Cladding

[VX KAT]

Those color bars are just insane! How crazy our brains are!....OK, I guess I should only speak for myself....

[vt_maverick]

Hopefully not, you have to take into consideration that the snow/ice/salt we had back in January accelerated the fading process quite a bit. I'm interested to see how it lasts as the weather warms up and more rain settles in. But for you in AZ I have to think it would last a good while (assuming sun won't fade it, we'll have to wait until summer to judge that).

One more thing, my VX is my daily driver so it's outside at least 5 days a week.

[vt_maverick]

Btw, this stuff isn't exactly cheap (one pad is the same price as a bottle of Back to Black, about $6), but IMHO it's cheap enough to seriously consider putting it on as frequently as once a month during the summer to keep it nice and dark. Figure $40 including shipping for a 6 pad supply, 2 pads per application, maybe a total of 6 applications per year = $80 a year for amazing looking cladding. If you stick with the every 3 months model you're at about $53 per year.

There's something to be said for the fact that after awhile you could have just bought GatorBack for the same price. But this is certainly something to consider if you're wary of permanent treatments.

[VX KAT]

Some pics of my existing cladding compared to a brand new piece. Both are completely "nekkid" nothing whatsoever on them.
Now what color is that??
Pretty dramatic, huh?










With close up flash. Of course it turns out much lighter than reality, but still shows the incredible difference.
Dub, you still wanna stick to that theory 'bout the darks coming with lighter cladding? There's only one part number for each.....
...just sayin....

[MSHardeman]

Sue, that is pretty dramatic. Something must have happened to your cladding because with such limited numbers of the VX being made I just can't believe that they would go through the trouble of making two shades of cladding. Of course I have been wrong before......but I was wrong about that.

[VX KAT]

Check out this vid, haven't had anybody try this before. (Luna you used the heat gun to fix the dent, but it didn't darken that spot did it??)
Kinda surprised, there's numerous videos showing this done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-dtbBzky-s

[ZEUS]

Check out this vid, haven't had anybody try this before. (Luna you used the heat gun to fix the dent, but it didn't darken that spot did it??)
Kinda surprised, there's numerous videos showing this done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-dtbBzky-s

Huh, that's interesting. I saw a comment that mentioned the dark color only lasted up to a year before fading again. I imagine if the plastic was treated after the heat gun trick it could last longer.

[circmand]

Some pics of my existing cladding compared to a brand new piece. Both are completely "nekkid" nothing whatsoever on them.
Now what color is that??
Pretty dramatic, huh?










With close up flash. Of course it turns out much lighter than reality, but still shows the incredible difference.
Dub, you still wanna stick to that theory 'bout the darks coming with lighter cladding? There's only one part number for each.....
...just sayin....

is as clear as Black and gray

[atilla_the_fun]

VXKAT, what does the back of your cladding look like?

[VX KAT]

VXKAT, what does the back of your cladding look like?

Dang, didn't take any when Dub had the rear cladding off....

This is the BACK from a piece of the rear cladding...shows some stripes, definitely not the same texture as the front of the cladding. Color is kind in-between the two.

[rsteinmetz70112]

Do you have any pictures where the cladding that was not exposed to the environment? Maybe where a piece was covered by the adjacent piece? SOm eof the pictures appear to show there is some kind of coating on the cladding.

[Mile High VX]

Good chance to compare to that area under the hood that looks so much darker to the new piece.

[VX KAT]

Good chance to compare to that area under the hood that looks so much darker to the new piece.

New (or just about new) cladding vs. the unexposed area of cladding on my VX. Color is very very close.

[MSHardeman]

Sue, your cladding must have been coated, or recolored somehow, at some point in it's existence. Just the difference in the exposed vs. unexposed color as well as the fact that it looks like the torx screw in the above photo has been painted over too. My torx srews are black (or they were before I painted them silver) and not grey like yours seem to be. All of this could be why your Refinish/Restore didn't take to your cladding even though you did the surface prep correctly.

[VX KAT]

Sue, your cladding must have been coated, or recolored somehow, at some point in it's existence. Just the difference in the exposed vs. unexposed color as well as the fact that it looks like the torx screw in the above photo has been painted over too. My torx srews are black (or they were before I painted them silver) and not grey like yours seem to be. All of this could be why your Refinish/Restore didn't take to your cladding even though you did the surface prep correctly.

I think you're right! All my torx screws are solid gray all over (which I know i've commented on somewhere, since I didn't think sun exposure would cause them all to fade so uniformly... Didn't realize anybody's were different than that.

Found a few products online last week that are permanent DYES. I think Black Fusion is a dye also. Hadn't come across them before. Most are marketed to the car dealerships/used car lots for an easy quick refinish to the dry cladding. Mine came from a used lot. One comes in black AND gray....I'm kinda thinking maybe that's what's on my cladding (the gray). Since it never looks parched or chalky, and it has that very clear line of demarkation on the front....seems like something was applied, and NOT applied to that small horizontal section (like they missed a spot!) Hmmmm....