Cleaning wax etc off black trim

L

larry_bar56

New member
This topic gets a lot of "air time" here so I just thought I'd share my experience.



I had read all the threads about using peanut butter, Prepsol, Bug and Tar remover, etc. I tried the Prepsol but didn't have much success.



Today at Walmart I picked up a can of Gunk Tar and Bug Remover. The can says safe for clear coat paint. Gunk used to make a great engine degreaser that was paint safe and I used in on my motorcycle some 20 years ago. So I thought I'd give this product a try.



Well, it was fantastic. :bounce On my textured side mouldings, I sprayed it on, used a toothbrush (although, I think I could have skipped that) and wiped it off with an old terry cloth towel. No waiting, no fussing. It did a fantastic job. On the smooth mouldings on the front and rear bumpers, I just sprayed it on the towel and wiped.



I'm going to let it sit overnight to be sure it's completey dry and then coat everything with OG ERV tomorrow.



For under $3 US it was a great find. Hey, it might even work well on bugs and tar!:D
 
Well, I have to say I may have spoken too soon. The textured side mouldings on my car looked great after cleaning them. I applied a coat of OG ERV an they looked even better.



I took the car out last night...in the rain:( This morning the side mouldings look awful!!! Lots of white chalky marks. It's like the cleaning didn't really clean them, just masked the problem. But I can't understand how Tar and Bug remover could mask that. It's a solvent. Oh well, I guess I'll have to keep trying things until I get them clean.
 
Try using a big "gum" eraser. The kind that you could get in the stationary aisle at Wally World, Targee' etc. Takes off the wax without doing any harm like some solvents can. Quick wipe with some protectant and you're good to go.
 
I've tried lots of different products/methods to get rid of the staining on my textured fender flares, but nothing really seems to work. Now I'm just trying to find something that will cover it up for the longest time. Here's a shot of a fender flare, done half in Black Again. This flare had been 303'd just one week before.

trim1.jpg




And here's the same flare after doing the other half with 303. I'm going to see which lasts the longest and looks the best.

trim2.jpg
 
shortyb said:
Try using a big "gum" eraser. The kind that you could get in the stationary aisle at Wally World, Targee' etc. Takes off the wax without doing any harm like some solvents can. Quick wipe with some protectant and you're good to go.
Click to expand...



Yup, I've tried peanut butter, bug/tar removers and harsh solvents like 3M adhesive remove. All they do is cover-up the problem temporarily. The only thing that worked for me was a polymer/plastic eraser (white colored) and plenty of elbow grease.
 
Here is what I tried - and it worked. 3M adhesive,tar and wax remover - washed car (Chevy Trailblazer) with Zaino car wash, dried and then applied Mother's back-to- black. I did this a couple of months back - still looks great - works for me.
 
repvette said:
Here is what I tried - and it worked. 3M adhesive,tar and wax remover - washed car (Chevy Trailblazer) with Zaino car wash, dried and then applied Mother's back-to- black. I did this a couple of months back - still looks great - works for me.
Click to expand...





Carguy, (GREG) also swears by that stuff.
 
I picked up some gum erasers at WalMart and some Back to Black at the local auto store. The eraser helped alot. Got most of the contamination off the trim. The Back to Black really did a good job of making the trim look new again. It hasn't rained yet this week (but I'm sure it will) so we'll see how the B2B holds up after that.
 
After one week of my Black Again vs. 303 experiment, they were both equally faded on my fender flare. It rained a lot that week, though. Also, since I put the Black Again on in the evening, it didn't get a chance to "cure" with UV light (like the directions said to do). Maybe this had an effect on the longevity. Here's the test fender one week on, washed with Meg Gold Class:

trim3.jpg


And here's the fender after applying some 303 (you can see how faded it was!):

trim4.jpg
 
Nice test and pictures, Dave! :up



Wait, did you use Back to Black or Back Again?



Here's a shot of a fender flare, done half in Black Again.
Click to expand...

After one week of my Back to Black vs. 303 experiment, they were both equally faded on my fender flare.
Click to expand...



Perhaps a dye like Forever Black may work better?
 
I have a e36 M3...so I know the pain of wax on mouldings...most of the time I just take them off when I am doing work.



But before I was really into it I used mother's wax...which must last a long time as it was on my mouldings for the longest time:P I ended up using Meguiars #39...that seemed to be the only thing that worked for me.



Of course I just finished klasseing the car today...and it rained. But atleast a good drive was able to blow most of the water off...something which it didn't do with SEC/S100.



Peter Hsu
 
>Wait, did you use Back to Black or Back Again?



Oops! Yes, I used Black Again. I edited my 2nd post.
 
The best product I have ever used is Valugard Molding and Trim renewer. Remove's the chalk and lasts a long time. Autoint.com
 
I'm a little late posting to this thread, but I have an E36 325i, so I feel the pain too. Here are my tips:



1. White Vinyl Eraser



Sounds goofy, but one of those white vinyl drafting erasers will take off wax stains with little effort. Works well on relatively smooth surfaces such as the door handles on my '94 325i.

Doesn't work well on textured plastic such as my bumper trim (doesn't clean in the 'valleys') or rubber (eraser grabs too much).



2. Solution of Dawn dish soap with detail brush



Mix up 1 oz of Dawn with 15 oz water in a spray bottle and get a nylon or natural bristle detail brush (I used a 'Michael Graves' nail brush from Target). Soak the stained trim in the

Dawn solution and then use the brush to get rid of the stain. Worked great on my pebbled black plastic bumper trim, although it did take more than one pass.



3. Meguiar's #39 Heavy Duty Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner



This is a good cleaner that will work well... especially on 'softer' pieces of trim and rubber. The only downside is that it leaves some sort of residue that you can 'feel' but not see if you

get it on the surrounding glass/paint. Get it from the Meguiar's website direct.



Finally, some people will suggest using a solvent such as 3M's General Purpose Adhesive Remover, but I would recommend against it. That type of powerful solvent is made for cured

paint and if you rub it too hard on plastic trim your trim might 'melt' or 'dissolve' somewhat and be permanently marred.



Best of luck,

Kent
 
When I finally got the wax off of my black trim with lots of elbow grease and washing, I switched to S100 and no longer have to worry about it since it just wipes off with no stain.
 
I work on trim stains today.



I have used the gunk B&T in the past for bug removal. I found the gunk to be super oily almost like WD40. I have never tried on trim.



What worked for today on was:

S100 TCC with toothbrush (took several applications)

Meg's #39 with toothbrush (took several applications)

Followed by Meg's GC wash with a splash of dawn.

Protected trim with 4-star RVP



Best way to clean trim is not to get wax or polish on trim. Tape it off, take few minutes to prep and save a lot oftime in the long run. Buy quailty tape, cheap stuff does not stick well. Also, use trim safe products.



Eric
 
You might want to try Acrylicwerks. It will clean up your trim and make it look glossy again. I couldn't get it to do much for my paint as far as my swirls/spiderwebs go but it does work very nicely on trim. You might want to give it a try and ask for the demonstration video when you order at acrylicwerks.com.



Brad
 
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