it has not helped much.

What is the best way to go about painting the plastic?

I am worried that if i take it off i will have to pay $2 a clip for the 60 clips that will most likely break.

Does has anyone else done this that has some experience?

I am guessing the best way to go about it is to just mask it off and paint it on the body of the car.

Also any tips on painted a factory metal rear bumper that is painted???

justin_4runner

taping it off and doing will be ok, but make sure that u sand all the parts before u paint, and i would do a search for painting the plastics... i know there are some videos and that out there that will help u more.

Beto

I took mine off to do some body work and painting when someone rubbed it in a parking lot. Took it off again to install front mud-flaps after removing the stock running boards. It wasn't that difficult, and I didn't break any clips in the process. Just go slow, and don't force anything until you are really, really, really sure you've found all the fasteners. There is one final act of faith that must be done to get it to "pop", but I spent probably 20 minutes checking and re-checking before I was willing to take the plunge and pull until it popped.

The only difficult part of this was getting that little rubber moulding piece to re-adhere to the fender flare properly. If you take that off, be prepared for a small chore to reinstall it and be aware that it may never be "perfect" again. If I were to do mine again I would be prepared with some crazy glue (fast acting to get it in place while another, longer lasting adhesive can be applied), some epoxy, some silicone, and some hot-glue. I would experiment with the later 3 (applying them from the inside of the fender flare so it doesn't show) until I found the best solution.

*edit*
as for paint, I used standard high-build primer and the acrylic paint to match my body. I used very thin coats until the plastic was fully covered, but pretty much the same materials and process as I would have used for sheet metal
*end edit*

brian24

Hi,

When you finish painting post the before / after pics. I am getting my 97 Limited fenders painted this coming week for a really good price.

$250 - work will be done by a professional auto paint shop.