cleaning plastic front fenderwells?

by fishhead Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:56 pm

Has anybody cleaned and painted the plastic inner fenderwells on a 73 chevelle? The road crust looks awful after 40+ years of pavement and dirt roads and I was wondering what chemical cleaner works good If I remove the front wheel and clean inside the fenderwell by hand before painting it black? I'm lazy and don't really want to remove the thing and I no longer have a pressurewasher or a finished engine to drive me to a carwash.

by Joe73 Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:40 pm

Pressure washer is the best way I've found. Pretty easy to remove them without messing with the fender itself.
If you paint them I'd make sure you add some "flex agent" to the paint since its plastic.
I'm going to try Mothers Back to Black just to see how it looks.

http://www.mothers.com/02_products/06112.html#&slider1=16

I do know for a fact that rubbing the plastic fenderwell with a gasoline soaked rag works real well and lasts pretty good. But I dont recommend it. Lots of fumes. LOL.

by fishhead Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:14 pm

Thanks Joe,
"Upon further review" it appears easy enough to remove them and haul them to the local car wash for a thorough but cautious cleanup.(Here in Bama we have 70+ degree highs predicted for a couple days but that means rain and storms are included with it).

by 77mali Mon Mar 02, 2015 11:08 pm

I've used citrus degreaser on lots of hard plastic parts with good luck in conjunction with a pressure wash. Let them "soak" a while for any real stubborn grease/oil. Use low pressure at first to get all the chemical off so you're not blasting it all over yourself & then the high pressure with soap, then water rinse. Hot water works best if your local car wash has it versus cold. I like to scrub with a natural fiber brush- there are soft "Tampico" brushes that work good to agitate the grime that you can pick up at Home Depot or local hardware store. They're usually for cleaning brick so you might find them in the masonry section. The more you can loosen the more will come off in the rinses.

by jerry46765 Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:22 am

I used kerosene to soak then used soft brush to remove the undercoat on the plastic fender wells on the El Camino. (Fresh kerosene from the service station cuts better than stuff laying around for years, by the way). Then cleaned them up with lots of Simple Green and followed it up with the power washer. They look like new. Why you would undercoat plastic? No idea... I lost my mind and removed all the undercoat on the whole vehicle. It looks so much better when you are laying on the creeper with a drop cord light.

Thanks -

by ant7377 Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:21 pm

My 73 has undercoat on the plastic too. Im going to try the kerosene.

by fishhead Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:56 pm

I noticed the washers on the bolts aren't quite big enough to completely cover the holes.Anybody else notice this in the battery tray area? It looks like some slight cosmetic misalignment of the plastic fender mounting holes?

by fishhead Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:04 pm

I know this is nit-picking but I'm considering replacing the factory washer with a larger stainless washer.Anybody want to share what they did on theirs?

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cleaning plastic front fenderwells?

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