Suggestions for fender trim or flares... Rust coverup!

[mjlcobra]

I have just a tiny bit of body rust on my RH rear fender. I was thinking about the Putco stainless/chrome trim to cover it up. I am not a chrome *****, but my used truck came with a chrome gas door. I replaced the side moulding because it was waterlogged. I removed all paint from the 3 expedition emblems by using the wrong solvent to clean them, so they're only chrome now. My question is, should I go this route or more of a flare style? This is my daily driver, the closest thing to off-roading I'm doing is driving in the snow. I have some all-weather basic tires and will probably never have anything too fancy or aggressive. My other question is... Would it be wort trying to Plasti-dip everything that is chrome including prospective fenders, emblems, gas door, bumpers, wheels (alloy) and center caps? There's a guy with a nice blue truck on here that appears to have done a chrome delete (FordandPolaris)... But it's a diff shade of blue, he's got diff wheels, and way cooler tires. So we wouldn't really be comparing apples to apples. I appreciate any ideas or feedback. This pic was taken at night so I will try to take a new one in the morning. Thanks.

 

[tonydiv]

Why not spend that money on repairing the rust instead of a short term cover up?

 

[mjlcobra]

I will repair it, I just don't think I want to spend the money getting it painted...

 

[FordandPolaris]

I appreciate the compliment!

I had my passenger rear fender rust out pretty bad, and I ended up doing a total bondo job of that fender. Painted it with 5 dollar home depot paint and you really can't tell the difference. If I were you, I would consider doing the same. I wish I could have caught the rust spots before they got worse. This is your chance to nip it in the bud so to speak.

My rims are stock steelies. Plasti-dip is a nice alternative to getting rid of any chrome on the truck. For the 5 dollar investment, I would give it a shot and see if you like it. Like you said I have painted all chrome except the badges, and am happy with the result. Only problem is that bugs peel off the plasti-dip on the front bumper. Haven't figured out how to get around that yet.


EDIT: This is a picture of that fender I re-did. I spent about 2 months sanding and bondoing it to get it fender like. You can tell if you look hard that the paint is a lighter shade of blue than the truck, but from 10 feet away you would never know...

 

[mjlcobra]

Did you clear coat the fender or did it have enough gloss?

 

[FordandPolaris]

Yes I put a few coats of clear on top as well. I should have sanded it down and spent some time on that, but it snowed two feet a week after I did it, so that got forgotten. Its not perfect, but its better than rust.

 

[mjlcobra]

Well, I appreciate your help. I think I'll try to fix it and cover it up with the chrome fender trim... I can experiment with the Plasti dip later...