my fenders on my 98 tj are wickedly faded - is there a way to paint them black again without having to spend crazy amounts of money to have someone do it?

Home Depot. Paint Department. $6. "Penetrol."
It's a paint conditioner, but will bring the flares and ALL plastic back to black. It doesn't chip like paint, and will last a lot longer.
Put it on with a clean rag (thick, but not drippy). Wait five minutes. Wipe it off. Voila. Re-finished flares!

It will leave a bit of a coating on them. Almost like you've laquered them.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes! Mine are great. Back to factory black again. (better if you ask me!)
Kim

should I take them off before doing this, or is it safe to leave them on?

I'll have to give that stuff a try myself. I attempted to use "Mothers-Back to Black", but that stuff is about as good as ArmorAll. It looks good for a week and then goes right back to looking like it did before.

I'm also curious to know if you need to remove the flares to do this, or if taping would work. Taking off my flares would be a total PITA and i'd rather go buy new ones then attempt to take them off just to paint them.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, will this stuff work on flares that aren't black? I'm like to make mine black, but they are Sahara Flares that origionally were painted to match the color of my jeep, since then (1992), they have faded and almost look silver now.

Try a heat gun/hair dryer. ****DO NOT PUT IT TOO CLOSE FOR TOO LONG!!!**** Test it on a small area. Should bring the black back.(Not like new though but what do ya expect :) )

No clue on the painted flares. The impression I got from everyone who recommended it to me was that it would work on the "plastic." However, I used it on the fender flares, window trim, bumpers, gas cover, lincense plate holder, hood goodies (tie-downs, etc), and both bumpers. The bumpers handled it fine!
I tried it on my powder coated hinges and such, and it left an uneven finished, and about a month later seems like it has worn off.

I did NOT take off my flares or tape around them. Just apply it with the rag, and keep a clean one handy. Just wipe off whatever gets on the pain. No harm done.
There are a lot of write-ups on it at jeepforum.com.

Kim

I was looking for the stuff, but couldn't find it the other day. what kind of container does it come in? anything to help me find it - I'm not good at this.

I used Duplicolor plastic paint. I got it at walmart and man did it work good. After two months in the HOT desert they still have the dark black look. But there is the taping off the area that you don't want paint on, so you could just go with the penetrol. I hear it's good stuff.