Fender Flares covering rust?

[gatlin04]

I have a 1991 Ranger 4x4 short bed and the clear coat is peeling. I am wanting to give it a paint job because it has an extremely straight body (and i am no body man... so i feel it is manageable for me)... But the big problem i have is in the rear fender wells... it has a decent amount of rust. Is there any cheap fender flares that i could put on there to cover it up? I just really dont want to do any cutting and welding on it.

Also, if i do end up having to cut and weld it.... could i just use the sheet metal from some front fenders?

I will post some pictures later to show the amount of damage.

 

[gatlin04]

here are the pics of both rear fender wells....

Will the fender flares cover it? I dont want anything crazy big because i dont plan on off-roading too hard.

 

[dirtsquirt]

bush wackers cut outs would deal with that

 

[Sunk]

Yeah you would definitely want to cut that out or it will spread. It looks like it has already been Bondo-ed too. If you're gonna paint it anyway, you could find a rust free bed (if possible).

 

[gatlin04]

After I cut it off, what do i do so that it wont start up and spread again?

The bed is almost flawless other than the rust that you see... so i dont really want to replace the whole bed. The bottom of the bed isnt even dented or anything. I have a sneaky feeling that the truck may have been totaled (i still havent got the title yet, so i dont know)... so i am worried when i actually start digging into the body work that i may find a bunch of Bondo....

Does anyone know of some used fender flares that are for sale?

 

[Sunk]

Paint the cut edges or treat them with a rust inhibitor. If I were you I would tap/knock on the Bondo that you can see then gradually work outward in all directions to see how far it goes. It's pretty easy to tell the difference in sound, and that way you have a better idea of what condition the bad may really be in.