Wheel well paint/coating

[paddlenbike]

My wheel wells have taken a beating from trips out to the desert. I've read that even good wheel well coating (like 3M) is rubberized can cause rust under the coating, so I want to avoid that. Other options might include:
- just paint wheel wells black
- paint them to cover the bare spots, then coat with rubberized undercoating
- por 15? bedliner?

Ideas?

The goal is to prevent rust and get the wheel wells black again.

[Seanz0rz]

I would say por 15 or similar anti rust coating. then top that off with some of the good 3M undercoat.

Basically, you want to prevent any rust from happening (the Por15) and then keep that prevention safe with some heavy undercoat (3M). That is what I would do (and probably will end up doing some day)

[YotaFun]

While off the frame I took a wire brush to all the rusty spots on the body I could see, then just put some simple rustoleum spray on rust proof paint. I didn't put anything else cause I didn't have anything at the time but I would have coated the whole underside then in the 3M undercoat, I live in the lovely rust belt but haven't had to many issue so far as for anything popping up.

I,d just tackle the areas you can, clean up as best, then put some sort of rust preventative paint that's not full on undercoating first, let it set then go to town with the 3M.

[4x4mike]

My factory coating is thin in my rear wells but only towards the front top, if that makes sense. It's thin enough that you can kind of make out the green body paint. I don't have any rust or bare paint so I thought I'd get it covered.

I bought some truck bed coating in a can and gave it a whirl. It's been really hot here for a while so I used it to my advantage. I power washed the rear wheel wells and gave them 2 coats which used the entire can. The front wells are mostly plastic and are in good shape so I left them as is.



This coating goes on like spray paint but kind of foggy and spitty, hence the texture. The texture isn't large at all which is nice because I didn't want it looking like oatmeal under there. It just gave what I already had some more body. If I were coating a truck bed that was originally smooth I might be disappointed.

The heat baked it on real good and the finish is good. Not glossy or rubbery. Its not slick but looks like it's going to work out okay. If not I imagine I could get it off with some spray stripper and power washer.

[paddlenbike]

Looks like you're getting some projects done at home, very nice.

[4x4mike]

Yeah I am, slowly but surely.

I don't have a before pic but this is an after pic. Its a cell phone pic so take it with a grain of sand. It looks over textured and shiny but in real life it's a bit different. One thing to notice are the non textured spots near the bottom left and the end of the seat belt bolt. Those portions were sprayed but there is no texture. Overall I'm happy with this product as it didn't over texture but coverage wise it's not much above paint.

[paddlenbike]

My wheel wells are turning white (body color), so it looks particularly bad on mine. When I used 3M rubberized undercoating on the wheelwells of my '87 truck I noticed a reduction in sound being transmitted into the cabin. The downside is mud sticks to the rubberized stuff and it always looked brown. I'm thinking bedliner might insulate and the mud should hose off easier.

[Seanz0rz]

I'm looking to do the same in some key areas to reduce road noise. I have tons of work to do to my truck, but it's too darn hot! 104F is no fun to work in!

[4x4mike]

My wheel wells are turning white (body color), so it looks particularly bad on mine. When I used 3M rubberized undercoating on the wheelwells of my '87 truck I noticed a reduction in sound being transmitted into the cabin. The downside is mud sticks to the rubberized stuff and it always looked brown. I'm thinking bedliner might insulate and the mud should hose off easier.

Mine were green (body color) as well. I haven't noticed a reduction road noise but time will tell.