So, what else can you try? Penetrol. Penetrol is actually a “paint conditioner” thats primary purpose is to make oil-based paints spread easier. However, Penetrol also does a great job at reviving tired fender flares and restoring old fiberglass. Penetrol isn’t a “permanent” fix, but it lasts much longer than Armor All, 303, etc….your flares stay black even after a few rain storms.

I’ve tried this product on my own Jeep, and I’ve been very happy with the results. I also used it to shine up the plastic trim on my wife’s Saab and it worked great there as well. Below is a quick “how-to” on applying Penetrol:

1. Buy Penetrol: pretty obvious start. You should be able to buy Penetrol at most hardware stores that have a good paint department. I actually found a can of it at Home Depot, but I had to ask around and dig for it. Penetrol costs about $10 per quart (a quart of this stuff goes a long way).
2. Mask off painted areas: Penetrol is a strong-odored, combustible product. I was a little uneasy about getting it on my paint so I taped off small areas where I thought things could get sloppy. This was just a precaution on my part since the product isn’t specifically designed for automotive applications.
3. Brush on Penetrol: as you can see from the pics below, I used a foam brush and an old tuna can (keepin it real) to apply the Penetrol. The foam brush made it easy to control the amount of Penetrol being applied…you don’t want it dripping off all over the place. It doesn’t take much product to coat the flares.
4. Wipe flares w/ cloth: after you “paint” the flares, you need to lightly wipe them down. An old t-shirt seemed to work well for me. Penetrol has an oily consistency, so wiping it down leaves a nice clean finish.

Disclaimer: I’ve used Penetrol on stock flares as well as Bushwacker fender flares (pictured below) and it has worked very well. I’ve never seen any damage to the plastic. However, I can’t confirm that Penetrol is safe for ALL flares or all plastic pieces…if in doubt, test a small amount of Penetrol in a hidden location (ie. underside of flare) before covering your whole Jeep with it. Good luck.

Notice the difference?

Before Penetrol

Penetrol paint conditioner

Big improvement

Here are some things to think about BEFORE you purchase a lift kit for your Jeep:

Research: make sure you do your homework before you buy. Read lift kit reviews, ask questions on forums, and quiz other Jeep owners about their lift experiences. If you’ve got a buddy (or club member) with a lifted Jeep, ask them to take you for a ride. Keep in mind that some Jeepers automatically think that the lift in THEIR Jeep is the best lift going….so make sure you talk to a few different people.

Driving Habits: do you plan to take your lifted Jeep offroad regularly, or do you simply want to throw on your Jonas Brothers t-shirt and park out infront of Abercrombie & Fitch? If you want a “mall crawler,” hey that’s cool (everyone’s welcome here), but just be honest with yourself. If your Jeep will only see the pavement, you can probably deal with a budget lift, stock gears, and 33s. However, if you plan on aggressively hitting the trails, you’re bound to be disappointed pretty quickly with a setup like that.

Budget: how much are you willing to spend? You can spend as little as a few hundred or as much as several thousand dollars on the kit alone. However, don’t forget about other items that you “may” end up needing/wanting after the fact such as: control arms, longer brake lines, adjustable track bars, slip yoke eliminator (SYE), new driveshaft, bigger tires, new wheels, gears, stronger axles, better steering components, etc. $500 will suit some people just fine, but others may have higher expectations and should wait until they can save up some more cash. Make sure your expectations are inline w/ your budget.

Lift Kit Choice: there are tons of options out there such as short arm lifts, long arm lifts, coil spacer lifts (aka: budget boosts), and body lifts. Within those options, some kits are much more complete than others. For example, you can buy a 4-inch lift kit that comes with the bare minimum of coil springs, shocks, a transfer case drop, and a track bar relocation bracket. Speaking from experience, you can “get by” with a kit like this for while, but you’ll most likely end up spending more money later b/c of vibes and limited performance. Admittedly, I went this route in the beginning, but ended up spending significantly more money later on to correct driveline vibrations and poor handling. I ended up purchasing adjustable trackbars, SYE, new driveshaft, adjustable control arms, better shocks, better quick disconnects, etc. At the end of the day, I spent more money adding to my “basic” kit than I would have spent by buying a fully-equipped kit in the beginning. Some of this will come down to personal preference though. Not everyone will be comfortable with (or can afford) spending $2,000 on a kit right out of the blocks. Sometimes you may need to start with the $500-$600 kit b/c that’s all your budget (or gf/wife) will allow. I’ll just remind you again that you need to set your expectations appropriately and understand how much money you “may” need to allocate to additional accessories later on.

Jeep Performance & Road Manners: the right lift kit can really unlock your Jeep’s offroad potential, but it will also change your onroad handling as well. Again, think about your driving habits and make sure your prospective mods make sense for you. If you use your Jeep to commute 50 miles to work each way, the 6-inch lift, 35″ boggers, and 3.08 gears might not be the best option.

