Hey guys, my Dad bought a 92 parts truck for a cab swap on his 93.

The truck had front fenders on it that are less then a year old, so I plan on putting them on my 97 since mine are dented up. I will have the outside of the fenders professionally painted when the whole truck gets repainted after I get new bedsides installed.

So my question is, should I have the inside and edges of the fenders painted before putting them on the truck? Or just leave them the shade of black that they are now?

 

Are they new OEM fenders or just aftermarket?

Something to think about.

As for prepping them, YES, you want to paint the insides and edges.
Just be prepared for the "new" fenders to have small shipping dents in them(once nice and shiny with paint, you will see them) You will want to fix those 1st before prime or paint.


You will want to sand the entire fender. I would use 220-320 grit or a red scotch brite pad. with a flat sander. this will give you an idea of any dents or high spots.

HIGHS can be hammered and dollied(LIGHT HAMMERING, not bashing the side in) Just enough to make the high flat with a SLIGHT concave. then filler can be applied after the surface is resounded with 80 grit.

LOWS can be hammered and dollied as well(but hard when you cannot get to the back side). Any dented areas sand with 80 or coarser. Do filler work and final sand with 220-320.

Then you can wipe the fender down with wax and grease remover.

now you are ready for primer. Do your primer and a LIGHT guide coat of contrasting color on the outside of the fender

My suggestion since you are going to be running the truck in the weather before they get painted(on the outside) is to use primer sealer or epoxy primer on the WHOLE fender.

After the primer has been allowed to dry for 24 hours, you can wet sand with 600grit paper. The backside of the fender sucks sanding with paper, I like Gray scotch brite pads. For the outside, I use a sanding block and 600 to wet sand. You don't need to sand everything off, JUST the guide coat. Keep the block FLAT.

The guide coat will give you some depth to things to see highs and lows. HIGH spots you will sand thru down to metal.
LOW spots will still have guide coat left after sanding.

if you have highs or lows, you need to fix them..

final sand with 220-320 and REprime and guide coat as necessary

After drying you can block sand again. Once you have the whole fender sanded with no bare spots an no guide coat left, you are ready for paint.

Wipe the fender down with wax and grease remover again.

For painting the backside of a fender or door, I lay the panel face down(you are not painting the face) then you can do your color and clear on the back side of the panel with a LITTLE color and clear wrapping around the edge on the the fact of the panel(all you need to do is the corner when it would be difficult to get a paint when the panel is back on the vehicle).

Once that dries, you can put the fender on the truck

 

Thanks a lot Brad, that's a lot more detailed reply then I expected to receive
I'm not 100% but they may be aftermarket, I'll have to check the backside and see if there is a label on them.


Is it possible that I just do the prep and paint on the backside, sand and prime the outside just to protect it from the weather, get them on the truck, and then have the body shop that will be replacing the bedsides and painting the truck do any filler work that needs to be done to the outside? Or would that just be more work for them then just bringing them the fenders and letting them do everything?

I only ask because I have never really done any bodywork aside from some filler and touch up painting over the wheels wells on the bed. But I know I can put them on myself without a problem, so I'm trying to save some cash by doing that part myself.

 

Don't get me wrong there are nine way to skin a cat, but as far as I am concerned the way I described it he only "right" way

You could just scuff the fenders so paint sticks and rattle can them red.

Then the body shop can take them off and redo them, or even just pain the outside of them.

As for telling Real ford fenders from aftermarket, it is easy. Open the hood and look at the top lip of the fender(where the rubber bumpers go) Real ford ones will have the Ford Oval and ford script stamped right into the fender. Aftermarket will NOT

 

The fenders won't be on the truck very long before I take it to a body shop(maybe a month at the most). So if it's possible for them to do the prep and paint on the outside of the fender while it's on the truck then I can take care of the inside of the fenders before putting them on.

But if the body shop is only going to have to take them off anyway to do it right, I guess there is really no point in me doing anything to them, and I might as well just wait until I get the truck painted, and let them do it all.

 

I'm rebuilding my 93. I found a rust free drivers fender. What I did was since mine had the chrome fender flares on the bottom, I heated the pinch seam up on the bottom and hammer dollied it tight along. Sanded it all down to bear metal primed it all around painted the inside a regular black than bed lined it. The reason I did all that is I really don't ever want to see a bit of rust on this truck. I spent 4 hours doing one fender but I would bet my reputation it dosent rust again. I prefer bedliner over undercoating is bedliner isn't really rubberized and is more durable less likely to hold moisture. Which this truck more than likely won't see too many winters outside.

 

Good luck with that!!!! When you heated it, you burned all the paint and e-caosting off of the inside and have made a PERFECT place for rust to start

 

Yes I did! That is why everything was stripped reprimed and painted.

 

O, really. How did you get INSIDE(not the side facing the engine) the fender to replace the coating that was put on when the fender was DIPPED in e-coating?

yeah, didn't think so. Any moisture will start rust Instantly.

That is why welding is not used like it used to be(It burns off paint). Structural adhesives have become WAY more common place just for this reason.

I have been in and around body work for….26 years. I know a LITTLE what I am talking about

 

When it rusts out than I will go by what you said until than I won't be worrying.