Missing plastic wheel well liner?

Yay - we got our Leaf last Friday. It's really interesting how this is impacting my driving habits.

I do have a question, though. I walked around the car today, and I noticed that there is no plastic liner in the "front" of both rear wheel wells. The back of the rear wheel wells have a liner, and the front wheel wells are fully lined.

Are we the only ones missing this part of the liner, or is everyone else's Leaf the same way?

LeafBlower said:

Are we the only ones missing this part of the liner, or is everyone else's Leaf the same way?

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All the same way. One of the first things I noticed, once I had my car. Possibly a cost cutting move.

I wonder if say a UK Leaf is of the same?

Or is it possible to purchase something from say a Versa and modify to fit?

mxp said:

I wonder if say a UK Leaf is of the same?

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I don't know. But I said many moons ago that the leading edge of those rear fender bottoms have the potential to be a massive rust-trap in the wrong regions, if muck is allowed to build up there!

Versa doesn't have them either. Also I have overspray from my Glacier White in the well so you can easily see the thin metal, bolts, etc. which is why I noticed the missing well cover in the first place. Went through the lot where 5 Leafs were waiting for delivery and all but one had the car's color oversprayed into the well. I am considering having it painted black just so it doesn't look so cheap.

electricfuture said:

I am considering having it painted black just so it doesn't look so cheap.

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Clean up the area, jack up the rear of the car, take off the wheel and mask off the appropriate bits and hit it with a spray can of fender liner.

Problem solved.

Or go find a place that does the spray-on truck-bed liner - I'm sure they'll do the inside of your fenders for you. Done right looks great and is very tough.

drees said:

electricfuture said:

I am considering having it painted black just so it doesn't look so cheap.

Click to expand...

Clean up the area, jack up the rear of the car, take off the wheel and mask off the appropriate bits and hit it with a spray can of fender liner.

Problem solved.

Or go find a place that does the spray-on truck-bed liner - I'm sure they'll do the inside of your fenders for you. Done right looks great and is very tough.

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I found a DIY product:
http://www.herculiner.com/questions.html

but perhaps better leave it to the pros aye?
http://www.line-x.com/faq.htm

I hope the UK Leaf has it and that means we could purchase the parts. I am planning to get the UK rear headrests as well... Just need to find a friend in the UK to help me out.

Thanks mxp for the tip on Herculiner. I went to a body shop and they wanted $140 to do the rear wheel wells explaining that they had to tape off the well and cover the entire car to prevent over spay. Fortunately, Herculiner can be applied by brush and it looks like a $30 1 quart can will be enough. All that is needed is to jack up the car and remove the rear tires, clean the area and paint 2 coats letting the 1st coat dry about 4 hours. Problem is that the Leaf doesn't come with a jack! I guess I can use ones from other vehicles or rent one from Pep Boys?

LeafBlower said:

Yay - we got our Leaf last Friday. It's really interesting how this is impacting my driving habits.

I do have a question, though. I walked around the car today, and I noticed that there is no plastic liner in the "front" of both rear wheel wells. The back of the rear wheel wells have a liner, and the front wheel wells are fully lined.

Are we the only ones missing this part of the liner, or is everyone else's Leaf the same way?

Click to expand...

Do your rear wheel wells look like this? My rear wheel wells are fully lined:

aqn said:

Do your rear wheel wells look like this? My rear wheel wells are fully lined:

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aqn, from your picture i don't think your rear wheel well has a liner. The liner is plastic; do check your front wheel wells as an example.

aqn said:

Do your rear wheel wells look like this? My rear wheel wells are fully lined:

Click to expand...

mxp said:

aqn, from your picture i don't think your rear wheel well has a liner. The liner is plastic; do check your front wheel wells as an example.

Click to expand...

I did say "fully lined" not "have a plastic liner".

How's that for a weasel job?

Seriously though, you are right. The LEAF's rear wheel well is merely finished/sprayed with the same tar-like proctective coating on cars' underside and does not have a plastic wheel well liner like the front wheel wells. I'm not concerned about corrosion though, and not just because I'm in Texas. The rear wheel well seems fully sealed from the elements. Plus, that coating would be only as problematic (or not) as most cars' underside, being finished in the same manner.

That was not a lining in the pics - that is black over spray from your black car.

electricfuture said:

That was not a lining in the pics - that is black over spray from your black car.

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It's not over spray. It's black fender-liner material. Much thicker, like the stuff sprayed into truck beds by the aftermarket (though not as thick as your typical aftermarket spray-on liner.

The spray-on fender liner is obviously sprayed on before the exterior paint - which is why some have noticed over spray from the exterior in the fenders.

I explained the white overspray to the Nissan Body shop and they said to bring it in and they will cover it with rubberized paint gratis.

Nissan body shop said that the rear wheel wells did have undercoating that was later oversprayed. They applied undercoating to the well free as a courtesy. Looks fine now. Another Blue Leaf in the shop upon inspection apparently did not have the overspay and was produced the same month as my car. Go figure?