Smartening up roof bar blanks
 

I've just noticed how grey the circular blanking plates which cover the roof bar mounting points are.

Probably because I've been having a play with my new roof bars ;)

Anyway, I thought I'd use "back to black" to smarten them up. All it did was make them a nice shiny...grey :(

Can anybody suggest a way (other than buying new ones) I can get them back to black please?

Spot of polish well rubbed in will bring them back for a few months. I do mine when Auto Glimming.

I used back to black and a hard toothbrush. It gets right into the plastic that way and makes them dark again.

Just rubbing it on the surface is not enough.

warm gently with a hairdryer and wipe with a cloth

Really? That I will have to try :)

apparently as the oils in the plastic warm, it loosens the dirt.......i'm sure one of the detailers will elaborate.

I have read about the hairdryer trick on the DW forums and they say it works.

Hairdryer/heatgun will restore them.

Otherwise peanut butter/oil works well too.

I use Sonus Bumper and Tyre dressing for textured plastic.

Scrub with all purpose cleaner, dab the dressing on, leave for a few minutes and buff off.

I'll try the hotgun trick next time I do mine.

May sound daft, but daughters Corsa plastic bits where faded to grey, Used a Kiwi Scuff Coat shoe restorer comes with foam pad on end. applied, left to dry and buffed with duster. Still black after 6 months.

I used the hot gun on the metro's bumpers worked a treat!

I finally got round to trying this trick today.

I used my paint stripper hot air gun and just gently heated the plastic caps whilst holding them with a pair of pliars. They didn't even need wiping.

The black colour literally flooded across the surface :)

I'm truly amazed that something so simple can have such a dramiatic effect :)

Would this work on the door posts ?

The door pillars are plastic coated, so in theory yes, but I use autoglym paint restorer, to good effect

will try that method,white spirit works for a month or so,as does brasso.only concern is getting them out without damage

Don't take them off.....do it in situ....it's only warm/hot air.....you shouldn't let them get very very hot...and keep the heat source moving, don't apply it in one place

They pop out easily without being damaged.

Mine are in and out all the time to fit the roof bars :)

thanks for that..going to pop out and give them a blast with er indoors hairdryer

I just tried the hairdryer thing and -- zilch! nothing happened! :o I tried it on both car outside trims and nothing happened. tried roof rails ZX door handles, mirrors, door guards, bumper inserts, heat did nothing on any of them.. :shrug: :mad: *sobs* :(
.

:D My neighbours will think I am going mad if I start using a hair dryer on car, they sick of seeing me polishing it as it is :getmecoat:

did mine with white spirit yesterday came up a treat

Has anyone tried meths, hick ?:beer2:

Mine are all a faded grey colour, and they can stay like it as I am not going to worry about it :drool4:

Painted mine with quick drying matt black paint.

the grey lifts straight off with white spirit if you are tempted

Just used the hair dryer trick and it worked a treat, gone gtom light grey back the original black finish :lol:

I was polishing my door handles with the brasso lint type polish.

tried giving a blank a rub with the lint and they have come up perfect, just a few rubs required.

Is this the door finishers which are held on with 3 screws behind the window channel rubber? I thought they are black painted.

Sorry guys but I must be missing something here. I bought some roof rails from the local breakers to fit on my recently acquired ZT T and they are metal not plastic. I took the centre pillar off to give them a good clean and it's bolted on the the bar, you can see the shiny thread in the aluminium of the bars? Mine have certainly gone very grey and do look past there best but they are definitely metal, they even 'ring' when tapped! You can also see where the sprayer missed sections under the areas that fasten to the roof.

Help gratefully appreciated.

They are talking about the plastic plugs that discolour, fitted over the holes for the roof rack mounting points. ;)

Thanks Bob, I thought I must be missing something!
Should the bars be black or grey? Have mine just faded?

Great thread revival :D 6 years old;) This is how I overcame the problem http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...psufbt3lsq.jpg

Hi Ronnie,

What is the width of the chrome strip you used,cheers Mate.

John.

25mm If I remember John:cool: you can do a quick measure just to make sure;) Not copying again are we:p::D:D

Are these round on the saloon?

ME! would I do that to you mate lol,haven't got over Holker yet,anyhow,will look better on dark blue:bowdown::getmecoat:

I don't know, as I don't have any roof bars, but would imagine that they should be black. :shrug:

The plastic plugs are black but turn grey after time.
Looking at the age of this thread, any fixes would have gone grey by now. :D
A bit like my hair, really. ;):getmecoat:

Yes they are, they look like this.

Done some research and the bars are listed as black but really a dark grey, unlike my hair too - light grey!

Maybe I'll try making some multi coloured ones on the 3D printer. It would be interesting though to see if modern ABS stays black for longer.

I'll try making a few and see.


http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:303615

Like Ronnie I covered the whole strip in Black Carbon Wrap. Also done the door plates. Been on the car over 2 years and are still looking good. Will post up pictures later I required.

I'll have to try that hairdryer trick on my scuttle plugs - they've discoloured really badly.

Don't have a heatgun so borrowed the Mrs' hairdryer...

http://i1334.photobucket.com/albums/...psa9xhmrth.jpg

Before and after :) Works well!

Only gave it a go out of curiosity, now I'll have to do the other three :duh:

Nice. I'll have to do that too even though I've got some roofbars on the way (which won't be permanently fitted though).

Whats all the fuss about with hair dryers, wrapping etc :shrug:

A spray with matt black paint will do the trick. A five minute job, cheap and will last for years.