The Side Effects: as I alluded to earlier, lifting your Jeep and adding larger tires will change your ride and will most likely cause some annoying side effects. Some of the “fun” things you may experience are driveline vibrations, worn steering components, poor handling, tires that won’t balance 100%, etc. I’m sure some people will chime in and say that their Jeep rides better than stock after the lift and that they’ve never had any problems whatsoever. That may be true, but just search a few of the Jeep forums for keywords like “death wobble,” “wandering,” “loose steering,” “____ after lift”….this will give you an idea of the challenges that many lifted Jeep owners are dealing with.

Conclusion
So, this probably sounds like I’m telling you not to lift your Jeep, huh? No, that’s certainly not my goal here. I just want to give full disclosure on the pros and cons of lifting. I lifted my own Jeep several years ago and I would certainly do it all over again (I might choose some different parts, but I’d definitely still lift it). My lift, tires, gears, (and now lockers) have pushed my Jeep well beyond its original capabilities…it really is a blast to drive on the trails. However, my Jeep has certainly brought its share of headaches along the way (some b/c of the lift, and others b/c it’s simply a “Jeep”). But, I think that’s the life of a Jeep lover. I sometimes compare it to playing golf….you can have the worst 17 holes of your life, but if you birdie the 18th you can’t wait to get back on the course. When the doors are off my Jeep, there’s mud on the windshield, and I’ve just conquered a tough trail…I forget all about the previous steering box replacements, death wobble, burning brakes, crappy starter motors, and electrical demons.

Got some other suggestions about choosing the right lift?….please share w/ everyone in the comments.

• Your turn-in vehicle needs to be a maximum of 25 years old
• Turn-in vehicle fuel mileage must be a maximum of 18 MPG – In the Jeep world, nearly all models will satisfy this requirement (e.g. Wrangler, CJ, Cherokee, Waggy, J Truck, Commander, Liberty). Let’s face it, the majority of Jeeps get crappy mileage. It looks like the Compass and Patriot are the rare exceptions here since their combined fuel mileage (city & highway) averages over 18 MPG
• The new vehicle you buy must exceed 18 MPG fuel economy
• Your turn-in vehicle must have been registered and insured to you for the full year prior to your trade-in. So, for those budding entrepreneurs out there, you can’t pick up a POS ride for $100 in the morning and limp it into the dealership in the afternoon for a $3,500 rebate. Likewise, you can’t park your trailer load of crappy cars outside of the dealership and sell them for $2,000 to incoming car buyers who don’t have a turn-in that’ll fetch them $3,500 – $4,500.
• The rebate program only applies to new vehicle purchases.

So, now that you know the basic requirements. Let’s talk about whether this even makes any sense for a current Jeep owner. If you’re looking to trade up to a new Jeep (anything besides a Patriot or Compass), you’re out of luck b/c of the mileage requirements. Your Jeep turn-in would meet the mileage requirement, but the new purchase (Wrangler for example) would get less than 18 MPG…so, no soup for you!

Ok, let’s talk a little crazy for a bit and assume that you’re sick of your Jeep (gasp) and want to trade it for something with better fuel efficiency, inferior off-road capabilities, and a much lower fun factor. Does the cash for clunkers program make sense now? The answer is, maybe. I say, maybe b/c you really need to evaluate the current book value of your Jeep and see if a turn-in would actually make financial sense for you. For example, my 1998 Wrangler w/ 120,000 miles on it still has a book value of roughly $5,000. $5,000 is higher than the govt rebate, so I’d actually lose money if I did this deal….not to mention that my Jeep has lockers, new gears, and a bunch of other goodies that aren’t reflected in a book value from Kelley Blue Book or NADA, for example.

So what’s the bottom line here? If you’re looking to buy a new Jeep, the cash for clunkers program probably isn’t going to be much help b/c 90% of new Jeep models don’t meet the fuel efficiency requirements. If you’ve had enough and are looking to get out of Jeeping altogether, cash for clunkers “could” benefit you as long as your current Jeep has a book value < $3,500 and your new vehicle has fuel economy greater than 18 MPG. My (unbiased) recommendation: buy the new car you’ve had your eye on and save your old Jeep from the car crusher….turn it into a trail rig and wheel it like you stole it.

Have you had positive or negative experiences with the new cash for clunkers program?…please share in the comments.

Article photo by rianklong

In my case, my Jeeperman rocker guards were thrashed.  My rocker guards came from Jeeperman with a black powder coat on them (my first mistake).  I learned the hard way that powder coating and New England winters just don’t mix. I think my rocker guards lasted about 2 months before they started bubbling and peeling.  The powder coating on my Skid Row Engine Skid lasted a little longer, but wasn’t too much better.  I now avoid powder coated parts whenever possible.  No sense paying extra for this stuff when it doesn’t even last a year.  FYI, if you’re buying bumpers, rocker guards, or skid plates most of the smaller manufacturers will ship them to you bare.

So, how do you stop rust from overtaking your Jeep?  I’ve found that POR15 is a pretty good solution.  POR15 is a special rust preventative coating that can be applied directly to rusty surfaces (according to their marketing materials anyway). It’s not as easy to apply as they lead you to believe, but I’ll get to that later.  POR15 isn’t like normal paint. When it dries it turns into a hard, plastic-like surface that’s much more durable than ordinary paint.  It’s also supposed to prevent future bubbling and rust spread because of the way that it chemically bonds to the metal (so far so good in my case).

