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Wiper Cowl Restoration?
anyone have any experience with restoring the wiper cowl? Mines all faded and I went to a local paint shop and they suggested a “trim paint” that they have, and they said it’s what a lot of auto shops use. My concern is painting vs dying a plastic part. They suggested no clear coat. And optional adhesive promoter. Anyone have experience with this or what worked best for you? |
You can try using a product like Mothers Back to Black which should get rid of some of the grey-white fading, but it won't last forever. I've used SEM Trim Black paint in the past on trim and liked the appearance of it and thought it looked close to factory.
No harm in trying the back to black first to see if you like it and would want to keep up with it. |
That’s actually exactly what they gave me the SEM trim black, how did u prep and has it held up well? The guy told me just use dawn and a scotch pad, which sounds pretty good to me, but is there any other better way? And did u use adhesion promoter? |
used the paint on my old BMW I no longer have, so I can only say it held up for about a year that I kept it. Just scuffed and sprayed without any primer or adhesion promoter. With the details of the wiper cowl piece an adhesion promoter might be nice to cover up any nooks and crannies you couldn't get scuffed well. Just try not to add a ton of thickness to it either.
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Back to black works good but it will fade in a couple weeks. If you don't mind reapplying it, that's one easy option. Just don't get it on the paint.
Trim Black works great and will last for years. I also have a friend in the body-shop business who showed me the stuff. My old Protege5 was beginning to rust on the doors where they are painted black. We sanded, cleaned em up, put on the trim black and the car looked good! I almost didn't want to trade it in once I saw how nice the doors turned out. I might even have some pics. Damn I miss that little shaggin' wagon. But yeah, the SEM Trim Black is killer stuff and I'll bet it'll work great on the cowl piece. |
That’s good to hear! Thank you! I’ll post before and after pics once I get it done, any tips on how to carefully take off the cowl? Looks like they have those plastic fasteners but I’m afraid to pull too hard on it.https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0e06097a2.jpeg |
Nvm jus read where u take them off and there are screws, also read they break very easy, anyone know where I can get replacements? I couldn’t find them on tasca |
I know there is a specific tool to remove those. They look the interior push pins used it Toyotas. |
Just be careful when removing. I didn’t have any problems breaking any. Finding a couple is another story. |
So I finished bringing new life to my wind cowl and I feel it turned out pretty good! without a specific tool, I was able to remove the screw caps with a dull box cutter razor blade (the ones that are rounded on the end)To prep I used a green scotch brite pad to clean and scuff it, paired with dawn dish soap and warm water. I scrubbed it 2 separate times to make sure it was clean. To paint it I used dupli-color adhesion promoter and SEM trim black. I was told the adhesion promoter is optional but due to the multiple grates on the cowl I wasn’t confident that I could get in each little square thourougly so I used adhesion promoter just in case. And I also found out that Mazda still produces the screw caps so I purchased new ones for pretty cheap (tasca/eBay) the two oval caps on the ends are part# E016-50-796 and the six center circle caps are B455-50-796A. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c71d76883.jpeghttps://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c73a7aa92.jpeg |
Nevermind on the screw cap part#, looks exactly the same but it’s just a tad smaller and doesn’t fit, so if anyone knows! |
^ Looks good. Fast-dry enamel reducer works well as a cleaner too. Probably a little more effective/safer at removing any silicones from the plastic IMO. As an option, go to any U-Pull-it salvage yard and look for any other 90’s era Mazda or Ford Probes. The cowl screw covers are the same. I’ve got a half dozen or so spares, Prop-rods retainers and many interior plastic panel retainers are too. If you have a screw cover with a tab broken and don’t have spares, a daub of silicone caulk holds it in place until it has to come off again for some reason. |
That’s some good advice ^^ much appreciated |
cowl looks great, glad to see it came out well
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