The technique I stumbled across for restoring interior plastic parts worked so well for me that it got me thinkin'.... I wonder if a similar technique of removing the top dead layer of plastic will work with the side molding on our cars. Clearly the plastic used on the side molding is different but maybe it'll work?!?! Does anyone have a parts car lying around that they wouldn't mind experimenting on?

--Bob

 

What i do is use vasaline petroleum jelly, rub it in all around the car (be generous). let it soak for a few minutes, and then wipe it off with a rag.

It looks amazing, better than brand new (not that i ever saw it brand new...)

 

I resurrected the moldings on my car by lightly buffing them with a mixture of soap and warm water. They came out looking brand new again.

 

A mixture of soap and water eh? Hmmmm, me thinks your moldings must have been in pretty good shape to begin with. Mine are getting white in spots and very rough.

 

Mothers back to black works damn well. I have a few extra pieces laying around if you want one to play with.

 

Last night I tried to resurrect mine with 302 protectant. I couldn't find my wet and black tire shine. Helped a good bit, I'd still like them darker for sure.

 

Tire shine works well.

 

i'm thinking about beadblasting mine, but its the same idea take off the top layer of rubber. i have seen all new ones and they are smooth. hmmm

mike

 

Well, I just tried iotus' idea with the vaseline, and it works amazingly well, given the basically no-work-or-cost nature of the fix. Good work, there, iotus.

 

all that back-to-black stuff and tire shine is just silicon spray/impregnated sponges

Just buy no name silicon spray or jelly from a hardware place and save the money.

Coat with silicon spray liberally.
Leave to soak for 24 hours. Wipe excess. Repeat. When you next wipe the excess, it should be black underneath. If its really bad, then what you are proposing inittab sounds like a good plan to me.

 

Ok, getting them black isn't all that hard, use some armeral or other plastic/rubber stuff.

But the problem with these things are they tend to cause some dust to stick and even in dry clean envirments, my car gets dusty looking tires and side mouldings when I do this. And after it dries out, the side mouldings look faded again to some extent.

If you never used armeral or some other simialer product on the mouldings, it will look overall better for a while though. Just like a car that hasn't been waxed for ages.

 

That thread is exactly what I did a couple years ago; except I used a flathead screwdriver instead of steel wool. Believe me, the white just comes back, badder then ever and in a much shorter time. . . However I would recommend it for a good temporary fix.

 

I did the top of the hanging curtain, the part that holds the rear hatch light. It was faded white from the sun. Not the interior panels. Your results might last longer.

 

Mark Perez, my buddy Metallic_Rock enlightened me onto that technique, and boy does it work well!!!

 

I have used tire shine stuff on my moldings, but you gotta be real careful because that stuff looks like **** if you get it on the car. I found that if I clean the moldings and then wash the car they look the best, and there is no slimy **** on my car.

just my $0.02

 

ArmorAll & tire shone do not effectly work to restore the black trim... they will turn it balck for a few week or a month, but in the long term it will actually dry out teh strips more than just leavingthem alone..

Soap & water work well if it's in good shape, but if needs some hardcore restoration, the Back-to-black, or even better "forever black" works incredibly well.. It's more like a shoe polish...

the vasoline approach will work too, but I woudl imagine that would also dry out that ruber strips in the long run..

 

I'll bet that a good UV protectant might hold off the plastic decay. Does anyone know of such a thing?

 

I used the Meguires tire endurance gel. It is a gel so it is easy to apply and it looks great. I have only had it on a week, so I don't know how it is long term yet.

 

Hey, at least I'm getting some recognition...

Petroleum jelly works well on the plastic pieces on the interior, as well, to include the dash. it soaks in and makes it soft and supple (no dirty jokes, please) Many of those other products, especially Armor All, actually use alchohol which drys out rubber and plastic. Why do all that work of sand blasting your rubber when you can just do something as simple as put petroleum jelly on it? Oh, and BTW, the longer you let it sit on there, the more it will soak in, so if it's really dry, let it soak for an hour or so.

 

If the plastic is crumbling, you can wipe some super glue on it with a rag to reintegrate the plastic. Now I've given away one of my secret techniques. Also check out this thread.
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...ht=restoration

 

A couple months ago I tried sanding my badly-faded side mouldings, but they just came out gray. So I painted them with dupli-color bumper paint. Worked great. They still look brand new.

 

Try using black shoe polish. Vaseline will work well to, but in the long run, it will dryout the polymers in the moulding and it will start to crumble. It's never a good idea to use alcohol or petrolium based products on plastic or rubber.

 

Try using black shoe polish. Vaseline will work well also, but in the long run, it will dryout the polymers within the moulding and it will start to crumble. It's never a good idea to use alcohol or petrolium based products on plastic or rubber.

 

ok, rubber is a petroleum based product... that's why petroleum jelly works so well on it. and it DOES NOT dry it out.

 

Plastic is also a petroleum based product as far as that goes. But when you reintroduce it against the "final product" it will cause it to separate and break down. Water is used in the process of making cardboard. However, using it on the "finished product" would cause it to break down- though be it for different reasons in that case. Just food for thought.

I'm curious as to how long you have been using petroleum jelly on the moulding and for how often.