Body panels - armor all?

[mrtew]

I still say the plastic doesn't need anything at all! My VX is three and a half years old in Detroit sun, salt, rain, ice, etc etc etc with no garage and the panels still look perfect with nothing on them whatsoever. I think those chemicals just ruin them if anything. I don't use lotion either!

[UNEVEN THOUGHTS]

The first thing on my list for spring projects is to Lightly sand the cladding and use black spray-on bedlining (LineX), I'll do the hood/trunk insert too just to keep it uniform.

[Tyler]

Give "Stoners Trim Shine" a try. I dont see anyone here mentioning it. Saw an ad in "Motor Trend" for it and gave it a shot. Sprays on like a can of spray paint and works really well, under $4 a can. Just sprays on with no wiping. Theres so much cladding you go thru it pretty quick though. Held up nicely to the IL winter/salt so far.

[WyrreJ]

Remember guys, this "Forever Black" is not a polish, wax or other dressing to make the caldding look glossy. It is a dye, it soaks into the cladding and embeds the dark black color in the plastic directly. So it isn't sticky, does not attract bugs or dust nor can it be wiped off after it has set.

You can apply one of those other dressing treatments afterwards to make it glossy, but in my case it made the cladding so much blacker that I did not feel the need to also make it glossy. My VX is painted black and from a distance of say, 15 feet or more, it is almost impossible to tell that the cladding is plastic and not just more painted metal body panels.

I am pretty sure that there is no other product like it out on the market.

[WyrreJ]

Ok, I ordered the Forever Black dye (it was the same product I mentioned earlier when I could not remember its name). But I'm one lazy *** and its cold now so it might be a few weeks before I get both a chance and motivated to try it. Will post when I do though.

[VCrossfan]

I just ran arcross this. Haven't used it but might be worth a try...

http://www.properautocare.com/blacagextrim.html

Also when your at the site..click on "Exterior Car Care" on the left. They seem to cover alot of area's

[WyrreJ]

I saw that 'Black Again" and did a check on it before deciding to skip it. From what I read, it sounds like it is just another dressing like Mother's Back to Black, et al. The "Forever Black" is suppossed to be an actual dye all the reviews I could find in google were raving about it too. One guy said he loved it so much that when he ran out of trim to dye on his car he dyed his apple macintosh black.

[VCrossfan]

Well I quess if your Cladding or trim is real bad and discolored the die would be the way to go. I protect mine every other wash and it looks rich and black.

[Child's Play]

I also ordered some of these products. I ordered one can of Back To Black and one Kit of Forever Black. I figured I would try the Back To Black first, see how it works and how long it lasts. If that fails to do the trick, I'll try the Forever Black. The total price was only $34.00 with 3 day shipping, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I wonder if these products will work on the spoiler and roof rack? Any ideas or comments?

[WyrreJ]

Thanksgiving day was actually warm enough that I decided to try out the forever black dye that I ordered earlier in this thread. The results so far are mixed, but promising.

The regular trim dye is too watery and the applicator sponge is WAY too small.

I ended up draining a bottle of the dye into a paper cup and using a tire-cleaner sponge to apply it to the cladding. Even then, the main problem was that it was very streaky. For some reason, it likes to run from the top of each panel and leave vertical streaks - plus streaks from the sponge strokes. I gave it about two coats and it looked somewhat OK.

Later that night it rained a small bit and the next day the cladding was only slightly more streaky than it had looked before the rain. The extra streakiness might even have just been the result of fully drying out.

So, I took the tire-gel version of the dye and applied THAT to the clading. Using the gel works a whole lot better. It was still a little streaky, but two applications pretty much took care of it. Of course this is over two coats of the regular stuff, so it maybe it would take 3 coats of gel if you were starting fresh. But, the gel is really easy to put on, I can do one entire VX in about 10 minutes with the gel where using the regular dye took about an hour to do one coat, even with a big, tire-gel-sized sponge.

