Undercoat or repaint wheel well?

CarefulCleaner

CarefulCleaner

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My wheel wells were covered with a thick layer of dust that must have been baked on for a decade or more. This is what happened after using a pressure washer:

View attachment 53961

A lot of dirt and grime came off right away but so did the color.

Would you recommend using an undercoating spray product --- Is the effect permanent? Or would I be better off using a black spray paint?

Thanks for any suggestions on how to proceed here.
 
Ok now I'm curious... I've got a similar looking rash going on inside the wheel well of my white Kia. It seemed to appear out of nowhere from 1 wash being clear and next time it was suddenly there. I figured it was something like maybe some salt [I rarely almost never have to deal with salt so excuse my ignorance] and I would take some Super Degreaser and a brush to it 1 day if it ever bugs me enough.. It hasn't bugged me enough as it's pretty much behind the wheel, beyond the black hard plastic and happening on the foam/or whatever material is inside the wheel area.

What the heck is it?


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CarefulCleaner said:
My wheel wells were covered with a thick layer of dust that must have been baked on for a decade or more. This is what happened after using a pressure washer:

View attachment 53961

A lot of dirt and grime came off right away but so did the color.

Would you recommend using an undercoating spray product --- Is the effect permanent? Or would I be better off using a black spray paint?

Thanks for any suggestions on how to proceed here.
Click to expand...
paint probably won't last as long depends how much you want to spend per can.for textured surface some undercoatings dry almost a off black dark brown hue and you will want to do the other side as well.So it's really your call on how much you want to spend on this.Typically undercoat then spray a quality black paint over it is the correct way.If the texture is still intact then just give it a good coating per side with a quality paint.Get a high heat tolerant spray paint and clean wheels wells first.3 cans should be enough to do both sides if your taking the wheels off,if not 2 cans will do.
 
GSKR said:
paint probably won't last as long depends how much you want to spend per can.for textured surface some undercoatings dry almost a off black dark brown hue and you will want to do the other side as well.So it's really your call on how much you want to spend on this.Typically undercoat then spray a quality black paint over it is the correct way.If the texture is still intact then just give it a good coating per side with a quality paint.Get a high heat tolerant spray paint and clean wheels wells first.3 cans should be enough to do both sides if your taking the wheels off,if not 2 cans will do.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try the undercoating first, then see if I want to pursue the paint route. What might be an example of "quality paint"?

Mike@DedicatedPerfection said:
Did you use any product such as an APC in combination with the pressure washer to clean those wells?
Click to expand...

No, this is the result of pressure washer only. But I plan on using an APC (e.g., Meg's 10:1) to get it cleaner. Good idea?
 
Mike@DedicatedPerfection said:
Did you use any product such as an APC in combination with the pressure washer to clean those wells?
Click to expand...

Yea I usually use Megs D101@10:1 or sometimes D108@4:1. But not with a pressure washer, just a normL hose nozzle on jet setting. Harmful?


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CarefulCleaner said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try the undercoating first, then see if I want to pursue the paint route. What might be an example of "quality paint"?



No, this is the result of pressure washer only. But I plan on using an APC (e.g., Meg's 10:1) to get it cleaner. Good idea?
Click to expand...
duplicolor heat resistant paint.Normally you wouldn't get that much heat in that area but I find it adheres better and last longer.
 
CarefulCleaner said:
No, this is the result of pressure washer only. But I plan on using an APC (e.g., Meg's 10:1) to get it cleaner. Good idea?
Click to expand...

Eldorado2k said:
Yea I usually use Megs D101@10:1 or sometimes D108@4:1. But not with a pressure washer, just a normL hose nozzle on jet setting. Harmful?
Click to expand...


Now that we know the vehicle in question is white in color and is verified by the white spots in the wheel wells by use of a pressure washer, I would thoroughly degrease those wells with a degreaser such as the Meguiar's D108 Super Degreaser. With the D108 I would mix it at the stronger ratio 0f 4:1 to get the utmost power from the blend and soak the wells by spraying liberally. With wells that neglected I would probably use between 1/4 and 1/2 of the Meguiar's 32oz spray bottle for each well. After the well has been soaked I would grab a fender well brush such as the one from Mothers and scrub out those fenders with determination. After that grab the pressure washer and make sure all the filth and residues are washed out.

When the wells come out clean then you can proceed on what product you are going to use on the freshly cleaned wells.
 
Mike@DedicatedPerfection said:
Now that we know the vehicle in question is white in color and is verified by the white spots in the wheel wells by use of a pressure washer, I would thoroughly degrease those wells with a degreaser such as the Meguiar's D108 Super Degreaser. With the D108 I would mix it at the stronger ratio 0f 4:1 to get the utmost power from the blend and soak the wells by spraying liberally. With wells that neglected I would probably use between 1/4 and 1/2 of the Meguiar's 32oz spray bottle for each well. After the well has been soaked I would grab a fender well brush such as the one from Mothers and scrub out those fenders with determination. After that grab the pressure washer and make sure all the filth and residues are washed out.

When the wells come out clean then you can proceed on what product you are going to use on the freshly cleaned wells.
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But I still don't understand what or how it has to do with the vehicle being white? What is it exactly?


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Eldorado2k said:
But I still don't understand what or how it has to do with the vehicle being white? What is it exactly?
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With the vehicle being white the underside of the wheel wells that we see is the paint from the vehicle. White vehicle=White wheel wells.

This is either an older truck or SUV or the plastic liners in the wheel wells are missing from this vehicle.
 
This is what it looks like inside the wheel well. It's a 2014 Kia Sorento. Plastic wheel well covers are in tact and unaffected. Btw this is only happening on the front wheels.

aefc0fb5bc7b6806356e2ead90fd35ed.jpg


Flashlight view.

e8b5564d7866fea0b250eebe078b0b0d.jpg


Passenger side.

454877d5587b05e1bef706d74e207d85.jpg


It feels like the roofing on the house...


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That looks like corrosive substance leaking from somewhere.
 
Back in the day before I knew how to properly clean a car, I would paint the fender wells with store brand, flat or satin black....without even pressure washing them!! Just rinse, let dry and spray. Even with the lack of prep it would hold up for about one year.
 
GSKR said:
That looks like corrosive substance leaking from somewhere.
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I'd love to know exactly what the heck it is... 1 things for sure is it's the same thing on both mine and OP pics.

This morning before I left the house I did a quik test between 2 products to see how they'd both do. Used a wheel/tire brush that's similar to the Mothers Wheel Brush, except I only paid $1 for mine.lol.

3b268fa613b34443d385ac21429f6486.jpg


I saturated the spots and let each side dwell for about 3min. each side, getting another dose of spray in between, then took the brush to it...

In this particular test, the Brown Royal@2:1 did nearly nothing to remove this stuff.

051b2b62bb821fd349e8db3358fc2c09.jpg


The Super Degreaser@4:1 did show signs that it could eventually remove it, but it's gonna take several applications and I'd like a stiffer nylon brush next time.

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I would pull that plastic fender liner off and see if has that stuff behind it.looks to me that it could possibly be something leaking.Take a peak under the hood on that side.
 
I just looks like the rubberized undercoating in the wheel well is starting to come off to me revealing the paint underneath.
 
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