Textured Black Plastic Trim Products

J

jwardell

New member
Hi everyone, I have been running a test on my website comparing 8 different plastic trim products:



http://www.jwardell.com/mini/2006/04/17/spring-cleaning-part-i/



The trim surrounding my car is now, at almost 3 years old, seemingly more white than black, as many have you have also experienced. I've seen so many discussions in many forums about which products to use, and over time I've gathered a bunch.



Tested here is:

Sonus Trim & Motor Kote

Vinylex

303

Sonus Tire & Bumper Dressing Gel

AutoGlym Bumper Care

Planters Peanut Oil

Armor-All protectant

Zaino Z16 perfect tire gloss



..after a few days only a third of the products were clearly doing their job, but then we had two days of rain. Sadly, it appears none survived--except the Planters Peanut Oil!

I'm waiting one more day to see if it simply needs to dry out and I can see clearer results, but right now it doesn't look good. :(



Why are all these products water based, and just wash away!?



Now the peanut oil looks good now, but not in the first few days, dust and dirt quickly adhere to it and it is a mess to deal with, and I can imagine it will get on your sponge and spread to your paint when washing. So I'd prefer not to settle with that.



So I'd like to ask everyone for further recommendations, specifically what they think will last a few weeks, and stand up to rain.



From searching I found many recommend Poorboys Trim Restorer, and if you think that will stand the rain, I believe I will try that next.



I've also wondered if simply putting a layer or two of clearcoat spraypaint over the plastic will solve the problem. Or likewise I've found Wurth Flexible Trim Paint. Does anyone have any experience or opinion on these?



Thanks...look for my inital results and photos posted this weekend, but I want to ready myself for a second test and ultimately a solution!



...now I see why I have so many products for this task, none seem to do the job right!

Thanks.
 
First, you do not want to clearcoat over your plastic for sure...this would turn out to be a huge mess.



I've had the best luck with Black Again and Poorboys Trim Restorer...the Black Again will last a long time if you rub it in properly. However, a long-term (couple of years) solution is to use Forever Black or the Auto Int. dye system...I've had great success using the Forever Black dye...sometimes it will look slightly streaky at first, but rubbing either of the aforementioned dressings in right after application will reduce this. I've done this for quite a few Jeep wranglers and cherokees and the die is still holding up on the vehicles I continue to detail.
 
Oh yeah, before using the dyes (or even before the dressing application), prep using a Magic Eraser pad. Actually, the Magic Eraser pads get the plastic sooo clean, that "sometimes" plastic will look noticably better after this alone. Just my 2 cents.
 
The popular products are Black Again, Poorboy's Trim Restorer and Meguiar's #38. These will endure some rain but the ones you listed easily wash off. There are other options from different brands but the above 3 appear to be quite popular.

I have settled on PB TR and have been very happy with it.
 
You know, I've been experimenting with this too, as my car has a lot of plastic trim. I've got PBs trim restore, armor all, Z16, megs 38, 303, autoglym, and both sonus's. Oddly enough I've had the best results with the autoglym. Spray it on, wait 5 minutes, wipe off - that gives gets the plastic the darkest for the longest period (which isn't long). Trim Restorer, an autopian favorite, works well for a day but then seems to just get sucked right into the trim. 303 works well too, but it doesn't get quite as dark as I'd like. The Z16 is ok at best on it (like the TR, it seems to get sucked up). I had very little luck with the Sonus's, Armor All, and Megs 38.



It's frustrating, I know.
 
Sadly autopia caries none of those products :(

I have found PB and and Black Again at superiorcarcare.net...has anyone bought from them before successfully? Any other recommended place to purchase from?
 
Picus, funny...I had been using AutoGlym Bumper Car for a while after reading in many places how great it was. But in this test it was one of the worst performing. The trim turned back to white in just a day. I was very surprised. Meanwhile, Z16 has remained one of the darkest, at least up until the rain came.



It is quite possible that people have different type of plastics, and perhaps the products work differently on each.
 
As a former test lab engineer, I really like your testing methods. Bravo, well done, uhra!



I've found Black Again to work well. Though honestly, in side by side comparisons, it didn't fair any better than Klasse SG did on plastic trim. They both did an excellent job of dealing with old polish and paste waxes. Far above just about anything else. Neither wash out from water.



Peanut oil, vegetable oil, etc all make a real sticky mess.



