Restoring sun faded side molding?

[Jon]

Has anyone successfully been able to restore their sun faded side molding, either by sanding or polishing them?

Just seeing if I can save my $$$ on not buying new molding.
Painting them black is out of the question because I've seen what that looks like and I'm not going to bother.

Here is just a small list of products I have tried, all work and do a good job, but only for a week or two, nothing long term.

Mother's Back to Black
Armour-All
Forever Black Bumper & Trim dye (probably the worst product I tried, BAD results)
Poorboy's World Trim Restorer
Black Again Exterior Trim Restorer
Black Magic
Shoe Polish and all of the other home remedies (spam, peanut butter, etc.)

[ExplodingCake]

Paint them.

[C91BLX7]

As long as they aren't rusting internally, I would just paint them.

[JoshM]

Painting them black is out of the question because I've seen what that looks like and I'm not going to bother.

.

[deevergote]

Paint them PROPERLY and they look fine. Do a halfassed rattlecan job, and it'll look like crap.


I haven't heard anything about anyone properly restoring them... I say pick up a junkyard piece and try a few methods on small parts of it... something may work.

[Jon]

As long as they aren't rusting internally, I would just paint them.

No rust here.

Why must everyone provide me with the answer(s) I didn't want... guess I'll pull them off, sand them down, and get the sprayed one of these days.

Until then I think I will go to the JY and get some and see if I can't restore them to some degree.

[EJX_Michael]

I spray some Black Magic Tire Wet on mine every week or so...

Works good enough for me.

[Jon]

I spray some Black Magic Tire Wet on mine every week or so...

Works good enough for me.

Yeah most of the products I mentioned above worked, but short term. That's why I'm looking for a long term solution.

And so far painting them seems to be it.

[deevergote]

No rust here.

Why must everyone provide me with the answer(s) I didn't want... guess I'll pull them off, sand them down, and get the sprayed one of these days.

Until then I think I will go to the JY and get some and see if I can't restore them to some degree.

The reason you only got answers you didn't want was because nobody seems to have tried to restore molding before. The only answer I could give personally was that a GOOD paintjob doesn't look bad. A shitty rattlecan job looks like... well... a shitty rattlecan job.




As for that Tire Shine crap... all of that stuff dry-rots rubber. It's not so bad on tires, that get replaced before it does any significant damage (other than turning them brown, meaning you just have to buy MORE of that tire shine garbage), but when it comes to a part that's going to remain on the car for a while... it's a VERY bad idea.

[JSMexUsa]

I just painted mines along with the whole car and got rid of that problem; before that I tried something long time ago that was great, forgot the name, I think was something like 303 for plane?

[scudweiser]

tire shine

[deevergote]

tire shine

As for that Tire Shine crap... all of that stuff dry-rots rubber. It's not so bad on tires, that get replaced before it does any significant damage (other than turning them brown, meaning you just have to buy MORE of that tire shine garbage), but when it comes to a part that's going to remain on the car for a while... it's a VERY bad idea.

Tire Shine is STUPID. It's a temporary fix, not a means of restoration. It's like spitting on your hands and calling them clean.

[C91BLX7]

I just gave up on mine and got some 10th anniversary moldings.

Makes the car look more modern.

[Jon]

Tire Shine is STUPID. It's a temporary fix, not a means of restoration. It's like spitting on your hands and calling them clean.

Exactly.

I'm looking at a way to restore them to like new/not so old condition. Tire shine and all of the other products are a temporary fix. Yes some of them do a good job at making them appear to be black for a while, then fades in the first rain that comes by.

So like I said I'm going to give the junkyard a shot and see if I can't come up with a way to restore them without painting them (yet).

[tommi]

do what i did...





1. use a panel popper
2. pry them off
3. throw them in the garbage.
4. replace with some edm sidemoldings.
5.