Polished oxidized plastic trim using HD Polish

C

chrisguga

New member
So, this was a free detail for a co-worker whose Honda Element with 70k miles on the clock has never been waxed or washed properly. I'm OCD and could no longer take looking at the oxidized plastic trim and I wanted to try polishing the plastic. She didn't even know I was going to detail the whole thing. I just told her I wanted to play around with polishing the plastic.



Unfortunately, the pictures were taken with my iPhone as the wife had the good camera gear. I finished this whole detail in 6 hours which seems like a decent amount of time, but polishing the plastic trim was trial and error at first.



2 bucket wash using Dawn just in case some wax happened to fall on the car at some point, but I'm confident none ever has. Random pictures of some brushes I like (Swissvax, Wheel Woolies, lug nut cleaning brush which is great, and random cheap Autozone tire brush) and my beloved Sonax FE. The APC in the Adam's bottle is actually dilute Meg's APC Plus.



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No beading before, certainly no beading after:



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Details are important to me even on a free detail.



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Lovely oxidized trim:



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Exhaust pipe leading to the tip was also pretty rusted so I couldn't let that go without being sorted out a little later:



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Oh yeah, clayed it and it comes as no surprise that it was nasty:



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So anyway, I used the HD Polish on the plastic trim and HD SPEED on the paint. I find that I have to use larger amounts on the pad than other polishes I've used in the past, but they don't dry quickly and are both nice to work with.



Here are some 50/50 shots after polishing some trim with some old Meg's microfiber pads and also some old Adam's Polishes foam pads. The foam worked better, imo.



Polished the portion on the right:



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Polished the vertical rectangular piece on the right:



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This process really gunked up the pads and I suspect they're ruined. I went through 3 pads until I finally got tired of ruining the pads and just kept using the gunked up ones. The results dropped off a little, but since it was a free detail I didn't feel too much pressure to ruin all my stuff to make it perfect.



I tried the HD SPEED on the HD polishing pad and also on their cutting/polishing pad to try and get a little more bite. It cleaned up the look of the paint nicely and removed very fine swirl marks, but I'd treat this more of a gloss adding product at this point. In the future, I'll have to use it after compounding with wool and 105 to see if it can handle the marring quickly and easily. It does leave a beautiful finish and wipes off VERY easily.



I finished the trim with Adam's VRT, finished the paint with Optimum Car Wax, glass with Stoner's Invisible Glass, and tried Meg's Endurance Gel on the tires. I like pretty glossy tires so this product is great for me and I look forward to using it on my tires after the next wash.



Here are some afters:



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It is good product, been doing some testing of my own with it an another 3 of 3D products.

However, I highly suggest that he does nothing else to the trim for one month and then revaluate the results.

No dressings, just regular wash and observe.

Grumpy
 
Oh, I told her not to expect the trim to look this good for long.



I only did this because Gtechniq's C4 is out of stock everywhere and only applying dressing to the trim wasn't masking the oxidation.
 
If it doesn't hold up, the ValuGard ETR kit will make it new again for years. (not a week or a month, but years) It is the product used by the vehicle manufacturers when they have new, unsold vehicles with black trim discoloring, so what they use must last through that part of the new vehicle warranty.

Unfortunately, the kit has enough product to do between 25 and 50 vehicles, so you would need to have other uses for it.

However, that stated, if you were to price out the replacements parts, the kit is a bargin.

Grumpy
 
You mentioned regular washes over the next month. She probably won't wash it for months and never cared enough to fix the trim until I offered to do it for free. This was more of an experiment than anything.



I have a good full-time job and would love to detail cars more regularly on the side, but no one values actual machine correction at a price point that's worth my time so I basically end up doing it for friends and family for practically the cost of the supplies used. The ETR kit might be worth it to me if it has a shelf life of 5+ years because it would probably take that long for me to use it up.



One of these days I may try and figure out how to build a website and actually market a little because there are a few mobile car wash guys in town, but they don't do anything besides a basic wash and wax.



My next option here was to Plasti-Dip all of the trim on the car, or at least the lower portions, but that would have required using plastic drop cloth and tons of tape which would have been a pain. The stuff looks great and is VERY durable though. I used it here: http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-brag/138347-full-paint-correction-then-some-*56k-beware*.html# The stuff in the wheel wells of that Maxima has held up since it was completed. That's in the wheel wells where it's being bombarded by crud constantly.
 
I retired 4 years ago from Automotive International, makers of the ValuGard brand.

My kit is one that I had used for training for a couple of years, so it's about 6 years old.

As long as the caps are kept tight, it lasts, doesn't go bad.

Many detailers who use it, get $20 to $30 for a set of mirror housings, and usually a buck or two per foot of side trim, bumpers depend on this size, so it's all over the place from $20 to $40 for a front or rear.

The only plastic trim it is not good on is on the older Chevy Avalance bed trim and some bed liner top rails.

This is due to the "internal release agent" used to make the parts.

The release agent works like a "silicone", and it continues to "leach out" for years and will not allow the Color Gard or the UV Gard to attach, the same thing happens when one attempts to "paint" these parts, the paint can not attach due to the release agents of the parts.

Grumpy
 
chrisguga- Hey, nice job, I bet the owner was thrilled.



Good to know that the Uno is trim-friendly, I use other polishes on black plastic trim but hadn't tried that one yet.



What about just going over it (the polished trim) with 845? I myself have recently started doing mine with Ultima's Trim Sealant, but I used 845 with good results for years (also the Klasse twins).
 
for a free detail, you really hooked her up! that element would stand out from the pack on any used car lot. great work.

it is a shame that this act of kindness on your part won't lead her to at least visit a touchless every few weeks
 
Chris, WOW...my kind of OCD! What an outstanding result!!!! It will be interesting to see how long the trim restoration lasts without care. Vehicle looks new..Bozo would be proud to drive that "clown" car!
 
Accumulator said:
What about just going over it (the polished trim) with 845? I used 845 with good results for years.
Click to expand...



I agree. Started using 845 on vinyl tops - 39 (thirty-nine) years ago in Warren, OH.
 
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