Faded Front Grill

The grill on my '99 P38 is very faded and ****. I have tried using various bumper care products but nothing works. Anybody got any solutions or is there simply no miracle fix?
What are the alternatives? Is it possible to paint this kind of plastic sucessfully?

Peanut butter...smooth, not crunchy, obviously.

Have you tried Autogymp Bumper cleaner? they also do the vinyl and bumper care.
The bumper cleaner takes some effort but can be pretty good depending on the plastic.
They also do show shine.
Failing that try spraying a good amount of a decent bumper care solution (autoglym, Turtle, Maguires) onto the grill and leave it over night. This worked on a perticularly bad bumper I had to do a while ago.

As for painting, you can paint anything if you have the correct paint. If your going to spray the grill make sure you clean all of the cleaners off. Use of good quality panel wipe solution is a must. Any silicones from teh cleaners will screw the paint up. For best results you will need to use a plastic specific primer. Etch primer will work but not quite aswell.

Yes, spend lots and lots on stuff that will work as good as peanut butter.

storm99 said:

Yes, spend lots and lots on stuff that will work as good as peanut butter.

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good lad

Go on. Does peanut butter really work? Do you wipe it off after or leave it? What is wrong with crunchy?

jonbill said:

Go on. Does peanut butter really work? Do you wipe it off after or leave it? What is wrong with crunchy?

Click to expand...

Yes..its full of oils...just rub it on, in small quantities, as you would a polish...crunchy is full of bits ya nana...oo...wonder if you could use bananas..hmmm..

try parrafin oil.pour it on a bowl of hot water,apply with a rag.

Whatever you do, do not under any circumstances use smooth peanut butter, its too cheap, go for one of the really expensive products cause they won't last half as long and then you'll be able to go out and buy more expensive stuff.

(see what I'm trying here)

=http://www.plasti-kote.co.uk
Spray it using plastikote use primer first then black
It looks like new did mine last year still looks mint

I'm just giving him options which he asked for. As for peanut butter never used it. I may have to give it a try though. Although I think that clients may frown on me using it on there vehicles.

tonybirch said:

=http://www.plasti-kote.co.uk
Spray it using plastikote use primer first then black
It looks like new did mine last year still looks mint

Click to expand...

What he said.

The problem with using cleaners, 'back to black' and so on (even certain veggy based breakfast spreads... ) is that it is an oily smear which won't solve the main issue. That is, the sun bleaching and potential staining from polish etc etc.

I did my front grill, having carefully masked off the badge and painted part. The results were so good I then did my bumpers (as the back had received some bad staining from a solvent), the mouldings around the headlight fittings, and the headlamp wiper covers. It sounds pretty dramatic, but was relatively simple to get all the bits off, and for the price of a few days off the road, as Cheryl Cole would put it, it was soooo worth it, like!

It took about 3 coats to cover the solvent staining, but the results are spectacular.

Some tips - make sure your chosen bits are very clean and even. You can flatten down stonechips and scuffs to the plastic with a small screwdriver.

Carefully mask anything you don't want painted. On the grill, it is really worth taking the time to push tape down along the edge of badge - a bit fiddly but good prep = good result.

Spray as evenly as you can, in a garage if possible as you don't want bits of leaf, bugs etc landing on the wet paint. It does dry pretty quickly though.

Re-coat within 4 hours. Basically, once touch dry, go again!

AFTER 4 HOURS, DO NOT RECOAT. You MUST leave it for at least 24 hours to dry properly, or the paint will wrinkle, and trust me, it is a pain to get off. You then have to start again...

Plenty of dust sheets, as the overspray goes everywhere!

Every now and then, upend the can and spray til no paint comes out - this helps keep the nozzle clear and avoids nasty spattering.

I used the PlastiKote matt super black. You can get it from screwfix, hobbycraft and even B&Q and Homebase. They are all around the £6 mark for a can. I needed 4 cans to do everything, but 3 would do it as I needed the extra coat on the damaged bumper.

Or go to Halfords and buy a couple of tins of proper bumper paint. They do it in dark grey and black, get the black. They also sell bumper preparer spray, it's just a can of solvent to clean all the grease (or peanut butter!) off first. You don't need a primer and the paint is specially formulated for plastic. I had superb results with it and it hasn't peeled off. Also did the headlamp trims in it. Mask off the badge and the painted parts though first. I removed the parts to spray them as was much easier to get a good result.

Hi Gents,

Painted my grill and eadlamp surrounds using a couple of aerosol cans of the colour code from under the bonnet, bought them from the stealer not much dearer than the special bumper/grill paints and still looks the biz - that was at least 5 years ago now

i used that plastikote on mine, took it off the car, i found that spraying it on a nice hot sunny day somewhere bright but shaded from wind helped it dry nice and fast and two coats were enough. you can mask the bits under the headlamps.

i also did the light guards(off the car) and it looked very crisp and new.

you can get the spray from ebay around £3.75 a tin

i borrowed some from work!!

I just did mine in dark grey with primer and paint,the paint instructions said to apply thin coats every 15 minutes so about an hour later the job was done (not lacquered) ,masking was a doddle as all I did was release the headlamp wipers (to paint the trim under the lamps that meets the grill) and quickly masked off the bumper and wings with a daily sport after I removed the grill.
I think the important thing to remember is a new grill is supplied in a very dark grey,I found I had to get the darkest grey paint I could find (almost black on the cap) to achieve the grey thats close to what a new grill would be,though I don't know what it would look like if I lacquered it,I can't see it needing lacquer and I fear it might look too obvious if its shining.

Have any of you heard of using a hot air paint stripper?
I can't remember where but they were talking about peanut butter as well...
My girlfriend has a Gaylander which as you know is covered in grey plastic.
I think it works by getting the plastic just hot enough to reseal the surface. after I did it I sprayed water on it and it ran off just as though I'd waxed it!!!
I've not tried it on mine yet but it is starting to look a bit second hand...

All I will say is BE CAREFUL!!!!!! There are lots of things that don't like getting hot so do a test first where it wont show, maybe just under the bonnet...

Tyres and 2" lift kits 'springs' to mind

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/problems-plastic-wheel-arch-trims-111276.html

Khryztal said:

I'm just giving him options which he asked for. As for peanut butter never used it. I may have to give it a try though. Although I think that clients may frown on me using it on there vehicles.

Click to expand...

dont tell em then,put it in a plain jar,then just use it cos it really does work.

I use a dye called forever black on mine, gotta say it works really well.
You apply it with a sponge and it only works on porous plastics, also looks crappy after first one or two coats...but really finishes nice after several coats and it doesn't wash off either.

Before and after pics!

Badly faded grill and headlight finishers:


Not a real close pic, but hopefully you can see the improvement.