The both the gel and the regular dye dry to the touch in 20-40 minutes. Even after dry, the clading still has that "glistening wet" look.

I will report back in a few weeks to let everyone know how it holds up to new england winter weather. Given how well the regular dye handled the rain, I've got high hopes for this final gel-based coat.

But, if anyone else is contemplating giving it a try, my advice so far is to skip the regular dye and go with the tire gel 100%. Also, be sure to wear a latex glove, the dye will wash off your skin easily enough but it really sticks to your fingernails, particularly beneath your fingernails. My right hand still looks a little goth as I type this.

[Whaleboy]

Wyrrej, thanks for taking the risk on this and posting the results.. very helpful indeed!!

[WyrreJ]

Reporting in after over two months with Forever Black. Survey says...

This is THE STUFF.

I applied one more set of touch-ups, not an entire coat, with the tire-gel after the first week of December and since then absolutely no cladding maintenance at all. It has been through the (touchless) wash about 10 times since then, plus plenty of rain, snow and salt. But, after a wash, it looks GREAT, almost brand new.

The only downside is the slight streakiness, and it is more like "swirlies" not big streaks. The streaks did not get any worse with wear, and probably actually evened out a little bit. But, even with a days old application, the streaks are not visible from more than 6-7 feet away, and if you weren't anal you probably would not notice them unless you were looking for them.

So, to recap -- skip the regular version and go with the tire gel version. It works pretty well on the tires, but it makes a profound difference on the cladding. Do not apply either version to side-mirrors, spoiler or hood insert because on those pieces it is super-ugly streaky (my hood insert is definitely darker, but I probably put 10 coats on it and it still looks really weird and not in a good weird way). Door handles are good with the gel and you can use the thin regular stuff for trim and the arms for the windshield wipers. Avoid putting it on the gas cap, although you can wipe it off fairly easily if you catch it in time.

Plan on 2-3 coats, with the included sponge in the tire version, you can probably due an entire coat in 10-15 minutes and it will have dried enough for you to immediately start around on the second coat. You might want to do a third coat the next day depending on how it looks after completely drying. One bottle of tire gel should be good for about 6 coats.

[Cyrk]

Ok I just ordered a bottle of it... Thanks.

[Johnny Bravo]

I've tried nearly every type of product like that on the market and without a doubt the best is Zaino Z-16:

http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/...ory_Code=Zaino

It's actually listed as a tire gloss, but it works wonders on plastic such as the cladding on VX's. I wish I had before/after pics from when I used it on my ex-RX7, but I didn't have a digital cam at that time. It's a bit expensive, but well worth it and it lasts forever. It doesn't give the super glossy sheen Armor All does, but makes it look brand new and fresh. Obviously it works well on tires too Just my $.02

[Anita]

I've tried nearly every type of product like that on the market and without a doubt the best is Zaino Z-16:

http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/...ory_Code=Zaino

It's actually listed as a tire gloss, but it works wonders on plastic such as the cladding on VX's. I wish I had before/after pics from when I used it on my ex-RX7, but I didn't have a digital cam at that time. It's a bit expensive, but well worth it and it lasts forever. It doesn't give the super glossy sheen Armor All does, but makes it look brand new and fresh. Obviously it works well on tires too Just my $.02

I went ahead and bought a bottle because of your recommendation and the reputation of Zaino products. Having used Turtlewax 2000 and Mothers' I still get steaking after a rain and always got frustrated with putting the products on- it always took several passes to get it on evenly.

So today I cleaned up the cladding and put on Zaino. My first impression -- how EASY it went on - very even and quick, had a nice smell (although its not grape ), didnt take a lot of it to do the whole job, and it wipes off easily if it gets on the paint. I also like the fact that it has UV protection, isnt super glossy, and doesnt attract dirt.

It looks like its gonna rain soon.. we shall see how it does with streaking.