If I asked this before..Shoot me.

[Micro469]

How do you prepare fiberglass fenders? Can you sand them down? Do you spray them with a primer? What kind of paint do you use? Rustoleum? Varathane? Laquer?(by a paint shop)
I would like to get a smooth finish... I gues I gotta get someone else to do it. Do you spray the undersides black?

[asianflava]

The first thing you should do is to wipe them down with a wax remover/cleaner/degreaser. We used this stuff called Pre Kleeno at the shop I worked at. I looked at the ingredients and it was mostly naptha and alcohol.

Next, I'd hit it with a fine grit sandpaper, we used 400grit (but we weren't painting cars so this might vary), to give it some "tooth" for the primer/paint to stick to.

[Podunkfla]

How do you prepare fiberglass fenders? Can you sand them down? Do you spray them with a primer? What kind of paint do you use? Rustoleum? Varathane? Laquer?(by a paint shop)
I would like to get a smooth finish... I gues I gotta get someone else to do it. Do you spray the undersides black?

Lots of questions John... Do you have a spraygun? Ever painted before?
Painting something small and simple like fenders is pretty easy. If you want an auto quality finish... You need to use automotive paint, obviously. The problem is it gets kinda spendy just to do two fenders. Your best bet may be to hunt around for an antique car or hotrod enthusiast that could paint it for you. A body shop is likely to charge a couple hundred bucks or more... Unless you can find a friendly one. I have had motorcycle tins (tank, fenders & side covers) painted pretty cheap by friends in the trade when they were painting a car a color I liked... Like $50. out the door! Less than I could buy the paint for wholesale.

Anyhoo... If you want to paint it yourself, here's the best place to buy quality automotive paints online by far:
http://www.smartshoppersinc.com/
This Candy Color stuff is beautiful... I've used it. It compares to HouseOfColor paints that cost 10 times as much!
http://www.smartshoppersinc.com/Kirker/ ... ANDYS.html
There is a silver basecoat you apply first. A primer coat is a good idea, but not always necessary if you have a good clean surface. Just wet sand it to about 600 grit or so. They make fancy "Pre-cleaners/wax removers" but I just use mineral spirits and/or denatured alcohol. You can spray the silver base coat directly on this clean surface. It's easy to see any flaws, fish-eyes or whatever and fix them in the base coat. The clear Candy topcoat is pretty forgiving except for bugs wanting to land in it... And even they can be buffed out or sanded off and respray some clear.

Yeah, I know this is prolly way more than you wanted to know... but it's a good start.

And... yes, I have seen great non-metalic paint jobs done with Rustoleum paint and a roller!
http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html
And another:
http://jeep.off-road.com/jeep/Jeep+Tech ... ail/277050
Here's the originoal guy that started this "Paint Job on a Budget" thing:
(Scroll down to his post): http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/sho ... art=1&vc=1
http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/
More DYI cheap paint info:
http://rollyourcar.com/default.aspx