Re-furbished interior plastic

[Legend_master]

Bought an armrest, it had a little bit of sun damage on it. Decided I need to get it cleaned up before install. I used the same method as the exterior trim. A heat gun, and some meguiar's natural shine protectant.

Before shot
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/Legend_Master/d4793d55.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/Legend_Master/4e80ba0c.jpg

You need to be careful, I found the gun needs to be moved around in circular motions. Once the plastic starts to shine, stop applying heat as you are about to melt it (more lol). I would suggest doing the whole piece of plastic since everywhere you apply heat will look very shiny. Once it dries, some will still have a little bit of faded look to it. I applied the Meguiar's at this point.

Everything looks great after all done and said.

After shots

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/Legend_Master/bd8b89cf.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/Legend_Master/fbc8592a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/Legend_Master/0dc7042f.jpg

[Dr_Snooz]

That looks uber good!

[Buzo]

Wow! I need to do that to the whole interior of my car!!
What is that meguiar's natural shine thing and where can I buy it? Walmart? Autozone?

[Legend_master]

That looks uber good!

Thanks.


Wow! I need to do that to the whole interior of my car!!
What is that meguiar's natural shine thing and where can I buy it? Walmart? Autozone?

I don't think it will work on the upper part of the door, it needs to be a solid piece of plastic. I bought my plastic shine at autozone, basically any plastic shine. I just don't like armor all cause the film it leaves after evaporation.

[import racer]

Wow that looks great man!

[87roach]

The heat gun trick works great, I have used it on many different things. Like Legend said though, you have to be very careful when doing it! The plastic gets very hot and will melt/distort before you know it and can ruin the piece.

Nice work!

[89HatchbackLxi]

Looks good! Are you planning to do the dash area as well?

[obdriver6]

:O That turned out great!

[MessyHonda]

That is a good idea. the same spot in my armrest is also faded plus it feels rough not smooth. got to try it out

[Legend_master]

UPDATE: After a couple days over 100 degrees the white came back, and it's actually a little worse. I found if I scrape my nail against the white surface it brings back the blue. This makes me think there may be a film, or layer I can scrape to get to the blue.



Wow that looks great man!

Thanks!


The heat gun trick works great, I have used it on many different things. Like Legend said though, you have to be very careful when doing it! The plastic gets very hot and will melt/distort before you know it and can ruin the piece.

Nice work!

It did kinda smoothed out the areas I heated to much.


Looks good! Are you planning to do the dash area as well?

You could only do this on the lower dash, I think the upper dash is a different material (has some kind of padding under it) and would make a whole if you heated it.


:O That turned out great!

Thanks


That is a good idea. the same spot in my armrest is also faded plus it feels rough not smooth. got to try it out

Don't over heat it lol, and you may wait for me to do a little more testing.

[Dr_Snooz]

UPDATE: After a couple days over 100 degrees the white came back, and it's actually a little worse. I found if I scrape my nail against the white surface it brings back the blue. This makes me think there may be a film, or layer I can scrape to get to the blue.

Oh. Good to know. I'll be interested to see what else you learn.

[mykwikcoupe]

I use this method on motorcycle plastics. the white gets removed with a razor blade in a vertical position so you are scraping the oxidation off leaving the clean dull plastic below. the heat gun re shines and its just like new. this is always been used on non textured pieces. im not sure how you would scrape a textured piece? Good luck. Hope it works.

[hatch88lxi]

this is great I forgot about using a heat gun, I used it before on my old dirtbike plastics.

[Dr_Snooz]

I use this method on motorcycle plastics. the white gets removed with a razor blade in a vertical position so you are scraping the oxidation off leaving the clean dull plastic below. the heat gun re shines and its just like new. this is always been used on non textured pieces. im not sure how you would scrape a textured piece? Good luck. Hope it works.

Could you heat and brush with a soft-bristled brush like a toothbrush?

[lostforawhile]

has anyone found anything to restore the soft rubber pieces? I pulled stuff like headlight boots, headlight motor boots,and lots of other stuff at the yard, it's all in good shape but looks terrible