DIY trim restoration.

[Baltothewolf]

THIS ONLY WORKS ON PLASTIC TRIM!!! I AM UNSURE IF IT WORKS WITH ANYTHING ELSE THAN BLACK!

Find the offending piece of trim, such as this black trim on my insight that looks like garbage.


Apply a heat gun (I used the 1000F setting on mine) at about 1/2-1 inch away from the area. You must be careful, as if you apply to long you can warp the piece your trying to restore. I didn't do this, but come on, it's plastic, common sense.

Anyway, Viola! About 10-15 minutes of work and the car does look better!


Credits go to the guys on Insightcentral that I saw this idea on. I'm sure others have done it before, but I just thought I would toss this out here just incase it helps anyone.

[mcrews]

What have you done?
New piece, old piece, replacement piece??? Not clear instructions.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by mcrews

What have you done?
New piece, old piece, replacement piece??? Not clear instructions.

You use a heat gun on the trim, and it turns from the sun bleached color back to the way it looked when it came off the factory floor.

[user removed]

I like the idea, but advise caution, basically you are using heat to partially melt the surface of the trim and that eliminates the oxidation. The difference between too much and too little is probably slim so start conservatively and work from there, with color change being your indicator. The trim needs to be in it's natural (as moulded) color or that amount of heat could cause problems with painted parts.

regards
mech

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

I like the idea, but advise caution, basically you are using heat to partially melt the surface of the trim and that eliminates the oxidation. The difference between too much and too little is probably slim so start conservatively and work from there, with color change being your indicator. The trim needs to be in it's natural (as moulded) color or that amount of heat could cause problems with painted parts.

regards
mech

Is that what it's doing? It's so trippy haha. I used a small section to kinda test how long it took to turn it back to black, and I used that as a reference how fast I needed to sweep across to prevent any damage, and still get good results. As you can see, I seemed to get it right.

[oldtamiyaphile]

I've done this on some interior parts on the Suzuki. It lasted between around two weeks, and the bits where I got too enthusiastic and melted a bit lasted longer, but ultimately still went back to grey after a month or so.

Professional grade plastic dressings are easier to apply, safer and last equally long (and possibly longer).

I also tried this on the wiper cowl on a Mercedes and it didn't change colour, just melted!

!Not recommended/ proceed with caution!

[Xist]

I have only melted my air dam, but I still advise great caution. Did the people in the other forum say how long it was supposed to last?

What about metal trim pieces that are supposed to be black? Is there some plastic coating that flakes off? Can I spray that with Plasti-Dip and call it good.

Can you spray the plastic bits with Plasti-Dip?