I'm currently playing with some acrylic floor wax on some old plastic trim. It's only been on for a day, but it looked quite good going on. Nice shine, cleaned up the surface well, brought back the color. We'll see how it looks in a week or so.



I've used Jubalee (sp)furniture polish/wax on plastics in the past with good results.
 
jwardell said:
Picus, funny...I had been using AutoGlym Bumper Car for a while after reading in many places how great it was. But in this test it was one of the worst performing. The trim turned back to white in just a day. I was very surprised. Meanwhile, Z16 has remained one of the darkest, at least up until the rain came.



It is quite possible that people have different type of plastics, and perhaps the products work differently on each.
Click to expand...



Figures. :) You're probably right about the different plastics. Mine isn't as textured as yours, maybe I will try a side by side in the future too.
 
I've been testing GatorBlack http://gatorbackcoatings.com/index.htm on the lower trim on my Hondas. It's been on about a month and so far it outlasts everything else I tried (very similar to your list). It's tough to get real even see this thread http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69657&highlight=gatorback



This weekend I tried it on the mudflaps of my Toyota Tacoma and it we real tough to get an even coat. It's been raining for the last two days here in NC (thank god) so it will get a good durability test. This stuff seems to be holding up real well on the Hondas.



I plan on giving it another few weeks then order the Gatorback and remove the fender flares on the Tacoma along with the mud flaps and front valance and spray them as recommended. I think removing them will be easier than masking the entire truck.



I had a email chat with the gatorback folks who say they will sell me a single quart which has more pigment than the GatorBlack and is better suited for the fender flares.



Like you, I have been struggling for YEARS looking for a dressing for the black fender flares for my Tacoma. Nothing seem to last much past the first drive in the rain.



(pictures of the truck in my gallery)
 
Hm, that Gatorback stuff looks interesting. I might get some just to try it out - I'm a little concerned about spreading it evenly, but I've just about had it with my trim. I'm almost ready to have it painted, so this stuff is worth a shot.
 
What kind of prep were you doing prior to applying the dressings? You'd probably need to hit the trim with a solvent (like 3M's Prepsol) to start with a truly clean surface. As you've already found out, water-based dressings don't last long on exterior trim.



I would think that you would probably get better longevity from a silicone based dressing; however, I know some people are really paranoid of these because they automatically assume that the silicones are bad and might possibly damage rubber, etc.



If a silicone dressing doesn't work/appeal to you, you could probably just stick with a good non-staining sealant or wax.
 
Well folks, I posted on my web site the final results. Everything was gone except for the peanut oil. I'll be trying some more of the recommendations from here.



One thing I did just try yesterday was the Mr. Clean Sponge. It really does a great job, with little effort, removing the dirt and wax. It gets the trim back to black, just not very glossy. So thank you all who came up with that tip. Whatever product wins my next test, I will recommend scrubbing with the mr. clean sponge first.



But I do need to get moving on this...I'm noticing my trim really looks disgusting, and it especially stands out next to my shiny dark black paint.
 
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it, but the Mr. Clean Magic eraser, while a pretty awesome detailing tool, should be used with some caution. It's made of melamine - melamine is a resin used in fiberglass, and fire barriers, it's esentially millions of really tiny, really hard shards so in reality it's actually sanding a fine layer of whatever you're using it on off. This is ok in most applications, but on anything with any sort of gloss is can much the surface up pretty badly (try it on a wall with some gloss paint). I still use mine on interior plastic kick plates and underneath the dash - just a word of caution if you're using it on a surface that might suffer from a little sanding.



Cheers.
 
Good word of caution on the Magic Eraser. I use it on anything my APC and a brush cannot get off (for interiors), but cautiously did some test spotting on older leather seats...bad news (good thing I tested a less visible spot first).
 
I use 1z Vinyl-Rubber Care and Protectant "Tiefenpfleger" - exterior protectant. I first cleaned with Mother's rubber cleaner. According to Mother's, that product is OK to use on vinyl also. It has been more than 1 month, and three washes and some rain and the black bumper looks great. I compared the 1z to mothers protectant. The mothers held up fairly well, but the 1z is noticable better. I have honda crv, so I have a lot of vinyl to work with (inside and out). I sprayed the z1 on the bumper to completely cover it, let it soak in for about 5 min, and then buffed of the excess.
 
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