Like just about every 10 year old car I've seen, my trim is fading from a nice deep black to a grayish color, and I have the itch to refresh it with some nice new glossy black. I was just going to get some trim paint from one of the local parts stores and give it a once over.

My question is: Do I need to do any priming, or just give it a light sand with fine grit to smooth things? Also, will the same trim paint that works on metal trim work on plastic trim (all exterior)?

 

Hi,
If your black trim paint is just faded and not peeling or chipped you might try a product I found for refreshing the black trim on vehicles.

It's called "Back to Black" made by the Mothers Company.

I used it on our old Rollerskate GT (Ford Festiva)
and it worked great. I did all the trim and only used about half of the 8oz. bottle.

I'm saving the rest to use on the Aerostar.

I haven't had to use it on our Aerostar yet but probably on the next Spring cleanup.

 

Where do you buy back to black? Is it available in auto parts stores or is it a specialty item?

 

You can get it at most parts stores or the automotive section at Wal Mart.
It's in with the car wax and cleanup stuff.

 

It's beyond back to black (tried it already ), as it's a nice gray color now. Stuff works pretty good if the trim is just starting to fade though. I'm probably going to pick up the trim paint tonight and work on it this weekend. May even remember to take pics.

 

agelder, any news for us?

Adding my two cents worth on the subject - I've tried various paints on different cars over the years and have settled on two types that work well and are readily available

Krylon makes a basic black semi-gloss that is quick drying and can be used for wiper arms, grille sections, etc. It looks nice, goes on easy but the only down side is it won't stand up well to the sandblasting from road grit.

Rust-Oleum products has, again, their basic semi-gloss black. This has much longer cure times (up to 48 hours) but gives a really durable, flexible surface. The biggest down side to this product is the overspray, even with an aerosol can, is tremendous and the stuff sticks to everything. Mask off three times the area you think you need to - or more.

Sunlight has played havoc with the plastic trim pieces around the front and rear windows. They have turned a greyish/black color and are starting to pit with a granular, crystalline appearance in some sections. I haven't tried using either of these agents on this plastic trim as of yet. I keep hoping to find some way to fill in the pitted sections before painting.

 

Aero, if you find something to fill that in please share... My van is the same way, and I want to repair it as well...


-Mike-

 

I just picked up the paint yesterday (prepping to move into a bigger place so most of my projects have been pushed back a bit) so I will probably attack it some this weekend. I got Plasti-kote black trim paint, made for plastic trim and such. First thing I will tackle is the mirrors, as they are the worst in terms of fading (a nice light gray). If they work out well, I'll go nuts on the rest of the trim and door handles.

 

I'm thinking of doing that too. I'm also thinking of painting the bumpers. (Was planning to over the summer, never got around to it). What paint is good for that?

I was thinking of getting just a bottle or two of automotive paint or something and just going over all the trim real slow with a paint brush or something. Maybe that'll work.

Anyone know how to seal stress cracks in a bumper?

 

I know what doesn't work. I have two separate hairline cracks in the rear bumper cover from, ahem, parking lot and dumpster encounters. I tried JB Weld on one and medical bone cement on the other. Both looked great at first but neither one held up beyond 2 months and the cracks are back. Difference in the expansive characteristics of the materials seems to be the biggest obstacle.

 

What about Bondo??? they use it for other automotive bodo repairs, so why not on a bumper?


-Mike-

 

Sounds good. Guess I'll have to remove the whole bumper to do the job, since we have cats that love to jump onto the cars, especially the Aerostars.

 

Update:

Painted the passenger side mirror/window trim today. Sanded down first with 440 (IIRC) grit paper and then hosed & washed the mirror and trim. After it dried, I masked it off (not enough unfortunately, I'm going to have to use some rubbing compound to remove some overspray) and sprayed it. Giving it three medium coats, about 5-10 min between coats, then I let it dry. Pulled off the mask, and it looks darn good. Not a gloss, as that would IMHO look cheesy, but a black satin like it was when it rolled off the lot. Very nice to refresh the look. I'm going to do the roof rails and the rest of the trim (and running board plastic) over the next week or two. I'm working on getting pics too if someone can host them.

 

Aerocolorado:

Found this on a newsgroup and wonderd if it would help with the pits.


Hello,

For a while I've used what is called a "clay bar" product to remove
surface contaminants from automobile paint finishes. It works very
well -- it borders on a miracle product.

How one uses it is to apply a lubricant (such as a soapy solution) to
a small section of the car and one slides the clay bar over the
wetted surface. Very quickly it smooths the finish out by removing
embedded microscopic particles (rail dust, brake dust, tree sap,
water deposits, etc.) which ordinary washing/scrubbing does not
remove. The results are amazing -- the paint feels as smooth as a
baby's behind. :^)

Anyway, the commercial "clay bars" for auto detailing are relatively
expensive (like $15 for a 4 oz. bar), and I can't help but think those
clay bars are simply some kind of modeling clay with a huge profit
margin attached. From some cursory online research, most of the
automotive detailing clay bars are made out of natural clay (a couple
clay bar products instead use synthetic polymers of some sort.)

One person mentioned trying out inexpensive modeling clay and
getting good results:

http://list.miata.net/pipermail/miat...ry/009655.html

In the article the author talks about paying a few dollars for a whole
pound of clay, which means the clay need not be reused as much. Clay
bars get dirty from all the stuff they pick up, so the more it is used
the more likely it will scratch. So it's better not to overuse a clay
bar, and this only adds to the cost of using them. With the cost of
modeling clay so little, one can do one car (or even half a car) and
throw the clay away for a fresh piece.

Anyway, using modeling clay intrigues me. However, before rushing out
to buy some modeling clay and trying it out myself, I'd like to get
feedback from the modeling clay artist community regarding this. Do
you believe the commercial automotive "clay bars" simply use some type
of commercially-available modeling clay? Or are these truly special,
made to "spec" by the clay companies, with nothing comparable sold to
the modeling clay community? Of course, the biggest fear is that the
particles in many modeling clays are not fine enough and will visibly
haze the paint. Is modeling clay also rated by the size/fineness of
the clay particles? I do know some auto detailing product companies
offer fine and medium "clay bars" -- the medium ones are for tough
jobs with the comment that polishing is required afterwards (thus, the
medium clay bar must leave a "haze".)

A last point is who are the major manufacturers of modeling clays? I
am thinking of contacting them and trying to get feedback -- some
might volunteer useful information on this topic.

Your insights will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Jon Noring


(p.s., another person posted an interesting "recipe" for a clay bar
lubricant, thus closing the loop on a "do-it-yourself" clay bar
system -- most automotive clay bar products also include a lubricant
of some sort:

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...&output=gplain

)

 

JTHill24,
Thanks for the update re:clay bars. I've seen these but they are more for fine finish work on painted surfaces. Given the roughness of the trim in question, I'm afraid the fine abrasive nature of the clay bar would not be up to the task of smoothing those trim pieces. Appreciate the thought.