Bumper Blues are gone -- now I'm Forever Black!

**Andrew_72** · 09-21-2009, 10:14 PM

Some before and after pics of bumper restoration using 'Forever Black'. I feel sooooooooo much better about the car now. The faded blue bumpers were an eyesore.

**skibo** · 09-22-2009, 04:04 PM

That's a big difference.

Keep us posted on how it holds up, please.

None of the treatments I've tried have been very long-lasting.

**cbj** · 09-22-2009, 07:29 PM

That looks really good. I have always thought black was the only right color anyway.

**RockitShip** · 09-22-2009, 08:40 PM

That looks nice Andrew... I wonder how it will look on the mud guards?

**MLPVT** · 09-23-2009, 03:40 AM

Originally Posted by Andrew_72

Some before and after pics of bumper restoration using 'Forever Black'. I feel sooooooooo much better about the car now. The faded blue bumpers were an eyesore.

WOW...What a difference! Great Job!

(If you haven't already, you might want to consider putting on an additional 2-3 coats)

**Andrew_72** · 09-23-2009, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by MLPVT

WOW...What a difference! Great Job!

(If you haven't already, you might want to consider putting on an additional 2-3 coats)

Yes, have several coats on the bumpers. Need to do a 2nd & 3rd coat for the wheel arches and side mouldings.

Given that it's a dye it should last for some time. The box reckons it'll hold up after 50 washes. Not a bad result for $20 worth of product!

I was originally going to use 'Plastic Renew' but this is just a top coat rather than a dye and would have required some serious scrubbing of the plastic with steel wool to bring them back to new before coating. 'Forever Black' was much easier -- applicator is a bit tricky to keep wet but you get the hang of it.

Will post some updates to see how it holds up in the Queensland sun.

BTW, if anyone is wondering how the bumpers got that bad in the first place -- I made the mistake of using a "UV protectant" type product. Looks great for about 2 weeks but rapidly accelerates the fading.

**IpswichXC** · 09-24-2009, 06:09 AM

I have a blue car.. with blue trim.. I wonder if I would be making a mistake using the black? Your silver car looks great with the black but I am hesitant to go black because.... once I go black there may be no going back.... the color that is

**v70+xc70** · 09-24-2009, 06:32 AM

Always disliked the blue. Ours is white with brown bumpers/wheelarches and it still looks classy.

**Andrew_72** · 09-24-2009, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by v70+xc70

Always disliked the blue. Ours is white with brown bumpers/wheelarches and it still looks classy.

Yeah, I agree. Had an Ash Gold XC with the brown bumpers before this one but someone rear-ended it and it was totaled

I think the blue plastic seems more prone to fading.

**Mike_v** · 09-27-2009, 06:38 PM

Hi there,
I used "Back-to-Black" on my blue 2001 XC last month (from MOTHERS, 8 fl oz, 236 ml, under $7 at the local AutoZone). Contrary to what the name of the product suggests, it is will not make your trim black. This stuff brings back any original color (as it says on the bottle). Because of the somewhat wet-look (I did not find it too wet...), it may be a bit darker than how the car would be new, but my blue trim definitely did not turn black (for which I'm glad). My bumpers looked "before" exactly like the ones from Andrew_72 who started this thread. I've applied it only once and have been driving for a month now and have had rain dirt and it still looks great. See my "after" pics that I made just after applying it. I did the whole trim in one go after I had washed the whole car thoroughly. I used only half the bottle.