Fixing Faded Black Trim

[Essex V6]

Evening Chaps/Ladies

 

As I am not working tomorrow, I thought I might try and clean up the bumpers on my old GTi. Am sure have read before that linseed oil or peanut butter work the best. Anyone tried any of the above or able to chuck an alternative into the mix?

 

Also done a fair bit of headscratching. The headlights failed recently. No issue with the fuse so changed both bulbs and still not working. Any suggestions?

[wackywacerwill]

Peanut butter worked a treat on my old mark 3 golf and heat gun done the job on my transit. Neither of these methods worked with much success on the renault as heat melted the door handle before any change of colour and the peanut butter faded pretty quick back to shite grey.

 

My main problem with peanut butter is I prefer the crunchy stuff on my toast but that can get extra messy when pasting it on the car.

[skattrd]

I've used linseed oil before with reasonable results, I'll def use it again, I've not tried peanut butter as it sounded quite messy.

 

Not what you asked, but for headlights, wasn't there something about polishing them with toothpaste on them or something equally bizarre?

 

If the headlights don't work it's a choice of switch, fuse, relay or a bad connection somewhere. No easy way round it if you ask me, start at one end with a multimeter and work your way through.

[lisbon_road]

I recently found a bottle of that proper bumper black in a skip.  Seems to work ok.  Not sure that it will last long though.

[phil_lihp]

Linseed oil is the best thing I've ever used on bumpers.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I have got a tube of 'Würth' bumper dye to do the trim on my Argenta. I had to get it from Germany and it costs £30 for a small (sub-toothpaste size) tube of it! I don't know how good it is as I haven't used it yet but if had better be good.

[Essex V6]

Cheers for the responses. Although the weather has been so keech this weekend, probably won't get a chance to do it tomorrow

[Wilko220]

Kiwi instant shoe polish is one short-term solution. But linseed oil would be my recommendation.

[richardmorris]

Back to black is what I've used - bought a bottle 20yrs ago and still got it.

[UmBongo]

TBH, the only real solution to this is the old satin black spray can job.

 

In my experience, everything else is just temporary.

[Junkman]

If both headlights are out, it can't be the fuse, since they are individually fused on German cars (it's the law etc etc), but I wouldn't entirely rule out that this is not the case with cars for certain export markets, where this is not required. If VW can save a fuse per car in production, they will most probably enthusiastically do so, now that I think about it.

 

Is there total darkness, or do the main beams work?

[inconsistant]

Smooth peanut butter worked a treat on my black rubber spoiler, but I only had time to do half. By the next weekend when I went back to do the other half, both sides looked the same, so I didn't bother to finish it off.

 

Conclusion: Peanut Butter, good for snacks & lube, rubbish on cars.

[Lord Sterling]

I've still yet to get to the bottom of this problem. I guess Back to Black would be the best bet. Stuff like WD40/Linseed etc... just dry off after a while I would have thought.

 

Back to black is what I've used - bought a bottle 20yrs ago and still got it.

Is this because you've yet to open it?

 

TBH, the only real solution to this is the old satin black spray can job. In my experience, everything else is just temporary.

Actually, this can be temporary too. I used to see a few cars around my area with satin-Black paint peeling off the faded to Grey bumpers.

[DVee8]

I used peanut butter in our trainies Bini came back up with very good results and lasted months

[Hendry]

When I worked as a main dealer valeter we used this stuff we got in 5 litre cans from the chemical supplier who supplied all our other stuff like tyre shine, polish, glass cleaner etc and it was like a green gel type stuff, it worked well and lasted months, according to the valet supervisor this was because it "fed" the plastic rather than just dressed it like other products do.

 

A really cheap but short term fix we'd do to auction cars to save wasting the gel was the silicone dash shine cans (this also works on faded red paint short term and we'd use it for that too rather than spend ages cutting, buffing and polishing auction bound cars like we had to with retail stock)

[richardmorris]

I've still yet to get to the bottom of this problem. I guess Back to Black would be the best bet. Stuff like WD40/Linseed etc... just dry off after a while I would have thought.

