Cleaning The Wheel Wells (pics)

M

Magellan498

New member
Heyas guys,



Well today I decided to finish wetsanding the insides of my rims and cleaning my wheel wells.



I took off the back passanger side wheel and wetsanded it (turned out great btw) then turned my attention to the wheel well. As I removed about a half a centimeter width of dirt from the well, I uncovered paint. Now, I know the car was repainted (no thanks to the previous owner, he didn't tell us anything) and that they did a bad job, but I never noticed inside the wheel wells because of all that black dirt in there. Apparently they chose not to mask off the wheel well when they repainted. So now I have overspray in most of the wheel well. Below are some pictures I snapped. What do yall suggest I do? Just leave it alone or try and get it off? I have paint thinner but I don't know if it'll work. I've been using that Castrol SuperClean stuff, and it seems to do the trick, but with MANY applications. It's not as powerful as I would hope...



So yea, any suggestions?
 
owch... thats bad.... I think what I would do is keep cleaning and get as much dirt off as humanly possible, then just go get some black spray paint and use that in there.... mask off the surrounding areas of course, but that would be the best way to go IMO. Most likely you'll be the only one to ever know the difference anyways.



This is what I've always done to the trailer hitch on my blazer as it seems prone to rust and every couple months or so I'll hit it with a fresh coat of rust-oleum.
 
Wow, looks like a mess, darn previous car owners! If you want to buy a used car right, buy from an Autopian.



Well It looks weird to have wheel wells that have overspray on them, either paint them to match the car, or I've seen some Hi-temperature black BBq colored spray paint at Home Depot for cheap. I guess its a flat black color. Spray paint the wheel wells black. Orange wheel wells look kinda unique but I seem to like a clean flat black better.



Of you can use paint thinner or laquer thinner (same thing?) to remove the overspray. Try it in a small spot, if it doesn't work, back to the Castrol I guess.
 
JasonC8301 said:
Hi-temperature black BBq colored spray paint at Home Depot for cheap. I guess its a flat black color.
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I wouldn't use this hi-temp stuff... I tried it on one of the heat registers in my bathroom and it left a really strange crackling pattern after the heat hit it once.... I stripped all that off and used normal rustoleum "satin" black and haven't had any problems with it whatsoever.
 
Looks like you have a combination of plastic and metal under there, and the metal appears to have been undercoated. Why not remove the plastic splash shields and clean them up, then recoat the metal with 3M Rubberized Undercoating.
 
Oh, scratch that idea then. SLD, hmm, I say this is Maaco! or a backyard type painter. Hows the quality of the paint besides the overspray?
 
The quality of the car paint? It's not too good. It's single stage paint in some places and others have a clear coat. I guess he just had some pannles repainted... As for the repainted pannles, they look like Crap! It appears as though they painted with paint brushes! There are little lines like if you did paint with a paint brush! I suppose I can try and compound them back to perfection.



As for the wetsanded rims, I'll take some pics tomorrow. I already put it back on the car because I have to go sumwhere tonight, so I must get ready. Thanks for all the ideas guys!
 
Ok Magellan-

I would like to do the same thing as they are repaving every single street within a 50 mile radius and the following is how my tire looks- car is too low to see whats in the wheel well, so what process did you actually do to make them look good once again?
 

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Greg Road Tar is nothing,Road paint and all other types of paints are the worst. Use EF Hi-Intensity Cleaner in there and it will just glide off in a yellow/red stream of water. I took of 5 yr old Tar stains in my garage with EF Hi-intensity cleaner.
 
I like the ruberized undercoating.



My brother used that and cleaned and coated the underbody and rear of his car, just to make it look black again. It also really cut down some of the noise back there too.



I was thinking of doing the same thing soon, since at times (from a distance) you can see a nasty brownish underbody



jon
 
Actually now that I think of it. I would go those Pick-Up Truck places and get one of those spray on bedliners AKA Powercoat and get my wheel wells sprayed with that its hella tough and comes in like 15 diffrent colors. Shouldent be to expensive and its pretty heat resistant.
 
Just to add I also found there is Wurth High Build Underbody Aeresol and Worth Stone Guard Black Aeresol both at CMA. Also I saw a thread about Griot's having some underbody coating.
 
phareous said:
Just to add I also found there is Wurth High Build Underbody Aeresol and Worth Stone Guard Black Aeresol both at CMA. Also I saw a thread about Griot's having some underbody coating.
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I like the idea of an undercoating spray as well. Whether its 3M, Griots, or Wurth, I think it will give your wheelwells a nice look and provide some protection too. I'm sure the 3M stuff is easily found at auto parts stores. The others you'll have to mail order.
 
Actually now that I think of it. I would go those Pick-Up Truck places and get one of those spray on bedliners AKA Powercoat and get my wheel wells sprayed with that its hella tough and comes in like 15 diffrent colors. Shouldent be to expensive and its pretty heat resistant.
Click to expand...



Well now, thats a pretty good idea.



I think I might look into that... Those trucks with that Rhinolining or Powercoat always look really good and that stuff is pretty durable...



Great idea, I'm gonna check it out!
 
If you're a perfectionist and willing to do some work, I would use mineral spirits and remove it. Painting over it will cover it but after driving it in rain the new paint will begin to peel.



Rub the mineral spirits in good with a terry cloth rag and keep working it. It'll come off.
 
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