I was wondering what everyone uses on the black plastic on the exterior of the cars to keep them black. I recently bought a 2004 graphite gray coupe and the plastic on the exterior looks a little faded.

 

I've had great results with Turtle Wax Ice Polish/Wax.

I just won't use it on the paint.

 

I use 303 protectorant as long as the plastic or rubber has not faded.

 

I work for Meguiar's so I find my own results here have surprised me.

Specifically with regard to the faded tape stripe on the tonneau cover for the convertible top - mine is faded to a two tone finish thanks to my car sitting around a dealer lot for 2 years before I bought it. I tried all kinds of things to bring back the deep black look on the faded exterior portion: 303, Black WOW, Mother's Back to Black, Meguiar's Hyper Dressing and Meguiar's All Season Dressing, plus a few other things I either had or was given to try out. Every single one of them either did nothing to really improve the look or the improvement lasted only days and then the product seemed to just absorb into the tape. Some of these products cost upward of $27.95 for a 6oz bottle!! Then I tried our least expensive product - Gold Class Trim Detailer at $3.29 for a 10oz bottle. I was almost upset because it took me so long to try this particular product and it just flat out worked. It did what nothing else did - it made the tape strip look black again. Not a shiny, greasy looking black. Just black. Turns out this stuff is awesome on all sorts of rubber and plastic trim. I'd gotten so hung up on our own high end stuff because I've been concentrating on the paint, that I overlooked one of the cheapest products we make.

 

Good tip Mike. I have the same problem with mine. I'll give that a try.

Can you suggest a big box retailer autoparts store that will have that? Autozone?

 

Ditto here Mike. Thanks.

 

Great advice Mike I've tried all kinds of products with little improvement on the black strip around the tonneau cover. Thanks

 

This stuff works great,


http://autogeek.net/black-wow-trim-restorer.html

 

Target, Wal-Mart, Pep Boys, Kragen, AutoZone, Advanced, Napa and more should carry it but it really all depends on the store itself. It all comes down to shelf space and what moves in what geographic area. We can't force a store, or even a chain, to stock specific products nor do we have a way to search for who stocks what. Sorry. And I know it's sort of a pain to order a $3.29 item and then pay shipping for it unless it's part of a larger order.

All I can suggest is that you check your local retailers, or ask if they can order it for you. The part number is G-10810 Gold Class Trim Detailer in case you find a retailer willing to special order it for you.

 

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the info on the cleaner. What do you do to clean the tape without getting any of the product on the paint?

Thanks

 

Black Wow was one of the products I tried on my tape strip, with unsatisfactory results. I had great promise for this product because it was developed by a good buddy of mine, Richard Lin of Show Car Detailing in Placentia, CA (well, his father, a chemist, actually developed it for him). It just didn't give me what I was looking for even though I've used it with enormous success on the black trim of a Nissan Frontier pickup, MINI Coopers, etc. Great stuff, just not in this application. Well, not for me anyway.

 

I lay some blue painters tape along the edge of the paint bordering the strip and then use a yellow foam applicator pad to apply the product. Use the good 3M blue painters tape and you'll be fine. It's common among pro detailers to mask off all the emblems and plastic trim before correcting paint with a rotary buffer so as not to damage those surfaces. When treating the tape strip I simply reverse the process and tape off the paint instead.

 

Thanks Mike!
I think I have about $50.00 invested in stuff to fix this problem - but to no avail. Will try it

 

Sounds like a great product.
Thanks for the inside track, Mike.

 

Any updates? I have been rtold to use the magic eraser and it is supposed to work well, but I have tried, and I am alsoo not satisfied. It helps make it look better, but it doesn't bring it back to the black color it is supposed to be.

 

Mike:

Does the Gold Class Trim Detailer also restore the black plastic at the base of the windshield around the wipers? I have the same issue with the black strip around the convertible cover because the car sat outside 2 years prior to sale. Did the strip on yours wrinkle at the ends just at the driver and passenger side? I've heard this may be a common problem, but I really don't want the dealership messing with the car to replace it. Thanks for the info.

Matthew

 

Yes, it works well on the cowling at the base of the windshield - mine also sat for two years and the cowl was more gray than black when I took delivery. It's black now. My tonneau tape isn't wrinkled at the edges though. If yours is then no dressing is going to take out any wrinkles - that's physical damage.

 

Ditto on the Meguires Gold Class stuff. I bought it on their website with all my other detailing stuff. Luckily mine was not in too bad a shape to begin with despite being at the dealer for over a year. They seemed to have kept it inside but it did have 6000 miles on it and had never been registered. I use the 303 on my Jeeps fender flares but it does leave a pretty good residue.

 

i had very good results with this product from groits garage

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...rrivals&page=1

I let it dry and went over it again and it covered the weathering very well

 

Someone else on the forum told me to use Turtle Wax Ice Polish. I bought this product a year ago to use on the paint and hated it so I put it on my shelf. Pulled it back out and applied it to the tape strip and it worked wonderful! Good thing I didn't throw it away.