 

 

Is this because you've yet to open it?

 

 

Well it's mainly because I've never had a car with black bumpers - I've just used it on the CXs wingmirrors and door handles and the CX and C5 sill covers, oh and it's good for the 2CV's boot badges too.

[gtd2000]

My GF picked up a bottle of Detail Doctor at the local Sears on clearance, I'd seen it on the TV infomercials and thought "what a load of pish" at the time..

 

More info here: http://www.amazon.com/Detail-Doctor-As-Seen-On/dp/B00B9EQHFS

 

Anyhoo...I was quite surprised to find that it did indeed work on a faded to grey bumper protector and used it on all of the plastics on the van - it was very good at disguising sun damaged clear coat too!

 

The funny part about this product is that it smells like it's made of something edible and I'm sure it's mainly some sort of vegetable oil base. I'm not sure if I'm making this part up or not but I may have read that olive oil could have been the base ingredient. (Edit: Amazon review mentions Linseed oil)

 

Whatever it is that is in it was worth £2 odd but I wouldn't pay the full retail price for it....

 

I can't see photobucket images at work as they are blocked but this should be a photo of the treated plastic:

 

[Shep Shepherd]

I always get good results from Autoglym's  Bumper and Trim Gel/Bumper Care. Not sure if it's available in New Zealand, though.

[Lord Sterling]

When I worked as a main dealer valeter we used this stuff we got in 5 litre cans from the chemical supplier who supplied all our other stuff like tyre shine, polish, glass cleaner etc and it was like a green gel type stuff, it worked well and lasted months, according to the valet supervisor this was because it "fed" the plastic rather than just dressed it like other products do.A really cheap but short term fix we'd do to auction cars to save wasting the gel was the silicone dash shine cans (this also works on faded red paint short term and we'd use it for that too rather than spend ages cutting, buffing and polishing auction bound cars like we had to with retail stock)

When I worked at my mates IMO car wash I used to use thier various weird and wonderful products. We had some glass cleaner which was like some sort of White paste stuff that really got the glass looking wonderful. Sadly all the products like your stuff came in containers with no name.

[Barry Cade]

Try and find your local autosmart guy- trade stuff and it's good. Or Partco's 5 litre bumper and trim gel. lasts forever and it's as good as Autoglym.

[D-Dubya]

When I worked as a main dealer valeter we used this stuff we got in 5 litre cans from the chemical supplier who supplied all our other stuff like tyre shine, polish, glass cleaner etc and it was like a green gel type stuff, it worked well and lasted months, according to the valet supervisor this was because it "fed" the plastic rather than just dressed it like other products do.

A really cheap but short term fix we'd do to auction cars to save wasting the gel was the silicone dash shine cans (this also works on faded red paint short term and we'd use it for that too rather than spend ages cutting, buffing and polishing auction bound cars like we had to with retail stock)

That sounds like the stuff I use....

[greengartside]

I think Hendry's product sounds like 'Swipe' which is also green and seems to last for months, can't seem to find it anywhere now though. Best stuff I've ever used.

 

 

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[vulgalour]

Brake fluid, used cautiously, brings about good results and seems to last well.  Dirt cheap too.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I bought some posh stuff that comes out of the bottle all beige and creamy and has the texture of Wombat Jizz.  It has worked so well that I now want to have ACTUAL SEX with the spoiler on my HPE.    

 

I would tell you what the stuff is called but I left it at me mum's house.,  If I ring her up now to say "sorry I forgot to ring you up to say Happy Easter and stuff, and BTW what is the name on that can of car shizz I left on your dining room windowsill last week", she may tell me to FRO, but I still will try later.

[Guest Breadvan72]

This be that very car shizz.   Also useful for rubbing on yer boils, I gather.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/290853750039?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&lpid=95&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=95&ff19=0