Pros/Cons of painting or bed-lining wheel wells?

[yellocoyote]

So, I recently upgraded to 265/75 Treadwright BFG AT knock-off tires. Love them so far - they did amazingly off-road last weekend, and much quieter on-road than the wearing MTR's were.

I had to do a small fender flare mod on the front side of the wheel wells to minimize the rubbing, and pound the pinch weld on the back side. That done, I still had a little bit of rubbing from the tire on the plastic, even after taking the heat gun and melting the plastic to be as flat as possible.

Today, I trimmed the more of the portions of protruding plastics and am finally without rub! :badger_1: However, now I have part of the pinch welds exposed again. I had planned to spray paint the exposed areas anyway, and then replace the plastic wheel well liners once that dried. But now I'm thinking of removing the plastic liners altogether and doing the entire wheel wells in either rattle can or bed-liner.

Has anyone done this? Results? I'm trying to weigh the pros/cons of doing this.

 

[tommudd]

Oh come on Jayme , just lift it more :shrug::happy175:
Personally I wouldn't remove the liner. Even if you bedline/paint whatever ther is still a lot of areas for mud, slush, salt, etc to stick up in there and start to rust.
Mine doesn't rub at all in the back of the wheelwell, but if it did the last thing I would do is to remove the liner just my nickels worth.
Just don't like this look with all of the areas for stuff to pack into

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[yellocoyote]

No... the Larry/Sarah look is not where I'm headed. Trust me. p:

And my wheels never sat 'centered' within the wheel wells... they've always been, what seems to me, closer to the rear of the well. Ever since I've had it.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

One major problem with completely removing the entire plastic inner fender liner is that when rocks get thrown up they will end up hitting the inside of the fenders and dent them from the inside. Bad damage as it will cause rust on the inside as we'll as paint damage on the shiny side of the vehicle.

 

[tommudd]

Just posted the picture to show all of the little holes etc in there, even painting / bed lining you cant get it everywhere.
and NO I knew you'd never do that look,........ LMAO!!!
So you've got the pinch weld as flat as you can get it now?

 

[Paul M]

Agreed with Ry...you need the liners. On my Heep's pinch welds, after trimming I took black silicone sealant (caulk) and sealed up the seams. I'd do the same on yours then add a light coat of undercoat from a can for overall coverage.

 

[yellocoyote]

So you've got the pinch weld as flat as you can get it now?

Pretty sure. I wanted to pull the wheels off this weekend and go after the pinch welds one more time with the BFH just to make sure before I make any drastic changes, but weather is supposed to be crap all weekend. Will have to wait till after work next week.

Agreed with Ry...you need the liners. On my Heep's pinch welds, after trimming I took black silicone sealant (caulk) and sealed up the seams. I'd do the same on yours then add a light coat of undercoat from a can for overall coverage.

Sounds like a good option - thanks!

 

[tjkj2002]

I hacked off most of the front liners,just left enough to cover the gap between the flares and wheel well,using a dremel with a sideways cutting bit,not pretty but who cares.The painted the rest black.The rear liners have been long gone long ago.

 

[yellocoyote]

I'm on the fence about whether or not to remove it. After another look tonight, there might be a lttle bit more pinch weld to beat down.. but the rubbing is driver side where the plastic liner has come away slightly from the sheet metal - adhesive might fix it. The rubbing really isn't even bad, it's just that I went from nothing with the 245/75 to just a little now... and it's kinda driving me nuts. OCD, a little.

 

[tjkj2002]

Little tip for the rear when fully flexing.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[NJallDAY]

Why not just cut away the parts that rub and fill those spots on with a tight metal mesh or chicken wire to keep shit from flying up in there? Or maybe you could remove it all and do the same thing. It may be a little harder to clean the mudd and snow out but it will keep rocks from doing any damage. Perhaps a sheet of steel lath. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...053&langId=-1&keyword=wire+mesh&storeId=10051
I use this stuff all the time when im doing A cultured stone, tile, marble facade on to wood to give it a good bond, its strong im sure it would keep rocks from doing any damage. I was thinking of painting a sheet black and using it as a grill insert.

