Freelander 1 exterior plastics colour...

One that has baffled me for a while and the local dealer just comes out with "I need chassis numbers mate...";

I've noticed some Freelander 1's (pre-facelift) such as my '02 plater, with grey exterior plastics, and some with darker, almost black, as per facelift models, exterior plastic, some earlier and some later than mine. Did it depend on colour as mine is a gay blue colour, and the ones with the darker plastics tend to be silver or grey? Same with pre-facelift dashboards, mines beige (urgh), seen some in black.

Reason for asking is I'm roughly planning a FL1 Commercial project and would like the black pre-facelift interior and the black exterior plastic, though these will probably complement a facelift front and rear conversion. I'd also like to fit the black plastics to my blue 5dr but with out the expense of going facelift.

Rich

They changed from Gray to black trim half way trough the 02 build

Mine's a 2000 black and dark grey but Im thinking of trying a bit of Smoothright on it to see if it matches the black better and give a gloss finish. If my mem serves it does stick well to plastics so will have to see how it goes. might wait till we get a bit warmer weather unless someone in Bristol has a workshop they can lend me for a couple of day's.

I have just refurbished the faded exterior grey plastic on my Red 2001 model. Brought two 500ml tins of back to black simoniz and sprayed the lot. A bit of elbow grease to rub in, and I now have dark almost black plastic that looks better than new for under tenner. I think it will have to be treated at least once a year to keep it looking good.

that stuff is ok till it rains then watch it wash off faster than u put it on

cremator said:

that stuff is ok till it rains then watch it wash off faster than u put it on

Click to expand...

Are you on about Smoothright or back to black? Iv'e used back to black in the past and it tends to show up rain lines. Will post pics if I can get someone to lend me a workshop for a couple of days.

Got to be honest, i used simoniz back to black on mine and it looked great for about 2 weeks, or the first rain shower.. whatever one comes first. Cremator is right, itll wash off through the winter faster than you can apply it!

One of the bods on here (optimus prime if i remember correctly) recommended linseed oil (which is fab), but someone else told me about WD40!! I was pesamistic at first, but gave it a try and it looks ace.. A deep black shine, that isnt affected by rain, and lasts ages.. The more applications you give it, the longer it lasts. And best of all my local sunday market sells massive cans of it for a pound, so its cheap as chips to do!!!!!

At the moment im applying about once every 3 months, and i can do all of the front and back bumpers, and the wheel arches and diesel cap on about 2/3's of a can.. Well happy with the finish!

I was thinking how long it would last in the weather! Ah well, has anybody tried Wurth Rubber Care? it is supposed to last for months after a few applications. I looked up the site below, so might give it a go.

Wurth Rubber Care

Frost, the vehicle restoration people, do a black vinyl dye spray that you can buy from their web site or from the free catalogue.

I use a product called Autosmart Trim Ultra to treat the faded plastics about 6 months ago. I applied it with an Autoglym hand pad and it looked awesome after two applications and it doesn't get washed of by rain or a pressure washer. excellent stuff and made my grey plastics look like new, but I would ultimately prefer the black plastics.

Anybody with a black-plastic'd car fancy PM'ing me their vin number so I can price it up at the dealers?!

I use Autoglym bumper restorer on my 04 hardtop roof, it was faded grey but is supposed to be black, rub it on with a cloth and it lasts a couple of months.

I take the roof off and pressure wash it twice a year as i find it helps remove any marks etc.

I take the washer to the rest of the black plastics on the car at every wash, helps stop build up of muck.