Should I paint or wrap my wheel arch?

Infiniatic

Infiniatic

Member
Car
2016 QX70 RWD Iridium Blue
Name
Jim
My aero kit, in black, is ordered and I was thinking of making my wheel arches in gloss black to carry that color over the wheels through the side skirts and onto the flat black rear bumper over the lower diffuser I bought.

Has anyone had their wheel arch wrapped? Did you have it painted? Was your arch removed first or painted on the car? Costs?

Has anyone had anything Hydro dipped?

My car is Iridium blue and I will probably be painting the front spoiler and rear diffuser in blue.

Any do's and dont's to share?

Thanks, Jim
 
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The best is to paint them not wrap. I got all the plastic on my FX which included the wheel arches, rear bumper and the front bumper painted and it ran $2k. Everything was removed first then painted. There's a lot of prep work needed in order to do it right or the paint will flake off if done wrong.
 
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I have never had a car painted before. I was thinking these ABS plastic parts may be more of a challenge then the body. Can you tell me a little about the primer and prep work they did for these parts to avoid any flaking? This way I know what to have quoted for the job.

Are the Aero parts from Infinity ABS? Did you have the same prep work done on these parts?

Thanks RIPnFX.
 
I honestly do not know what they did exactly for prep work but yes the same prep was done for the aero kit pieces as well. If you take it to a legit body shop they will know exactly what to do.
 
I think there's also the option of sanding down those parts so they can be painted glossy to match your aero kits... If painted as is, they still have the textured look (at least on 1st Gens) so it looks kinda out of place...
 
If you wrap your arch trim prior to sanding and painting it's probably not going to last very long. Expect it to lift and separate due to the difficulty of getting all of the small air bubbles worked out from the application. Even if you were able to somehow work everything out, the wrap would exaggerate the texture causing it to appear even bumpier.
 
Probably would need to sand down all the texture then prime, wetsand, then paint. Would cost you way less if you do most of the prep work before you send your car to the body shop.


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Thanks illestfx35, but the texture does not bother me that much. I think painting the wheel arces will give the illusion that the wheels fill up the wheel wells more. My diffuser from Russia should be here in a few days, I just hope it is decent quality.

Jim
 
Infiniatic said:
Thanks illestfx35, but the texture does not bother me that much. I think painting the wheel arces will give the illusion that the wheels fill up the wheel wells more. My diffuser from Russia should be here in a few days, I just hope it is decent quality.

Jim
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The paint will have trouble sticking to the texture FYI
 
Also, the texture is minimized by the satin finish of the plastic. Once you paint it gloss, the texture will be magnified.
 
I see that RIPnFX painted his wheel arches but he was not sure what prep work they did to them. Has anyone else painted their arches or lower rear black section that could lend a hand with this discussion?
 
illestFX35 said:
Probably would need to sand down all the texture then prime, wetsand, then paint. Would cost you way less if you do most of the prep work before you send your car to the body shop.


Sent from my iPhone
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Crazy talk! The only kind of prep needed is cleaning and priming with a high build filler. none of this talk about not sticking and texture is anywhere CLOSE to true unless you are talking about some Maaco or DIY job. More than one FX has painted lower plastics just do a little more searching. You guys talk like plastics are a foreign material on cars and any body shop worth going to would have zero problem with this job.
 
Totally agree with Jumbo, had my lower bumper parts done a year ago, they use a filling primer, sand it, spray it, done. Considered doing wheel arches too, but then you really should do the plastic running under the doors as wel. If you have a lot of people getting in and out of your car (like me), it won't look very nice for too long! but, if I was the only one using the FX (or I didn't have a black one) I would have had all the plastic done. I had both bumpers, L + R front fenders, hood + grill done, cost about 1k. fullsizeoutput_1c5b.jpeg fullsizeoutput_1c57.jpeg
 
jumbosrule said:
Crazy talk! The only kind of prep needed is cleaning and priming with a high build filler. none of this talk about not sticking and texture is anywhere CLOSE to true unless you are talking about some Maaco or DIY job. More than one FX has painted lower plastics just do a little more searching. You guys talk like plastics are a foreign material on cars and any body shop worth going to would have zero problem with this job.
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Repeated exactly what my body shop told me. They said they would need to sand to the texture of an unpainted plastic bumper, prime, wetsand, then paint. With the texture still there they said when one rock chips it will most likely start to peel up... I may have wrong info, but I personally trust my body shop and I don't see what's so crazy talk.
 
Thanks illest35, Ozzie and Jumbo for your help. Since I ordered the under door and lower sill pieces in black for my Iridium blue car I will most likely be painting the arches as well as the lower rear bumper in gloss black or do everything in blue.

I did get my rear lower diffuser shipped in from Russia and it came in with slight damage on the lower corner. The piece is far from ready to paint and will need a lot of prep work, which means more money.

Jim
 
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