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  1. #1
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    Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    Anyone here have any experience with these?

    All I wound up doing with them is to power wash them off.
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  2. #2
    Coleroad's Avatar
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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    After I clean them I treat them with 303 fabric protectant. Kinda treat them like a convertible top. I do the same with the felt liners in the engine bay, and under the car.
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  3. #3
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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    Quote Originally Posted by Coleroad View Post
    After I clean them I treat them with 303 fabric protectant. Kinda treat them like a convertible top. I do the same with the felt liners in the engine bay, and under the car.
    Good idea. Quick and easy.

  4. #4
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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    Yeah, there are a couple posts already about them. Pain in the butt.
    Don

    1989 Formula 350
    2004 Saturn Ion Quadcoupe

  5. #5
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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    I had not thought about using 303 Fabric Protectant. Great idea. I still have plenty left now that I sold my convertible.

  6. #6
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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    They are a pain...everything sticks to them....I hit them with a little (10:1) Megs APC and rinse

  7. #7
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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    I like them actually. Hit with APC and a stiff brush, rinse with a PW and they look great compared to the effort it takes plastic ones to look good.
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  8. #8

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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    I find the plastic ones really easy, although they start to get ratty after enough use (abrasion from stuff that gets thrown up by the tires)..I sure never need APC, especially once they`re SprayWaxed/etc. I`d think the smooth plastic surface would be *easier* to clean, but I don`t really know having only done the fabric ones on a Service Loaner that I didn`t really care about. The idea of salt or even just thick mud on the textured fabric makes me think "lots of work".

    Speaking of SprayWaxes, anybody ever try using D156/etc. on the fabric ones? Kinda surprising to me how many surfaces it works well on...

  9. #9
    bodidly22's Avatar
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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    Don`t forget you and your cars are far from normal Accumulator!!....
    For me Fabric/Carpet arch liners clean up a lot easier - soak with cleaner of choice then power wash.. repeat with stiff brush if heavy with debris.
    I have a large disdain for SUV mega plastic arch liners.

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  10. #10

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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    I assume that vehicle manufacturer use this to deaden the road noise from debris hitting the wheel wheels. They also look "better" (IE; more up-scale) than black plastic.
    I also understand the debris noise reason as to WHY they are installed on trucks (GMCs)
    I agree with Accumulator; they are debris-holding magnets, especially for salt.
    Personally, they are a PAIN to clean by hand because I do not have a power washer. I just use a APC (OPC or Megs D101) and a brush. Never thought of using 303 Carpet Cleaner and Fabric Protector. Sounds like a new use for Optimum Carpet Cleaner & Protectant I have (GREAT carpet cleaner for use by hand scrubbing, by the way!).

    I am not sure how to remove road line/striping paint or tar from this "fabric", but it may be another reason professional detailers have steam cleaners at their disposal for this detailing chore. And God forbid that that a vehicle owner with this wheel well fabric hits a skunk or runs over a dead skunk and has this odor embedded in the fabric. Just do not ask me to clean it!!! (Hmm... sound like fodder for a new topic: How do you clean out skunk scent/odor from a vehicle?)
    GB detailer

  11. #11

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    Re: Fabric-Lined Wheel Wells

    Quote Originally Posted by bodidly22 View Post
    Don`t forget you and your cars are far from normal Accumulator!!....
    Heh heh, yeah...guess so. But on the wheelwells, gee...mine get *caked* with [stuff] between washes, and/but the smooth (and SprayWaxed) plastic comes clean easy as can be.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonnie
    For me Fabric/Carpet arch liners clean up a lot easier - soak with cleaner of choice then power wash.. repeat with stiff brush if heavy with debris.
    I have a large disdain for SUV mega plastic arch liners.
    Hope I don`t come across as argumentative but anyhow... people here might read of my "quick 8-hour Maintenance Washes" and think I spend forever cleaning stuff; however, that kind of multi-step approach has simply never been necessary once I`ve gotten a new-to-me vehicle squared away. I`d simply go *nuts* if I had to do all that to the lining of each wheelwell at every wash, I want those done in a few moments so I can devote time to the suspension/steering stuff that *does* take time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonnie
    I am not sure how to remove road line/striping paint or tar from this "fabric", but it may be another reason professional detailers have steam cleaners at their disposal for this detailing chore. And God forbid that that a vehicle owner with this wheel well fabric hits a skunk or runs over a dead skunk and has this odor embedded in the fabric. Just do not ask me to clean it!!! (Hmm... sound like fodder for a new topic: How do you clean out skunk scent/odor from a vehicle?)
    I never got the paint off with a steamer even on smooth surfaces, at least not without compromising it first with a solvent or something nasty like (uhm, IIRC the number is...) FK1119. Yeah, getting such stuff off the fabric liners would sure be a challenge!

    On the skunk odor, some of the enzymatic cleaners are surprisingly good, moreso than the old NilOdor stuff. Still not miraculous or anything though...

 

 

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