Restoring exterior trim

CMS-GT4

Active member
I remember someone mentioning using mothers polish to restore the black trim. I tried to search but nothing comes up. Anyone know which products work on the trim?
 

athousandleaves

New member
I've been doing some reading on this stuff lately and from what I understand there's two main types of product to make black trim look good again.

Something like Mothers Back to Black is for covering up excessive wax or wear on trim and it will wash off fairly quickly if you don't put something over top.

Some people say that if you use Meguiar's Trim Detailer it should actually remove excess wax and will stick around for a bit longer than the Mothers but still will last longer with some spray detailer product over top.

This is just from what I've read online not from my experience with these products so if you do try em post your results!
 

athousandleaves

New member
Sal":6zbyeixx said:
I'd probably try the plastix stuff. Made my faux CF bits look alot better and shinier.

You have to be careful with those faux cf trims and what you use/how you polish them.

I asked a while back if that 3M headlight polish kit would be safe to use and other members posted up that it would be fine for the trim if done moderately but disastrous when used on the corner clearance lights!
 

toayoztan

Moderator
You don't use any polishing compound (such as the Meguiar's PlastX) on any of the tinted pieces of the lights (such as the 92-93 tail lights). It will eventually fade it away and rub it down (I know this from experience, mine have slightly faded vs OEM 92-93 vented corner tail pieces). It should be perfectly fine on the faux CF pieces though.

Here are two pictures of a set I was working on using PlastX. You should be able to tell which is before, which is after.

trimsanding015.jpg

trimsanding018.jpg


As for the exterior trim, i used to have the Turtle Wax ICE that you use to wax a car with and it was also used (not just safe, but intended) for black trim, as it made it richer. It was only temporary also.

I hear good stuff about Back to Black too, but never had seen or tried it myself.

Bryan
 

athousandleaves

New member
Amazing results on the cf bits Bryan, I think what CMS might be referring to however is the black trim that surrounds the windows, windshield and trunk glass.

I tried that Trim Shine stuff by Stoner a week ago on my car, looked really great but didn't stand up for very long, thankfully it was really cheap to buy($3)!
Under the hood however it has done a really decent job on things like the cooling panel and the cf trim bits too actually... I got to polishing everything up with it once I got started, hah!

We've just come into summer up here so my car gets coated with pollen about 5 minutes after I've finished doing anything to make the exterior look decent :roll:
 

toayoztan

Moderator
athousandleaves":1fav44rf said:
Amazing results on the cf bits Bryan, I think what CMS might be referring to however is the black trim that surrounds the windows, windshield and trunk glass.

I tried that Trim Shine stuff by Stoner a week ago on my car, looked really great but didn't stand up for very long, thankfully it was really cheap to buy($3)!
Under the hood however it has done a really decent job on things like the cooling panel and the cf trim bits too actually... I got to polishing everything up with it once I got started, hah!

We've just come into summer up here so my car gets coated with pollen about 5 minutes after I've finished doing anything to make the exterior look decent :roll:

Ah yeah, I know, I was just going off on a tangent about you mentioning not using stuff on the corner lights/CF trim (I know...pretty sidetracked from the main topic lol), and just saying it's okay to polish the CF trim (just stay away from the tinted tails in the rear).

Bryan
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
I should have been more clear. I mean everything. The cf trim, the center tail light section, the window trim and the black trim where the wipers go.

Here are results on the wiper piece with forever black.
http://www.team-integra.net/forum/blogs ... ieces.html

I want to polish the all the accent pieces, and restore the one piece of molding on the window I could not replace. Its all new, but the top section I think is unavailable from toyota. For my nice new paint, I need the trim to look as good.
 

athousandleaves

New member
Why do I feel like black shoe polish buffed in with a coat of dubbin on top would work really well? :lol:


~edit~

Turns out that kiwi shoe polish and leather dye works well and holds up for about a year.
Also found that some people use peanut oil and it brings back the shine.
Just clean all plastic with mineral spirits and then rubbing alcohol before applying.

Found something else called Black WOW but that has mixed reviews on how long it'll last as well.
 

CSAlltrac

New member
I have had awesome results doing anything plastic wet sanding with some 2500 paper then polishing with a mild rubbing compound. Makes things look brand new.
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
Here are the results with the forever black. I sanded it some to take off paint from the first paint job, then I used a buffing wheel to remove built up gunk, then I used the cleaning solution.

This pic shows before and after 1 coat. I did two coats. There are a couple of imperfect spots but for the most part it goes about perfect with the rest of my brand new trim.

img1342bn.jpg

img1344ad.jpg
 
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