"Showroom New" Trim Restorer- info & experience

[LittleBeast]

I for one don't mind a little elbow grease pretty consistantly and I don't want anything to be permanent so I have always used "back to black" but I am glad Kat found this stuff, I would have to see it in person first though because I prefer the shine that I get with back to black and this stuff looks very matte. To each there own, but Kat this looks like a huge improvement!!!!! And almost better than new, nicely done. I have a feeling you are going to keep getting it a little darker with each coat, which is what I prefer ;-)

Do you think this would soak in to our side view mirror's plastic and our rails and rail covers? If so I would consider doing those black..... Hmmmm

[VX KAT]

I have a feeling you are going to keep getting it a little darker with each coat, which is what I prefer ;-)

Do you think this would soak in to our side view mirror's plastic and our rails and rail covers? If so I would consider doing those black..... Hmmmm

No, I'm done applying it..it's dark enough for me now.
I kinda was wondering about the other plastics myself....so I did one exterior door handle.....seems to have worked. The mirror housing seems like a different plastic. I could test on the bottom of it....hmmm.....

I'd also like to do the hood insert.....it still has R/R on it, although it's peeling on the leading edge. I did find the dye seemed to penetrate the R/R in a few areas it still remained on the cladding.

You can apply B2B or any normal topical dressing on top of this.

My hubby is rooting for me to start on another mod, and finally close the book on the cladding!

[Grif]

I'd also like to do the hood insert.....it still has R/R on it, although it's peeling on the leading edge. I did find the dye seemed to penetrate the R/R in a few areas it still remained on the cladding.

I fail to understand why people (admittedly myself at times) are tempted to treat the hood insert with the same plastic treatments we apply to our cladding.

The hood insert is entirely different material. It is traditional matte black auto paint, not solid raw molded polypropylene (sp?) like our cladding is. The dyes and refinishes designed for our plastic cladding are not appropriate imho, for the surface paint of the hood insert. Simply because they are similar colors does not mean they should be treated the same.


BTW: I pulled the trigger on two bottles of black dye. Your trail rash pics sold me Kat.

I intend on cleaning my cladding with denatured alcohol, wait till it evaporates, then dye. Walmart has some terrycloth coated sponge applicators similar to what you used. I may or may not top it off with the last of my R/R if I decide it needs a touch of gloss, but we shall see!?

[VX KAT]

I fail to understand why people (admittedly myself at times) are tempted to treat the hood insert with the same plastic treatments we apply to our cladding.

The hood insert is entirely different material. It is traditional matte black auto paint, not solid raw molded polypropylene (sp?) like our cladding is. The dyes and refinishes designed for our plastic cladding are not appropriate imho, for the surface paint of the hood insert. Simply because they are similar colors does not mean they should be treated the same.


BTW: I pulled the trigger on two bottles of black dye. Your trail rash pics sold me Kat.

I intend on cleaning my cladding with denatured alcohol, wait till it evaporates, then dye. Walmart has some terrycloth coated sponge applicators similar to what you used. I may or may not top it off with the last of my R/R if I decide it needs a touch of gloss, but we shall see!?

Yeah, I see your point...I guess we kind of have a tendency to just "think" of it as another piece of cladding because of the color, like you said. Although mine is definitely a lighter color, not a black, not even a dark charcoal color, so maybe mine was treated/painted/coated with something to make it that lighter color, like I believe my cladding was.

I found the darker charcoal cladding looked fine with the insert as is. I think I'll leave it alone for now. Let the R/R continue to peel off.

I also noticed in the bright sun, (vs the overcast sky when I took the pics) the cladding does have a slight sheen to it, not shiny, but definitely a little satin/sheen. I liked it!

Follow Up observation...I was on several dirt roads today and after I got home, I again noticed the cladding had a little less dust/dirt than before. There's still some there, but it's definitely "less". Why, I don't know....

I bought a little 5 oz glass jar with a rubber seal at the hobby store for my mixture. It has very little air space in the jar and hopefully won't dry up and will be useable for quite some time.

As I was out and about all day today driving around, every time I came walking up the truck, I was so happy with the color. Kinda embarassing how such a stupid little thing can make one so happy...
And you know what they say...."if momma ain't happy, aint nobody happy"!