How many of you have black plastic trim and bumpers on your car?
In my own case, I have a 2002 Saturn Vue that sits out in the sun year round. As such, plastic and rubber tend to weather and age rather quickly and my bumpers are looking splotchy grey, clearly showing the flow of the plastic as it was injected into the mold. Not pretty. Since I have another car that I use as my primary, I decided to experiment on how to restore the black and see how long it lasts. Yes, I know that there are a number of commercial products out there for the purpose by Mothers, Armor All and just about everyone else that makes chemical products for cars. But I’ve also heard about other techniques that might be cheaper, easier and more durable.
One–or rather, two–of these techniques involve shoe polish. I decided to experiment here, first, using the liquid polish with a built-in applicator. Really cheap and I don’t expect it to work all that well, or for any real length of time. Still, I applied some of the polish to my rear bumper this morning and now just need to let it dry. It looks like it’s going to be streaky, like a kid trying to use a fat crayon on waxed paper. I’ll probably try a second coat once the first one dries completely–assuming the weather will let me. Rain in the forecast, but nothing nearby on radar. I’m considering trying to use a paste-type polish on the front bumper just for comparisons’ sake, but I might do it on the back depending on how quickly the liquid fades.
Another technique I read about used off-the-shelf generic peanut butter. Obviously the peanut butter itself has to be rubbed off again, but the oil, according to the posting I read, did a beautiful job of restoring the black and lasted over a week of sun and rain… In fact, the last post I read on that particular thread had the peanut butter oil lasting a year or more. Worth a try. Could probably get by with just straight peanut oil, but the writer of that post implied that using the peanut butter itself not only enticed his kids to help him, but rubbed the oil in even deeper by having to wipe the peanut butter itself off. Messy, but maybe worth it. Easy? Not so much.
How about you? Do any of you have any ideas on how to blacken a faded bumper?
