Wheel well protecting / prepping for winter

[Astouffer512]

How does everyone (I`m assuming people do) prep and protect wheel wells for the winter months? Especially people in the mid-Atlantic/ north east. Are there any spray type coating products worthwhile? I`ve been looking at something like Gyeon wet-coat....or am I looking at the wrong type of product?

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[Accumulator]

If they really need something special I`ll clean them up and LSP (solvent if there`s a lot of tar, otherwise just clay, then some AIO, then regular LSP on the areas painted body-color) but I could just stick with the usual cleanings and SprayWaxing (which I have done and found pretty sufficient).

As long as I keep cleaning and SprayWaxing them at every wash there`s no need for anything really involved, even with Ohio winters.

IMO the big thing is to not let salt/etc. stay in place all that long, which it doesn`t since the wells/etc. get done every time I wash.

[Astouffer512]

Not sure if we are talking the same thing or not? I`m wondering about the wheel well up side the car above the tires.

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[tom p.]

A, what is the material made from on your car?

[Lonnie]

Let me know what you do for fabric-type wheel well liners on some vehicles, like GM trucks.

I am tempted to use canvas fabric waterproofing silicone or a 3M Scotchgard Fabric protectant or a something that ATVs use on their wheel wells to keep the mud from sticking.
Check out slickproductsusa.com (Sorry, no direct link due to forum rules! Right Moderators?)

[Coleroad]

Let me know what you do for fabric-type wheel well liners on some vehicles, like GM trucks.

I am tempted to use canvas fabric waterproofing silicone or a 3M Scotchgard Fabric protectant or a something that ATVs use on their wheel wells to keep the mud from sticking.
Check out slickproductsusa.com (Sorry, no direct link due to forum rules! Right Moderators?)

I`ve always used 303 fabric protectant on those myself.

[Astouffer512]

A, what is the material made from on your car?

It’s dark plastic

I thought about just a cheap arm out all type spray as well, but is there any “spray able” dressings I could spray up there?


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[tom p.]

Well, plastic won`t be susceptible to corrosion. Not really anything to protect that I can think of. People use spray-on products like Fluid Film for the winter months, don`t know that is going to help in this scenario.

[Mike lambert]

I coated the plastic in my Challenger and the VW golf with Modesta plastic coating. Just hose it off and done. I’m sure auto geek has a consumer plastic coating. As far as fabric, I use rag top .

[Sizzle Chest]

I coat the plastic type and use a fabric coating on the fabric ones. Keeps them cleaner longer and assists in cleanup during maintenance.

[PA DETAILER]

I`ve always used 303 fabric protectant on those myself.

Well, I might have to try that.

[Accumulator]

Not sure if we are talking the same thing or not? I`m wondering about the wheel well up side the car above the tires.

I`m pretty sure we`re talking about the same thing. Our Audis and the Crown Vic have both painted metal and plastic in the wheelwells.

IMO there`s no point in using either a Dressing (too short-lived, potential for retaining dust/dirt) or a Trim Sealant (too much abuse from stuff the tires throw up). The SprayWaxing seems just right; looks fine from wash-to-wash, sheds dirt better than a Dressing, easy-peasy to do when drying them.

I coated the plastic in my Challenger and the VW golf with Modesta plastic coating. Just hose it off and done. I’m sure auto geek has a consumer plastic coating.

Ah, interesting! How does it hold up to gravel/etc. getting thrown up in the Winter? How do you think a Coating work would on worn plastic (we`re not talking cars that`re just a decade old here )?

I somehow think I`d *not* appreciate any benefits from "doing them better" with a Coating/Sealant, but I do want to keep an open mind. What might I be missing?!?

Those surfaces just take *so* much abuse from stuff getting thrown up from the road, and mine are just so worn on most of our vehicles...one unexpected benefit of the SprayWaxes I`ve tried is that they work OK on surfaces that`re in really nasty condition. I bet the Coating/Sealant approach would work great on something pampered like the S8, but since I`m drying those surfaces anyhow a SprayWax as a Drying Aid doesn`t really take anything extra, and I can even use the same towel that I`m already using for the Undercarriage/etc. since it`ll already have the SprayWax on it.

[Accumulator]

I really couldn`t live with the fabric ones, I`d literally pass on a vehicle over them...I mean, how do you keep those nice after thousands of miles, let alone in bad weather? I see them looking ratty on Loaners/etc. that are basically still new! Tar, salt, abrasion...let alone lane-line paint (heh heh, I know we Autopians never drive through it, but still..), after just a dozen years or so I`d expect that material to be in awful shape.

[Bill D]

So what specific spray waxes are we talking about?

[Mike lambert]

I’ve coated all kinds of trucks and jeeps, there is no problem with coating plastic liners. It improves the looks and lasts much longer.