I Coated my Trim and Wow!

I washed then cleaned with APC. Most was lightly textured except the mirror.

I don't know if if I'd say it didn't work. I believe it was the wrong product to use on this bumper because of the color. If I pop the trunk and look at it next to the black protector that is on top of it and compare the two where the sun never hits it. It is dark gray.

You can literally paint a part with this product if you apply enough coats in the proper way. I found this out later.

I applied some to my 00 Forester today in a couple of different areas with fair to good results.

I tried on several pieces and have a bunch of 50/50 pictures, but don't want to thread jack unless it is encouraged in this thread.
 
I noticed streaking issues on smooth trim versus textured trim. You can post them here. You won't be thread jacking.
 
Cool, I like it when information on a product is all in one place.

I do believe it does look streaky on some plastics too. Wasn't to bad on the smooth mirror body. Although, I think polishing black plastic mirrors makes them look better. Worked really well on the mount part of the mirror that is a different plastic. Not as uniform as spray painting them, but pretty good.

You can basically paint this stuff on. I put on every coat very wet. Made sure I had good coverage, added another light line of product to the applicator, then then did a final pass to make sure it was even and smooth looking.

If the plastic is very faded and you are trying return to black, apply like above and do not over work the applicator on the surface that you have already applied product to. Do not try try to rub or scrub or work the product into the surface.

You are basically trying to add layers of paint at this point. The solvent in the product will dissolve the previously applied layers. So to remove as little as possible while applying another layer, quickly apply the product wet and smooth it out. Don't keep wiping. Just make sure you catch any runs, and if you start removing previous coats, stop. Wait 10-15mins, and try again.

I also discovered you can make it look ok on gray plastic by immediately wiping it with a dry side of the applicator. Basically removing most of the product and it may still not look perfect.

Here is my bumper retest. Different year car than my previous try, but the same results.

Gray rear bumper, black protector on top. Left, one coat plus what accidentally got on the other side of the tape line, tape line untreated, 3 coats on the black top piece, and one coat immediately dry wiped on the surrounding area.

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Right was done with just one wavy wipe to show the streaky look on gray plastic.

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This is what happens if you start or stop in an obvious place on gray or faded plastic.

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Three coats on the wiper cowl. Lightly textured and a little streaky.

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Mirrors 3 coats on the body, maybe 6 on the mount.

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Door handle. Looked really good.

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And my extremely faded mud guard. Did three coats and pulled the tape, then decided to do some more.

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Three coats

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Didn't keep count, but somewhere around ten coats

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Did a section of the roof rails and cross bars too, but did not take pictures yet.

Also, it's a good idea to tape off the surrounding area to prevent staining. A damp rag will work to remove staining if you just applied it, and alcohol will remove it once it has dried.
 
I wonder how well this protects the plastic underneath? IE would it be good to use on brand new plastic to prevent fading? It obviously covers sun damage well enough.

Normally I use Megs ultimate quik wax on my plastic and it has been doing a good job of preventing fading so far.
 
Works great on tonneau covers, smooth and textured plastic trim; a little goes a long way.
 
Messed around some more today. Scratched at the areas I coated and it seems to be reasonably tuff. I don't think I prepped the mud guard well enough though. It did chip off there in a couple of places by scratching with my nail.

So I pulled off the other front mud guard and scrubbed it with APC and a green pot scrubber. This defiantly got more of the oxidation off than the brush I used. The brush was also kind of soft. I might try the green scrub pad on some other areas first before I coat them.

Also, I think I need to try a fresh applicator. I think I have some dirt/dust in mine and is transferring it the surface. This product dries very quickly so I don't think it is getting to much on the surface from the air. I am going try try some cut up sponges to see how they work.

Here's the roof rail and cross bar. Looks great on the rail, ok on the end piece of the cross bar.

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Mud guard just off of the car.

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Scrubbed very well. Big difference from the other side I scrubbed with the soft brush.

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One coat

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Done after 5 coats

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Not sure if I like how it looks on the mud guard. Kinda looks gloss painted as opposed to dressed plastic. This does work really well on the rubber parts.

I am curious to see how long it lasts and what it looks like once it starts to fail. I also did the tire side of the mud guard the same so I'll see how it handles that abuse.
 
I tried to give 10-15 minutes to cure between coats. I am not sure if it matters much either. The product dries very quickly and seams to be dissolved by the carrier solvent no matter how long it is left to "cure".

Thanks for the link to the other thread Guz. I forgot about that one. Maybe I should have put my comments there instead.

Guz, in post #2 in this thread you said you got 4 months out of the trim coat. What did it look like when it started to go?

My wife is going away for a couple of days so I'll have some time to do some more tests. Going to try some of the tire version next to trim version to see if there is a difference in sheen. I was looking at the tops of the bottles last night and the leftover product on them. It seems like the trim product is glossier.
 
It starts to look like there is nothing on the trim with not looking black.
 
Cool, so no pealing or flaking.

Tried the tire version next to the trim version in a couple of spots. It does seem to be a different formula. I had a hard time trying to get it to look good. I thought the tire product might be better on soft rubber pieces, but it was not. It also looked bad on hard smooth plastic too.

For the trim coat product; I think it looks better on newer or less faded trim where less coats are needed. I'm still messing around with the application method for the types of plastic that it turn out streaky on. I got it to look less streaky by applying it kind of like some paint coatings. That is, wipe on wet, let sit for less than minute until it starts to dry, then wipe off the product that has not flashed with the back of the applicator or dry towel.
 
I bought this last year but was hesitant to use it. I applied it today to my Infiniti FX35, and it looks better than it ever has. My quick detail for winter turned into a whole day of fun. The weather was 60° here in PA, so I took advantage. I put on 3 coats all the way around. I also put the tire coating on my tires, again 3 coats. I put on a coat of Duragloss 601/105 for protection. I am super happy with the product, it looks unbelievably good.
 
It's good stuff. My tests spots still look good and still holding up. The hard smooth plastic mirror bodies don't look that great, but they never did with this product. The porous mirror bases look great. Going on 8 months now. I saw an older Jeep the other day that I did a trim restoration on over the summer and it still looked great.
 
:dblthumb2:

Looks good!!!

Taping off before hand is the best way to do it.
 
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