Restoring black trim...

black boot polish, the liquid type not the stuff in the tin, buy it with a sponge applicator just put it on, no excess to wipe off and it lasts for months, do it a few times and you'll build up a good coat of protection, costs less than a quid from asda, used to use it when we did car valeting and always had people asking what we had used 'cause the result is so good, my mk3 was in a sorry state when i saved it from being broken for spares it had been sat for months and not properly cleaned for years and the black trim would've been thrown but now look at it,



works a treat on tyres too.

 

I haven't really got time to put several coats over a few times, I want to do once and forget...

 

See my thread on painting trim - it is such easy stuff to use,and spraying black onto black (textured too),you can't go wrong.I'm hoping to not touch it again for at least 12 months.

I tried boot polish - it lasted 1 week.(and yes i scrubbed the bumpers first with white spirit and used the kiwi stuff)

heat gun - done bugger all except melt a wheelarch.

Do it right - you won't regret it!

 

Don't know if this been mentioned before but it is very very good. I applied some of this stuff to a small area on one of my MK2's, to try before I did a load. That car has since been left outside, untouched for 3 years, the rest of the bumper rain washed grey. Black bit looks as good as new.

http://www.topoftheline.com/bumtrimrec.html

 

link?

 

Look Down........

Put on today.

 

there's no pics...

 

how do you prep the trim prior to either using linseed oil or shoe polish?

white spirits?

 

bump

and what do you apply the linseed oil with? Just a cloth? Or should I use thinners also?

 

?

 

has anyone tried rapeseed oil for restoring bumpers?

 

I can vouch for linseed oil, but be careful how you apply it and what you apply it with.
I used a cloth first that left a load of little fibres all over the bumpers that were stuck in with the coat, couldn't get them out, looked rubbish! I eventually elected to ruin a microfibre cloth to do this everytime, seems to work.
Another word of warning- don't do what I did, and get so excited with the results that you go back a week later (when they're still perfectly black) and apply an extra-thick coat that you think will last forever. It won't. Too much and it'll start picking up dirt and dead flies, and sometimes dry out and go flaky. And if you get any on the paintwork it'll dry and leave a crusty residue (comes off with polish though). Trial and error is the key. see how you go with one thin coat all over. It's also mega-waterproof, you'll see the rain beading off it. Personally, if your trim is an OK shade as it is, (like mine was) linseed oil is all you need to restore the sheen and black. If the black trim is faded at all, you might want to use a dye first, carplan black trim wax or similar, or black liquid boot polish (which is probably the same stuff TBH) then once your trim is a decent black shade, go over with linseed oil which will waterproof the finish and make it last ages. You'll probably only need to linseed oil them every now and again after that. You can tell when the trim needs re-linseeding too, as it goes a wee bit streaky, (better than the trim fading again and looking dull though). Just wash the trim and reapply a thin coat of linseed, good as new!

 

Oh and personally I just used linseed oil out the bottle, but on reflection I can see why you'd use thinners, it is quite gloopy and difficult to work with

 

well I got fed up with treating plastics on my cabrio then it raining and running down the car, so on the weekend I started spraying the black trim matt back, looks good, not sure how it would look on a car with lots of black trim though as its not as shiny.

 

I bought some boiled linseed oil from my local hardware shop a couple of months back and I have to say, it's brilliant! I was an advocate of the kiwi shoe dye, but this stuff is 10x quicker to apply and looks great, if not quite as long lasting: outweighed by the fact a 3 bottle will last yonks! All my plastics are brand new, so I'm not sure how effective it'd be on really grey trim, perhaps then the shoe dye would work better.

 

I'm gonna have to spray mine, NOTHING will make them black, i've tried heat guns, shoe polish, that permanent dye stuff & none of it will stay on my bumpers for two seconds

 

I'm going to say it again because it's great stuff. ^^^

 

Have you got a UK source for that stuff? We use Wurth black plastic dye at work for used and serviced/valeted motorbike plastics, but it's too streaky a finish for anything bigger like bumper trim etc and it's 20 trade per toothpaste size tube.

 

Aye.
http://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/forever-black-bumper-and-trim-cleaner-and-reconditioner.php?cPath=28&osCsid=6d31285c1928c5489cab137177085392

Comes with 'cleaner' stuff to remove previous coatings. Gotta have all previous removed for it to take properly.

 

Cheers, I'll give it a try! You've clearly tried it, how long do you find the finish lasts?