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Looking for a product I can use to restore the color of some of the plastics pieces of plastic on the exterior of my 1985....Here is an example of a piece, the front grill.....I'm NOT talking about Armor All, something professional or even a business that provides such services
The Grill fins from my 85...How can i restore the color luster??
On a recommendation from another rennlister I tried using Solution Finish and it made my 944's rear wing and bumper-etts look brand new for a couple years.
At some point the grille bars moved from being aluminum (or some sort of pot metal) to plastic (I guess yours are plastic?) but regardless of material, I would scuff them with 400 grit sandpaper, prime with SEM self etching primer and then SEM trim black, in either satin or semi-gloss, whatever you think is correct. Assuming you want them black (I can't remember what year they went from body color to black).
@Rob Edwards Self etching primer is really only appropriate for the initial coat on bare metal. For plastic, I believe there is a line of products that are generally called adhesion promoters. The chemistry seems to vary depending on the actual plastic substrate but here is what I used recently. SEM XXX Adhesion Promoter P/N 77723
Good point, Harvey, you're right- No etching primer on plastic. SEM's plastic promoter is good, and also their Plastic Prep 38353 (followed by their Color Coat Satin Black 15243) is good for plastic surfaces, though I'm not sure how durable it is for something like grille bars in terms of impact resistance.
Gotta say, that Cerakote stuff looks tempting, I'm going to try some on my daily driver.
@Rob Edwards Self etching primer is really only appropriate for the initial coat on bare metal. For plastic, I believe there is a line of products that are generally called adhesion promoters. The chemistry seems to vary depending on the actual plastic substrate but here is what I used recently. SEM XXX Adhesion Promoter P/N 77723
Just a point of reference: in the 2007 thread above, JHowell37 found the 3M adhesion promoter did not work with his method (which is surprising to me for a 3M product, though they can have such a variety of selections that one needs to be sure they select the right flavor).
Just a point of reference: in the 2007 thread above, JHowell37 found the 3M adhesion promoter did not work with his method (which is surprising to me for a 3M product, though they can have such a variety of selections that one needs to be sure they select the right flavor).
Yes, "plastic" is a broad spectrum of materials/chemistry.
2k urethane paint for pieces like that. hot rod black. find it on amazon (spray can). works great for rigid pieces. my experience is that sem tends to fade and look old much more quickly than a 2k urethane.
For interior black stuff especially - I use Vinylex - from the same people who make Lexol for leather. Even for these slats I expect they will make them look a whole bunch better - you'd be surprised.
You really need to know what kind of plastic it is if you want to paint it. For example, for the majority of the types of plastics out there, it just will not stick. I would try Cerikote etc first or anything else that does not rely on adhesion.
12-04-2022, 10:25 PM
Restore color on black plastics pieces
