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Heat gun to restore faded plastic - before and after pics
Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:01 pm
by h7fal
There was a thread on here recently that mentioned a heat gun could be used to colour black plastic trim back to black. I decided to give it a go and here are the pics to prove the surprisingly decent results.
Before:
Middle:
After:
And after a bit of trim gel has been used:
Re: Heat gun to resroe faded plastic - before and after pics
Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:03 pm
by skipunda
I bet your quite pleased with that. One question- does it bubble the plastic, even if only slightly?
Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:10 pm
by h7fal
Yeah, you've got to be quite careful not to heat it for too long. Best way I found was just to keep waving it past. I have a couple of slight burn marks on the corners but looks fine.
Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:12 pm
by skipunda
h7fal wrote:Yeah, you've got to be quite careful not to heat it for too long. Best way I found was just to keep waving it past. I have a couple of slight burn marks on the corners but looks fine.
to be honest though, for the price of some second hand ones if you balls it up it's not all that bad ay.
well done
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:17 pm
by bobbin1982
I tcut mine and they came up a treat.But that method seems to have worked too .. Nice one
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:25 am
by grantfk10
I'm sure I've got a heat-gun in the garage somewhere..........
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:23 pm
by Alex
i did the same on my corsa and made the light grey plastics go black again,
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:30 pm
by ImysE30
Is there a way of getting rid of deep scratch marks on the trims?
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:30 pm
by Alex
ImysE30 wrote:Is there a way of getting rid of deep scratch marks on the trims?
buy new ones
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:37 pm
by ImysE30
Alex wrote:ImysE30 wrote:Is there a way of getting rid of deep scratch marks on the trims?
buy new ones
Are they expensive? Tried black to black for a short term fix
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:38 pm
by Alex
Around £20 each new from the dealers i think
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:49 pm
by ImysE30
Cheers Alex
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:52 pm
by Alex
might be a bit cheaper with cotswold discount
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:30 am
by richy187
I used morrisons liquid scuff remover (shoe polish) works a treat and costs 88 pence. Did it once on my old golf as well, it lasted the remaining 8 months I owned it without the need to be re-done
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 1:26 am
by gareth
Alex wrote:i did the same on my corsa and made the light grey plastics go black again,
they're the worst for it! the bumpers end up grey and splotchy, the arch trims almost white!
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:23 pm
by Alex
gareth wrote:Alex wrote:i did the same on my corsa and made the light grey plastics go black again,
they're the worst for it! the bumpers end up grey and splotchy, the arch trims almost white!
terrible arnt they, luckily mine wasnt too bad to start with, some had been changed by the previous owner
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:29 pm
by gooner1
H,mm wonder if the heat gun would revive the red plastic in the seat belt holders............
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:35 pm
by Alex
gooner1 wrote:H,mm wonder if the heat gun would revive the red plastic in the seat belt holders............
good idea, will try that tomorrow if it stops bloody raining
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:41 pm
by gooner1
Alex wrote:gooner1 wrote:H,mm wonder if the heat gun would revive the red plastic in the seat belt holders............
good idea, will try that tomorrow if it stops bloody raining
Good man Alex, let me know how you get on...... no point in both of us buggering up our seatbelts.....
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:47 pm
by Alex
gooner1 wrote:Alex wrote:gooner1 wrote:H,mm wonder if the heat gun would revive the red plastic in the seat belt holders............
good idea, will try that tomorrow if it stops bloody raining
Good man Alex, let me know how you get on...... no point in both of us buggering up our seatbelts.....
or seats haha
might try it on a spare, ive got an odd beige comfort seat in the attic for some reason
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:48 pm
by asmith88
i used black trim wax, worked a treat
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Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:49 pm
by h7fal
gooner1 wrote:H,mm wonder if the heat gun would revive the red plastic in the seat belt holders............
I did actually try it on my old seat belt holders just after the success in the photos. It does work (sort of) but not sure I'd want to do it attached to the seats.
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Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:03 pm
by DaveM42
I gave the heat gun treatment to my old D-plate Jetta (sorry non e30) and it looked like I had got new plastics.
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 11:45 am
by Martinaston
So does it work on the facelift bumpers and wingmirrors ?
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 2:46 pm
by Simon13
dunno but i'm going to try my headlamp grills!
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 3:04 pm
by E30Mark
Worked lovely on my T4 van too!
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:57 pm
by scootlife
Do you reckon a hairdryer on max heat might do the trick ???
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 9:18 am
by lenny-d
there's an old fella near my mum and dads and he had this same problem with his 200 year old Passat, the cure... 1 tin of black paint and a big fook off paint brush, didn't look bad from 50 yards