keeping pillars black?

[Cloggy Saint]

How do you people keep your exterior door pillars nice and black? Mine are a nasty grey colour but I can't be arsed removing and painting them.

[touringandy]

would be good to find an answer on this because av tried a few products on these with bad results
most absorb leaving dull marks or finger prints an back 2 black gels leave residue ie grease marks...............

[siddiqi1]

a friend of mine tried black kiwi shoe polish and got very good results on his mk3 gti arches.

Now whether this would work on the E30 i am not sure, a suggestion though

I suffer from this problem too, jsut bought some "back to black gel" see how they comes up?!!

Regards

Saboor

[Cloggy Saint]

I think the gti arches would be much more absorbant than the pillar trims and probably give a better result with the shoe polish.

[E30BeemerLad]

I've heard about people bringing plastic arches and bumper trims back to black by using a heat gun on them. Wierd or what.

[Kos]

i used a polishing compound and they come up nice, G10 by fareclea (sp) and then some autoglym super resin polish keeps it black for a bit !

[maxfield]

I've heard about people bringing plastic arches and bumper trims back to black by using a heat gun on them. Wierd or what.

Works a treat

[Cloggy Saint]

I heard the heat gun method, but doesn't that only work on the softer plastics? The pillar covers are much harder. In fact, aren't they metal? I'm sure I have some rust on one of mine.

[Kos]

I heard the heat gun method, but doesn't that only work on the softer plastics? The pillar covers are much harder. In fact, aren't they metal? I'm sure I have some rust on one of mine.

correct they are metal. try using a polish which you have lying around. an abrasive one normaly works well and removes any crap thats causing the surface to discolour

[Cloggy Saint]

T-cut?

[Kos]

T-cut?

yea, give it a go mate.

[Cloggy Saint]

Cheers, and god help anyone that leans on it when i'm done

[Kos]

Cheers, and god help anyone that leans on it when i'm done

indeed !!

i'm due a trip to the dam, i'll come a find it just to lean on it when i'm hammered ! LoL

[harry_p]

yep, i just polished mine up with some mild abrasive bodywork polish i had laying around, still faded after a while but looked nice and glossy for longer than any blackening gell type products i've used before have done.

[E30Mark]

Mop & polish, it's just oxidised paint that need removing...

[touringandy]

a friend of mine tried black kiwi shoe polish and got very good results on his mk3 gti arches.

Now whether this would work on the E30 i am not sure, a suggestion though

I suffer from this problem too, jsut bought some "back to black gel" see how they comes up?!!

Regards

Saboor

to use kiwi is a cheap version of bak to black for bumpers mate diff type of coating altogether on door pillars kiwi is good on bumper inserts just dont rub past them lol good suggestion though its an old secret of mine wen valeting to bring back black plastic properly

[Cotty]

I have used Meguires Gold Class Trim Detailer on mine and it works very well. I know its painted and not plastic but it works for me and brings up the door handles which are also painted

[BMracing]

I used t cut on mine and then some good polish (meguiars tech wax, the same as I use on the rest of my paintwork) and the came up very nicely. Had to work pretty hard with the t cut though, probably would have been better off with G10.

[dom-1984-320i]

I have used Meguires Gold Class Trim Detailer on mine and it works very well. I know its painted and not plastic but it works for me and brings up the door handles which are also painted

SNAP! works a treat and lasts a while too. give it a couple of coats and make sure its dry in between. 7 quid well spent if you ask me

[DavieP]

I've had to do mine since they become quite greyish. I've got some black T Cut colour restorer (Car Plan) which I had for a previous car and give them a good work out with that. I then finished with a coat of Car Plan Black Trim Wax. I first did this in April '06 and it lasted until May this year. Although they didn't really need it, I gave the pillars another coat of just the trim wax today to 'top up' the sheen and see them through the winter. My door handles aren't as bad and just need an occasional lick of trim wax to remove any smudges. The black rubber insert in the boot spoiler also gets an occasional polish with trim wax, which keeps it looking neat for 6 months or so.

[siddiqi1]

siddiqi1 wrote:
a friend of mine tried black kiwi shoe polish and got very good results on his mk3 gti arches.

Now whether this would work on the E30 i am not sure, a suggestion though

I suffer from this problem too, jsut bought some "back to black gel" see how they comes up?!!

Regards

Saboor


to use kiwi is a cheap version of bak to black for bumpers mate diff type of coating altogether on door pillars kiwi is good on bumper inserts just dont rub past them lol good suggestion though its an old secret of mine wen valeting to bring back black plastic properly

I agree, tis cheap, havent even tried it myself, bit scared to tbh.........but good old polish i think should do the trick!!!

Saboor

[abelai]

If you really want them looking like new and you've replaced everything else on the car then they are not that expensive from bmw £70ish for all 4

[touringandy]

all 4, which 4, does this include the door surrounds ie the bits that go right around and along the bottom of the winows , rear part of the touring window sections, theres more than 4 just on a saloon

[abelai]

Thats the main upright sections on the doors and b-pillars

[abelai]

Have a look here

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=51&fg=20

It would get expensive if you replaced all of them

[Cloggy Saint]

Just gave them the T-cut treatment, the difference is night and day!

[Kos]

cool !!

[touringandy]

Thats the main upright sections on the doors and b-pillars

wasnt trying to sound funny there thought it may come all complete would be very expensive i imagine lol

[hennabm]

I have used Meguires Gold Class Trim Detailer on mine and it works very well. I know its painted and not plastic but it works for me and brings up the door handles which are also painted

I'll second that. I have tried Autoglym bumper care, polish, Meguiars NXT wax but the best I have found so far is the trim detailer.


The black bits are just covers that go over the main door frame and the window frame.