Looks nice, but can you explain to me how a cleaner is going to restore years of fading from UV exposure? Thats the part I don't get. It does look like a solid product though.
The cleaner/brush combo loosens and lifts deeply embedded dirt, old wax and the layer of oxidation off the plastic/rubber surface, leaving a clean surface behind. It's the same principle of removing oxidation from a painted surface.
Your trim looked quite oxidized before and to be honest, it doesn't look much less oxidized after the product had been applied.
A few other questions...
Does the product have a slick silicone like feel when you get it on your fingers?
Does it leave a slimy feel like a strong APC might leave if you get it on your fingers?
...just trying to incite some deeper thought or discussion on the product and it's application methods.
ive got to try this. this looks and sound almost too go to be true. how is it darkening the trim so much ??
Ok, so the results people have gotten with this product seemed so good, that despite the warnings in this thread that the product is just a cleaner, and not a restorer/dressing, I had to buy some. The product itself is a thick, clear gel, and when I first saw it I said--oh crap, this is just silicone oil...so I rubbed some between my fingers, and it felt all slippery, and I said, yup, silicone oil...then I washed it off and it came off my fingers with no residue...and I concluded it's just a gel cleaner.
I just couldn't wrap my head around how this product could restore-by-cleaning UV-damaged trim. The problem was none of the cars in my sphere of influence had candidate trim--they are all coated or dressed, and well...NOT JACKED UP ENOUGH. A friend that I was helping with something else had a really bad cowling, but it hardly stuck out from under the hood and you really couldn't see it or get to it.
So the product sat on my shelf until I couldn't take it anymore, and I found a random car in a parking lot to try it on (that might not be exactly how it happened, but you want to hear the results, right?).
As found:
After cleaning with some diluted Simple Green and wiping off (hey, it's what was available to me):
So I taped off a section and scrubbed it up with the product and wiped off with a towel as the instructions recommended (bear in mind this is indirect lighting so it looked better in person)...holy restoration Batman!
Then my brain started working...if this is a gel cleaner...don't I have to wash it off instead of wiping it dry? What's going to happen when the car gets washed or it rains? So I found a gallon of water and poured it over the spot, and rubbed it with my fingers a couple of times....
Then I dried off my test spot....(the small drops are rain)
So basically it was back to the post-initial wipedown. Could I have used more product and scrubbed harder and longer? I guess. At any rate, this isn't a restorer (which of course is just what Forrest said in this thread), I just got all excited with the results people were sharing.
This does however seem to be a good product for cleaning your trim before dressing or coating (duh, that's what it says in the name of the product, heavy-duty cleaner), since it's a gel, it clings, and it comes with a nice brush (so you don't have to steal your wife's toothbrush, boy did my back hurt after sleeping on the couch for a week, I told her it was time for a new one anyway). I would just rinse it off before you apply your "LSP".
