Hood Insert Care

Has anyone had a chip on their hood insert? If so, wht did you use for touchup?

What do you like to use to dress it?

Jonathan

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What do you like to use to dress it?

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Mine likes to wear levi's and a t-shirt! Never anything too dressy!;Db; ;Db; ;Do; ;Dp; ;Dr; ;Dy;

Sorry, couldn't resist!

With or without a bra? :naughty:

I have one too. Little one hardly noticeble. This problem, ties up with another. I am thinking about painting the cladding and the insert. When I do that I can just send the hood insert and paint it as well.

I know it's not supposed to be applied on paint, but I've had good results with Son of a Gun protectant on the insert and no problems so far and I've been doing it since April in the Florida summer. You have to put a good bit on and then go over it a few times with a dry applicator to get it right, but well worth it and has UV protectant in it. As usual it doesn't last real long (but somewhat better than it does on cladding) and dust and such tends to stick to it (wipes right off) - like the cladding, with dressing on there those bug guts just wipe right off. I use it on mirrors too so bugs don't adhere to them. I'm tempted to try the Meguiar's tire gel on it, because that stuff has replaced Son of a Gun on my cladding and it is awesome. It also made my roof rack look brand new where the wind had grayed the leading edges. I have a small chip in my insert too but nothing enough to be too worried about.

I picked up a black stick made by Turtle Wax. It comes with their black pigmented polish, but I believe you can find it by itself (look for a full service car wash that sells Turtle Wax products). The stick looks like a lip-stick tube and is applied the same way. You rub it into the chip and it fills up the hole. Got the recommendation from dyanni. Works wonders!

-- John

ever try fleet wax? its designed for marine purposes but is def the best wax i ever used, its kinda a bitc# the get off but lasts like forever

I use collinite marine wax on the body but I found recently that Zymol field wax spray works wonders on the hood insert. Took out some old stains and brought back the original deep color. I will try the Turtle wax black stick for a couple of little knicks.

For those who may not know, the hood insert is plastic not painted metal. Paint or protect like plastic. Wax can leave a film and those spary treatments don't last very long and run down onto the paint. I use one of those polymer based sealers, the same stuff I use on the paint. It's called Liquid Glass (gold can with an ugly red corvette on it). It lasts about 6 months. But do not use it on any thing porous like the cladding!

I thought mine was just plastic until I noticed a nick in it. After looking more closely at that, I think mine is plastic and painted or at least has some kind of veneer. But yeah, it's common knowledge that it is most certainly not metal.

Mark, I put your article of this and the Flitz product in the Reviews Section. Thanks for the tip!

For the last year I've been using Zymol's Field wax for my insert. Doesnt discolor or blotch with washing. :)

I have my old hood insert off right now and I'm in the process of re-installing a new one. I'm thinking of clear paint coating the new insert before I mount it. I'm not quite sure yet.

I recently had my Tacoma bedliner sprayed in and love the look and endurance of it, I've been talking to the guy who did it about doing my cladding on my Ironman, everyone I've mentioned it to has said it would definately make the VX look tougher. My only question is if I do decide to do a mod on the insert like a hood scoop w/ the spray liner can I get a new Ironman decal to put back on it? And speaking of dressing up, does anyone have any ideas for sprucing up the red leather? I bought a new Momo red leather shifter and it's really a Hot Bright red, then I looked at my seats and determined they needed a good cleaning, so I got the Mequires leather cleaner and conditioner which brightened them up a little but once you sit on them again they lose their shine and get dull again, the red in my VX looks like a redish orangey color, is there anyway to get the red leather to match with the new momo? dye?