Apparently, the “POR” in POR15 stands for Paint Over Rust.  “Paint over rust? That’s f-ing great, you say!  My Jeep is a rusty mess, I’ll just splash this stuff everywhere and be done in no time.”  Not so fast there young Skywalker!  If you think you’re going to avoid all the crappy prep work that comes along with regular paint, you’re sadly mistaken.  Ok, I’ll admit, I originally had delusions of splashing this stuff everywhere. Maybe I even thought about a bikini POR15 car wash…but then I read the fine print.  Basically, you don’t have to get your parts down to bare metal, but you do need to make sure that all of the flakey rust is cleaned up and that all surfaces are clean and degreased (not an easy task on an old Jeep).

Here’s a quick recap of my POR15 prep work (not as easy as I’d originally hoped):

1. Sandblasted the power coat off my parts.  It would have taken me days to get the old powder coat off by hand (keep that in mind).  I even tried a wire wheel on a power drill, but that didn’t help much. Sandblasting cost me about $75 at a local shop (well worth it IMO)
2. Cleaned parts with a degreaser to remove any grease and oil (this step wasn’t critical for me b/c my parts were freshly sandblasted).
3. Sprayed all surfaces with Metal Ready product from POR15.  Metal-Ready is recommended before applying POR15 paint to galvanized metal, aluminum, stainless steel, or smooth metal surfaces. Basically it preps the surface and helps POR15 adhere better.
4. Thoroughly rinse all parts with water after metal-ready application.
5. Wait for all parts to completely dry out

Once the prep work is complete, you’re ready to apply the POR15 paint.  For the application, I just bought a couple of cheap paint brushes.  You can also spray POR15 if you’ve got a sprayer, but that was a bit too involved for me (you need to use thinning agents so the gun won’t clog).  I applied 2 coats of POR15 (it took about 4-5 hours to dry).

It’s important to note that I also needed to paint over the POR15 once I was all done.  “WTF?,” you say.  Yeah, apparently POR15 doesn’t hold up well to direct sunlight (UV rays break down POR15 and will eventually cause it to fail).  My rocker guards are definitely exposed to sunlight, so I top-coated them with a flat black Rustoleum spray paint.  I didn’t bother spray painting my engine skid…it’ll only see direct sunlight if I roll the Jeep (hoping that doesn’t happen in the near future).

Summary

Pros of POR15:
•    Solid, durable finish
•    Stops rust from spreading
•    Can be painted over “imperfect” metal
•    Low maintenance
•    Finished surface comes out surprisingly smooth (even if you brush it on)

Cons of POR15:
•    Expensive:  costs about $45 for a quart
•    Must be top-coated if your parts will see direct sunlight
•    Can’t be stored very long once the can has been opened
•    Prep work takes time (similar to regular paint job)

Project Tips:

• Only buy enough POR15 for your job size. POR15 is expensive and it doesn’t last too long once the can is open (mine started to harden after a few weeks).  I bought a quart, but probably only needed a pint..the rest went to waste b/c it hardened in the can.
• Cover ALL of your bare skin before you start painting w/ POR15.  Once you get it on your skin it’s really hard to get off (esp. if it dries). Keep some rubbing alcohol or similar product handy so you can remove any drips from your skin immediately. Rubber gloves are strongly recommended.
• Be careful to avoid painting bolts that you may need to remove in the future. Once POR15 dries, it will act as a thread-locker on your bolts. I break enough bolts on my Jeep as is (don’t need more help here).
• Wear a good respirator if you’re painting in a garage or other closed area (the fumes are quite strong).
• Save time by hanging parts (the light ones) from your garage ceiling so you can paint both sides in one shot.  Old coat hangers worked well for me.

Conclusion
So, now that it’s all done, was it worth it?  In this case, I’d say yes.  I think it really depends on what type of parts you’re painting though.  For me, my rocker guards and engine skid are a pain in the ass to get off the Jeep.  I’m happy that I won’t have to worry about rust on these things for while (with regular paint I’d probably have to remove them and touch them up every year).  When I get scratches from the rocks, I just hit them with a rattle can (POR15 keeps scratches from turning into a rusty cancer).

Got tips on how you’ve rust-proofed your Jeep? I’d love to hear them! Please share in the comments below.

Rocker guard ready for paint

Hanging parts waiting for paint

Rocker guards painted with POR15

Finished rocker guards after Rustoleum top coat

Skid Row Engine Skid after POR15

Cherokee breaks through the ice, but manages to claw its way out.

How do you get rid of your old shed?….well, fire up your Jeep and smash into it of course! I wonder how many nails he pulled out of his tires afterwards?

Jeep tries to cross a raging river and is quickly swept downstream. I don’t think pulling the drain plugs is going to help much on this one.

This Jeep is rocking and you’re just waiting for the axle or u-joint to explode…wish the video lasted another 30 secs.