Getting faded trim pieces black again

I don't know if i'd go for a product not made specifically for the plastic trim
of the car. You should go with a product that's made for the task at hand.
The rubber in the tire is different from the plastic trim around windows or
plastics used in the interior. There are plenty of product that are made for
restoring a black finish - that's their only job.

http://www.properautocare.com/blacagextrim.html
then
http://www.properautocare.com/fb-1k.html

In most cases new cars won't have to be permanently dyed so you can
leave out step two and just stick with the first one for the life of the car
(if you keep up with it). But if you just bought a '92 3s and you want to
restore it to it's original shine start with step one to remove any buildup
then permanently fix with the second product - and keep pretty using the
first.

Tire Gel for plastic trim - sure, people use it but it's not always going to
be the best product. You can use Lemon oil to make your car really shine
but do you really want to do that?

EDIT:
Would be interesting to note that the Meguiars product mentioned seems to
have been separated into two different products. One for trim and the other
for Tires. You could substitute the first product I meantioned(Black Again) for
the Gold Class Trim Detailer.. but when it comes to truly restoring old nasty
plastics it's going to take new trim pieces or a permanent dye.

Originally posted by L337E46@Jun 3 2003, 06:54 AM
Sure, the bottle may say it works for tires too but this stuff works fine for rubber and plastic trim. I think these guys owning 40+ year old Porsches know what they're doing when it comes to detailing.

Click to expand...

But that doesn't mean it's the right way, or the best way. I'm sure it'll
do a fine job, like I mentioned it appeared that meguiars had split the
two into respective categories on their website. As a maintenance
product it looks like it does a fine job. I question it's ability for proper
restoration. As my edit states, the product mentions for trim care will
do just fine if you keep up the procedure - but on older cars it's only
going to work so well and a dye(like the second product I mention)
or new trim pieces will make it new.

I've seen both products used on everything from a '90sZ to a '70sJag
with great results. I've seen vinyl/rubber cleaners that make the the
trim look nice and clean for a little. Heck, a friend of mine used to take
a black marker to his nasty trim when he needed it to look good after
a wash but those all fade. Forever Black will be the most stringent way
of restoring and maintaining your car up until buying new trim.

If you're just looking for black trim - sharpie works great. :w00t

Originally posted by nosuchsol+Jun 3 2003, 07:07 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (nosuchsol @ Jun 3 2003, 07:07 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--L337E46@Jun 3 2003, 06:54 AM
Sure, the bottle may say it works for tires too but this stuff works fine for rubber and plastic trim. I think these guys owning 40+ year old Porsches know what they're doing when it comes to detailing.

Click to expand...

But that doesn't mean it's the right way, or the best way. I'm sure it'll
do a fine job, like I mentioned it appeared that meguiars had split the
two into respective categories on their website. As a maintenance
product it looks like it does a fine job. I question it's ability for proper
restoration. As my edit states, the product mentions for trim care will
do just fine if you keep up the procedure - but on older cars it's only
going to work so well and a dye(like the second product I mention)
or new trim pieces will make it new.

I've seen both products used on everything from a '90sZ to a '70sJag
with great results. I've seen vinyl/rubber cleaners that make the the
trim look nice and clean for a little. Heck, a friend of mine used to take
a black marker to his nasty trim when he needed it to look good after
a wash but those all fade. Forever Black will be the most stringent way
of restoring and maintaining your car up until buying new trim.

If you're just looking for black trim - sharpie works great. :w00t [/b][/quote]
Most of the guys don't even bother if their plastic pieces arethat faded, they just throw a replacement on and throw the Meguiars on to shine it up for a show. 4 of the PCA car show winners were using Meguiars on their cars, I noticed that some of the plastic and rubber replacements seemed to be brand new either because they're detail freaks or it sits in the garage all of the time. All of the cars I saw were stored in climate controlled garages. Speaking of restoring trim pieces, I talked to a few guys there and most of them just bought new trim pieces as compared to restoring their faded ones.