Faded plastic on bull bars

[nxski]

Not sure if this has been covered before (I think I saw a thread somewhere that mentioned this technique), but rather than using a chemical spray / cream to renew the black plastic of the bull bars and seeing as I work at a ski store, I decided to try the heat gun approach. This procedure has turned out better than expected. It looks brand new! The one thing to beware of is that if you touch the heat gun to the plastic you will leave an indent. I did this once but with the help of a plexi glass scraper I was able to flatten / fill in the indent with ease.
This is just meant to be thread that is easy to search for other in the future...
If you do have a link to the original thread where this is suggested feel free to post it.

[deli1733]

Theres actually a really good paint at lordco for this, i cant remember what its called but its a yellow spray can and it looks super. Using a heat gun will cause your plastic to become brittle and crack early because your taking the oils out of it.

[nxski]

I plan on 'rhino-linering' over it in the near future so I'm not too concerned about the cracking in the long term, that shouldn't be an issue. I also have oils at the ski store for rejuvenating dried and cracked plastics so for me it was a cheap alternative and easy to do after work (not that a spray or cream would be that expensive, just another option)

[FalcoColumbarius]

I use a product called "Auto Glym", which used to be hard to find but is now becoming more readily available at Canadian Tire. It oils the plastic and seals it. Other products like "Mothers Back To Black" do a great job oiling the plastic but leave a sticky residue that attracts dust. Dust sucks the oils out of the plastic. For instance: I detailed my wagon then went on a long road trip with my son, off into the toolies. All dirt roads out there. I noticed that the rear mirror, tail lights & step were fading much faster than say the shroud over the bambie bars. This is due in part to the dust off the road landing on my tailgate. So the sealing feature of the product is important.

I agree with Deli1733 that the heat gun will ultimately crack the plastic (or vinyl) as it attracts the oils from deeper in the plastic up to the surface, which then evaporates.

I don't think I would want to paint the plastic, myself ~ you would need a good plastic paint such as Krylon Fusion. For me... it would be like painting over a French polished mahogany with Tremclad. Rhino Liner? Maybe for the shroud or the rear step but what about the tail lights? Not something I would do.

Falco.

[nxski]

I will most likely oil it in the near future. I'm using rhino liner on the roof when I fix it in the spring and would like to cover the bull bar plastic as well as the mirrors and possibly the bull bars themselves. I will try to do a computer rendering first to see how it would come out because I don't want to ruin my chrome and not be appealing afterwards. The mirrors I have to do something about though as they are extremely rusted and I I like the tough look of the rhino liner over the look of paint (sorry Falco, I know I shouldn't say that to someone in your profession)

[FalcoColumbarius]

Oh no, mate... she's your wagon. I'm just representing the critical mass. Be sure to post a picture of the job when it's done. The design sounds intriguing.

Falco.

[DelicaMark]

I did the heat gun technique and it looked great for about 6months. About a year and a half later it is back to the faded grey.

I think some kind of conditioner that is being talked of here would be best. I can't see heat gunning every 6 months being a good idea.

-Mark

[nxski]

Good to know, I'll be doing some other type of fix within 6 months anyways though so that shouldn't be an issue. I'll be sure to post pictures when it's done as well.

[impalator]

In the spring, I will simply paint it with a cheap, dull-black spray-paint from Wal Mart or Canadian Tire. If it wears off, I'll spray it again etc. I did the heat-gun thing, takes forever, if you go too close or stay too long in one spot, the plastic starts to melt/bubble... I wrecked the plastic "rings" around the hole where the chrome bars come out of the plastic housing... and 3 months later, it all looked as faded and crappy as it did before...

My neighbor is a painter and works for the Washington Marine Group, painting and spraying heavy duty stuff in ships etc. - he said: just spray it carefully with regular cheap spray-can paint... - in fact that's exactly what he did on the plastic bumpers of his Mustang (and it's a very nice and clean looking car, if you like Mustangs) it'll be as good as anything. And really, can it be much worse than the grey-faded plastic? I would assume that the solvents in regular spray paint would "eat" into the plastic pretty good anyway and therefore stay on... I have sprayed so much stuff (furniture, picture frames, glass, plexi, plastic tank on motorcycle etc.) with cheap hardware store spray cans over the years and I never really had any problems... can't see this being too much of a problem...

Cheers,
Chris