Forever Black Longevity?

[billr99]

Just curious as to those who posted results to the Forever Black threads of a couple of years ago. After a few years now, how is the product holding up? I'm thinking about tackling my horribly faded brown trim but since the car sits out 95% of the time in the sun and salt air, I'm a bit skeptical as to how Forever Black is going to hold up for me.

Thanks in advance for any responses and Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canucks out there.

Cheers,

Bill

[JRL]

If always in the weather and sun, it will fade a bit sooner.
Why don't you paint it?
Use grey/black bumper spray paint.
It will take a wile to mask it all off but the actual spraying shouldn't take more than a half hour to do a couple of coats and then it should stay dark for years

[billr99]

If always in the weather and sun, it will fade a bit sooner.
Why don't you paint it?
Use grey/black bumper spray paint.
It will take a wile to mask it all off but the actual spraying shouldn't take more than a half hour to do a couple of coats and then it should stay dark for years

That's another option under consideration. My concern with that is whether it would flake off since the bumpers have previously had a number of different silicone-based products used on them. Forever Black addresses that in their promotional materials. Nice thing with paint is that I could, in theory, do them in body colour but the adhesion, or lack thereof, bothers me.

Thanks for the suggestion

Cheers,

Bill

[JRL]

It's called PREP.
I've painted a few and as long as all the silicone based products are thoroughly cleaned off and removed it should be fine

[billr99]

It's called PREP.
I've painted a few and as long as all the silicone based products are thoroughly cleaned off and removed it should be fine

I agree with that. What have you used to prep the trim? I've normally used "prepsol", which I think is mostly an alcohol solution, for regular paintwork. Never had to paint plastic bumpers though so no knowledge obviously.

Thanks again,

Bill

[JRL]

Prepsol is good
If there is a lot of silicone on the plastic, a swipe of lacquer thinner works wonders.
There's newer stuff out (don't know the exact name) which is made for plastics.

Just go to a paint supply shop and ask or Google this:
paint prep for plastic parts TONS of stuff comes up

[StuntmanMike]

If always in the weather and sun, it will fade a bit sooner.
Why don't you paint it?
Use grey/black bumper spray paint.
It will take a wile to mask it all off but the actual spraying shouldn't take more than a half hour to do a couple of coats and then it should stay dark for years

I haven't gotten around to doing this to my XC yet, but I did it to my old Grand Cherokee years back and it worked great. Brought the bumpers back to looking better than new, and lasted for years before needing a respray.

A tip on masking: Aluminum foil works great for masking things that are hard to tape off, like behind the grill area and headlights. It came in handy on the Jeep anyway.

[billr99]

Prepsol is good
If there is a lot of silicone on the plastic, a swipe of lacquer thinner works wonders.
There's newer stuff out (don't know the exact name) which is made for plastics.

Just go to a paint supply shop and ask or Google this:
paint prep for plastic parts TONS of stuff comes up

Excellent! Thanks for the info.

Cheers,

Bill

[Jorge-789995]

After getting tired of trying products that washed off in the first rain, I recently used a heatgun to essentially resurface the plastic. The best way I can describe it is that it removed the oxidation. I set the heatgun on high and then moved it rather quickly over the surface. It made the cladding look almost new again. It even diminished the appearance of small scratches. I was able to do an overlapping area about 2"x 2".

It looked good. I have no clue how long it will last, but for now, it looks good. I have pictures if you are interested.

Keith

[billr99]

After getting tired of trying products that washed off in the first rain, I recently used a heatgun to essentially resurface the plastic. The best way I can describe it is that it removed the oxidation. I set the heatgun on high and then moved it rather quickly over the surface. It made the cladding look almost new again. It even diminished the appearance of small scratches. I was able to do an overlapping area about 2"x 2".

It looked good. I have no clue how long it will last, but for now, it looks good. I have pictures if you are interested.

Keith

Yes, I've done the heat gun thing (twice, in fact) and it lasted a year or so. Kind of hard to say with any precision but I might venture to say that the "oxidation" is worse now after using the heat gun albeit after a year of not looking too bad.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Cheers,

Bill