 

[tommudd]

Why not just cut away the parts that rub and fill those spots on with a tight metal mesh or chicken wire to keep shit from flying up in there? Or maybe you could remove it all and do the same thing. It may be a little harder to clean the mudd and snow out but it will keep rocks from doing any damage. Perhaps a sheet of steel lath. 27 in. x 8 ft. Steel Lath-2.5 METAL LATH at The Home Depot
I use this stuff all the time when im doing A cultured stone, tile, marble facade on to wood to give it a good bond, its strong im sure it would keep rocks from doing any damage. I was thinking of painting a sheet black and using it as a grill insert.

Cut away the parts?
The way a KJ/KK body is put together all of that is welded to become one structure, start cutting " parts " out and you have weakened the structure plus have a place for it to start rusting even more
Chicken wire etc will not keep mud/slush, salt out

 

[NJallDAY]

Not the body just the plastic liner or is that not the issue? The steel lath is woven with about 1/8" gaps that wont do much for mud but rocks and other road hazards wont be able to pass through

 

[yellocoyote]

The plastic is the issue, not the metal. I could dump all the plastics and be rub free. The argument (of which I, too, am toying with) is the complete removal of the plastic... eliminating all rub, but inviting more winter road salt/rust.

 

[ridenby]

Jayme there is a MAJOR gap between the body and the fender,it leaves the door hinges exposed and all sorts of holes leading to your engine compartment. I have thought that some sort of plastic pop riveted or screwed in to cover gap would help. Could be sealed on edges with "right stuff" gasket stuff or somesuch. I will get some pics in AM of my junk.

 

[Wulfhound]

^^Nobody wants to see your junk^^:happy175::happy175:

I was wondering about the lining in my 2012 no lift yet so not in a hurry to tear things apart

 

[yellocoyote]

Jayme there is a MAJOR gap between the body and the fender,it leaves the door hinges exposed and all sorts of holes leading to your engine compartment. I have thought that some sort of plastic pop riveted or screwed in to cover gap would help. Could be sealed on edges with "right stuff" gasket stuff or somesuch. I will get some pics in AM of my junk.

Right on - thanks!

It's been raining all day, tomorrow too... really wish it would quit so I had a lot of time to dig into it instead of trying to do it evenings after work. p:

 

[NJallDAY]

The plastic is the issue, not the metal. I could dump all the plastics and be rub free. The argument (of which I, too, am toying with) is the complete removal of the plastic... eliminating all rub, but inviting more winter road salt/rust.

You can get a couple small pieces of steel and do some patch work to all the gaps/holes. Use jb weld to hold it in place(love jb weld) and then undercoat or bed liner to make it look pretty. That is if you decide to remove the whole liner. How much buffer room is between the liner and the fender well? You may be able to go at it with a heat gun to re form the liner in the problem areas. It would take a while but a little patience and alot of heat can go a long way lol

 

[badkittystt]

If you took it all off could you install some aftermarket diminished fenders (I really hope that's the word I want to say, still working on cup of coffee #1)? Jason loves to talk about them on wranglers and I honestly don't know if they make them for KJ's but I don't see why not??? You could just make your own, I would do some crazy wave shapes or something, just to let everyone know you made them Useful or realistic?? Who knows, who cares!

 

[tommudd]

You can get a couple small pieces of steel and do some patch work to all the gaps/holes. Use jb weld to hold it in place(love jb weld) and then undercoat or bed liner to make it look pretty. That is if you decide to remove the whole liner. How much buffer room is between the liner and the fender well? You may be able to go at it with a heat gun to re form the liner in the problem areas. It would take a while but a little patience and alot of heat can go a long way lol

Wouldn't really work
look at the picture again that I posted up
not just a few little holes but all kinds of nooks and crannys for mud/salt to get into.
Now if you lived in Arizona then yes it maybe OK
But in the midwest you're just asking for rust issues
Plus when the liner is out you can see the foam etc that blocks the door / hinges etc like Dick stated