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Glad I got the black plastic wheel Fenders

Cappy

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I discovered I can't get as close to our neighborhood mailboxes with a wrangler as with a normal car. At least I have plastic fenders. I would have been bummed if had nice painted fenders. I imagine a replacement plastic fender is much cheaper than a body colored painted fender.

Any suggestions on fixing these goudges?

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SilverSurfer

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I am not so sure I made the right choice going for the non painted fender flares.

You cannot get rid of the scratches, they scratch very easy, and replacing them is not that cheap.

The painted ones can be touched up, repainted or even covered with a protective clear 3M film.
 
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Cappy

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I would much rather have that that on a plastic fender then a deep scratch on a metal painted fender. I see I can buy a new one for $170. But was just wondering if there was a trick to cleaning these scratches up a bit.

I imagine for those who off road get their fenders messed up all the time. Heck, mine got battle scars from getting the mail.
 

csjlu

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I would much rather have that that on a plastic fender then a deep scratch on a metal painted fender. I see I can buy a new one for $170. But was just wondering if there was a trick to cleaning these scratches up a bit.

I imagine for those who off road get their fenders messed up all the time. Heck, mine got battle scars from getting the mail.
The difference between regular non-painted fenders and body matched painted fenders is paint, not underlying material.
 

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Just keep your eye out for some good condition take-offs. A few years back when I had my JKU someone gave me a fender for a 6 pack after an accident. That’s the beauty of the black plastic fender and The Jeep community!
 

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In your area, someone may be selling a set of fenders cheap on CL or FB.
Not to hard to replace.
Consider upgrading the fasteners that hold on the fenders
 

Reinen

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Looks like you have both scratches and gouges. For the scratches, you can lightly sand them with fine sandpaper. Or you can heat it up with a heat gun to make the white marks return to black. However you will lose some of the surrounding texture. For the gouges you would need to fill them, which takes some skill. Clean the gouges and scratch the inside of the gouge with a razor blade to create grab points for your repair. You can melt down black zip ties and spackle it in, then trim flush with a razor blade. Melting down black PTEX would also work (ski/snowboard base repair).

Or you can replace the fender. They literally snap off and on. Have new snaps on hand though because you'll always break a couple snapping them off. But if you might as well try the repair first and see if that's good enough for you.
 

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Any suggestions on fixing these goudges?
You can use a heat gun to warm the area and try smoothing the plastic.
 
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Cappy

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The difference between regular non-painted fenders and body matched painted fenders is paint, not underlying material.
I did not realize the painted fenders were painted plastic. Anyways, I still think this is a cheap fix.

I will try some of the solutions here. Someone mentioned shoe polish in another thread. Not a big deal since only scratches on plastic, but for someone who parks in the farthest spot in any parking lot to avoid door dings and shopping cart bangs, I did not expect damage getting my mail!
 

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Reinen

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I did not realize the painted fenders were painted plastic. Anyways, I still think this is a cheap fix.

I will try some of the solutions here. Someone mentioned shoe polish in another thread. Not a big deal since only scratches on plastic, but for someone who parks in the farthest spot in any parking lot to avoid door dings and shopping cart bangs, I did not expect damage getting my mail!
The impression I get with shoe polish is that it will work great but it won't last. It's just waxes and dyes and you'll have to keep re-applying it like any other wax on a vehicle. It will also get in the way of any other more permanent fix you may attempt. But it nevertheless is a solution.
 

SilverSurfer

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Heat gun does not work well, you lose some texture of the plastic and the heat slightly fades the colour to grey.

Nothing you can do about deep scratches in the plastic and stones chipping pieces out of the rear fender flares.
 

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FINN 2.0

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I used Mothers Back-to-Black #06112 trim and plastic restorer. Won't get rid of the scratch but will make it less noticeable.
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