# Heat gun to restore Black plastic trim



## Awol (Jun 29, 2007)

Hi all, had a little go at lunch time with some of the black trim on my 01 Octavia VRS - only had camera phone which isnt very good but thought better than nothing

forgot to take before but but other side is pretty similiar.

half and half








picture of passenger side show how it was before








picture of side with heat gun used on it








then I went over the whole lot very lightly with some ground nut oil and buffed off, was quite warm still. not as neatly as i'd like but i was on my lunch break! half that i used heat gun off did look slightly more solid black in flesh.








going to try and give car a wash tonight and see how it looks in the morning.

I just used hot air gun very gently for first 5/10 minutes heating the whole strip, then as was getting through lunch break moved in a bit to get the final colour change, but always moving the heat gun in small circles.

how long it lasts is the next question!


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## Glasgow_Gio (Mar 24, 2008)

Was the paint around the strips happy with the heat?


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## Ziggy122 (Sep 9, 2008)

Ag Bumper care stuff restored mine to that sort of colour
i'd be g;ad to see heat gunning tho as a more perminant fix to discoloured parts....

Ziggy


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## Awol (Jun 29, 2007)

I have used AG before and nail brush and ground nut oil before, but never had it last long. this is why I had a go with heat gun, sort of as last test before I think about spraying them satin black - dont like colour coded on this car - or buying new plastics

i was worried about paint around which is why i started warmign whole area first. it seemed ok, still had shine, but thats why i want to wash tonight, feeling the plastic I dont think it got much hotter than it does around the exhaust tailpipe. or than black paint feels in sun!


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

does anyone know if warming the plastics with a hair dryer before applying dressings will help. (dont have a heat gun)


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## Awol (Jun 29, 2007)

not sure, I got my heat gun in lidl for abotu 5/6 quid though I think! still half the price a bottle of Black Wow! just have to see if it lasts though


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## martyp (Oct 24, 2006)

Christian6984 said:


> does anyone know if warming the plastics with a hair dryer before applying dressings will help. (dont have a heat gun)


It was a while ago but I remember reading L200Steve's thread when he got the Hi-Lux the he applied CG Trim Gel then heated it up with a heatgun/hairdryer and it made it last longer.

I did try it on my last car which had unpainted trim and it did last about one month compared to 1 - 2 weeks. So you could give that a go! :thumb:


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## mart.h. (Jan 12, 2008)

ive just done my old mans combo bumper with a heat gun and some cg trim gel 
so ill see how long it lasts and post some results :thumb:


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## INWARD123 (Oct 28, 2007)

WARNING !! Using a heat gun does cause the plastic to become more brittle and it will go grey again over time! best to use either a paint or treatment. However if you mot planning to keep the car it's ok


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## gug54321 (Apr 30, 2008)

this will be a temporary quick fix for the problem, it will go grey again quite quickly im afraid!


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## theshrew (May 21, 2008)

Here is something i found out a long time ago by accident ( before i new about detailing ) 

When i first past my test i had a Nova SR which was black. Im sure some of you no the bumpers, bump strips and Door handles on the Nova's used to really really fade. Anyway I used to polish it with that Turtle Wax Colour Magic stuff :tumbleweed. One day spilt a big blob on my door handle which i tried to wipe off but actually spred it along the handle a bit. I just left it thought it would wash off next few weekends, it didnt. I left it like this for a while still didnt come off so thought id cover the hole handle in the polish. I put loads on left it for a 10 min or so then wiped off. Job done Handle was black and didnt really fade. Must be a dye in the polish. 

I must stress i didnt ever put it on my bumpers as they were supposed to dark grey not black, but im sure it would work, and never needed to do it since. Why not get a test strip from scrappy or something and try it out. Or just do a small dab on the car see what you think.


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