I was getting some cleaning products to make my car look top notch when I remembered how gastly my wiper shroud looked and how I've wanted to pull it off the car and plasti dip it or paint it since washing it simply never worked.

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So I got this meguires plastic restorer and decided to give it a whirl since their headlight restoration works so well.

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Here's a pic half way through applying the coat on the shroud:

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I applied one coat and it seems promising.

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I am very pleased with how it looks after the first coat so I'm leaving it to sit overnight and I'll post back in the morning after it's had time to set. I'm a bit skeptical about this stuff but I definitely trust Meguires products so we will see.

 

Looks like a great improvement. Hopefully it will last for a bit. I use Adams Polishes VRT with great results as well.

 

Thanks for the post. I haven't tried that specific Meguiars product. Your post caught my eye because my wiper shroud is the one item that I have struggled with since owning the car. I have tried a number of products including CD-2 which works amazing on the rest of the engine. Usually my application of whatever product has the shroud looking like new as per your image. But after a very short time of driving, and having the engine heat it up, it goes back to looking like yours did. Nothing I use seems to combat the problem so I'm eager to learn what others are using. Let us know how it looks a week later, a month later.

 

i had the same problem, i think most do, couldnt get it to stay looking good so i pulled the panel off and got some paint mixed in a rattle can and sprayed it, dont look to shabby and its easy to keep looking nice...chris

 

I'll buy that for a dollar!!! Great JOB!

 

^ this is what I'm concerned about, you can clearly see on the bottle that it says "Lasts for weeks!". I just checked it this morning and other than missing a few small spots it looks great, but I'll definitely report back when it begins to fade.


That looks great, xfchris! As I stated in my first post, I considered painting it as an option but it seems to be a pain to pull it off the car so I figured I'd try this first.

 

Now what I'm really excited about is this spray I have being delivered today that is a touch less brake dust remover . I can't wait to replace my fronts with rotex gold, just found out about them.

 

I'm interested in how you got your accordion intake hoses to fit! I have the same MB intake (minus the front piece) on my car, but I had a difficult time getting the driver's side hose between the radiator and the frame of the car...

 

it was some time ago but if i remember rightly i bought some heater ducting hose from a campervan shop which was a tight fit and basically screwed into the silicon hose with the help of some lubricant , left the factory pieces in place in the rad support panel and cut the hose a bit longer so i could compress it and let it spring back to fit nice and snug over the factory rad panel pieces...hope that makes sense.........chris

 

how about that Wipe New stuff that I see on the infomercials? Supposed to last for quite a while

 

I checked out the reviews of wipe new and immediately grabbed meguires instead. Check out the reviews on amazon.com and see for yourself. It seems that not only does it suck, but it doesn't last long and they charge you a rediculous amount for barely any product.

 

good to know, I'm usually skeptical about infomercials (flexseal is just undercoating spray!) but I've tried a few "back to black" applications for those trim pieces and nothing has impressed me yet.

 

Well I'm hoping that since the wiper shroud is somewhat concealed under the hood that it might last longer. It still looks great the second day but it hasn't rained either. I'm gonna give the car a good wash and wax today but the real test will be after a month. If it lasts over 1 1/2 months I'll be impressed.

 

So it's 2 weeks later and I wanted to let you guys know that it's only faded a very small amount since I applied it. If I had to guess I'd say it faded to about 85% of what it was when I applied it. I don't consider that bad since the piece was in bad shape and I only applied 1 coat.

 

Cool...I will have to get some!

 

At the risk of talking about the company I work for a bit too much, allow me to shine some light on Meguiar's Ultimate Black:

First off, it's a water based dressing not unlike so many others on the market, but it does contain some specific polymers that allow it to bond to plastic and vinyl surfaces in much the same way polymer sealants bond to your paint. Where most other water based products will wash away when they get wet (washing, heavy rain) this one tends to stay put much better due to this polymer load. The trick is to apply it to a surface that does not have a heavy load of another product already on it since that can compromise UB's ability to bond. This is especially true if you've used a synthetic polymer product on the surface previously. For example, Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax, which is a spray wax that won't stain plastic trim; if you've used UQW on your trim and then try to apply UB over it, the UB won't bond and it will wash away pretty quickly. In live2drive's case here, where he applied it to a dull, dirty and definitely in need of TLC piece, he's likely going to get the most out of this product.

Application is important, too: don't over use it, and really work it into the surface. A little bit goes a long way, and if you have any excess product to wipe off after applying it, you've used way too much. It should dry completely dry to the touch in a matter of minutes.

That said, there's plenty of great stuff on the market for this application - Black Wow, Solution Finish, and some of the new silica glass coatings from CarPro and others (although those are really pricey). My recommendation is always to find something you like and use it regularly. It's always much easier to do maintenance work than restoration work, so staying on top of things takes just a few minutes and keeps things looking great all the time.

 

I also read a lot of negative reviews about Wipe New but I still went ahead an bought it.
Wipe New® Car Surface Restorer
Well let me say yes it's a tiny bottle but it DOES WORK with long lasting results and you need so little that I didn't even use the whole tiny bottle when doing both my running boards on my Acura MDX.

I didn't use it on my Crossfire because I have had good luck with the CD-2 engine detailer lasting on the cowling and looking good for many months now.

 

I use a product made by Stoner called Trim Shine - it takes a couple of coats before it really takes hold, but once it does its good for a good 3 weeks even with rain.

 

It's been nearly a month and it's still looking decent. I'll probably apply another coat next time I detail the car, it's at about 60% if I had to guess. I'm happy with it.

 

I put another coat on while cleaning my car the other day. The difference wasn't very drastic even after a month so overall I think the product is worth while. I even used it on my brothers 92 Volvo mirror housings, which were almost white from being in the sun 20+ years, it turned them a nice satin black in no time and made the car look a lot better.