What do you guys use to clean/restore/darken your bump strip plastics?

The front and rear strips are laquered but the side strips are not and are starting to look tired and grey in places. I've used various things on other cars I've had in the past including WD40, back-to-black, tyre/plastic dressing and they end up either dry and greyer then before or slick and sticky.

Any other ideas?

Same for the window surround plastics too.

I use Autoglym Plastic & Rubber Gel and I am quite happy with the results usually stays nice and back for about a month.  I am sure there are better products on the market tho.........

Gav  

Does it dry matt or glossy? Does it clean up over-polish?

Yeah it drys in matt, and the gel wipes off the paint work no problem not leaving any marks. 

You can buy a Autoglym tester pack from Halfords to try there different products, there are a few good ones in there also a few crap ones thats where i first found it.  Its definitely better than any spray i have ever used.

Hope this helps.

Gav  

I'm after something which isn't too shiny but nice, clean, and no stains on the body work.

I'll give the Autoglym stuff a whirl, I use their polishes but I've been trying to move away from them because of the way it stains my plastics.

Thanks for the advice

M3Nally wrote: I use 303 Aerospace Protectant from MIke Milbourne at The Polishing Company. Excellent stuff, use it on vinyl, rubber, plastic, leather, fibreglass. It lasts ages and doesn't give a shiny finish like some.

Sounds Good, need to give it a shot.

Gav 

For an 'as new' finish, it's actually surprisingly cheap to replace the plastics on the outside of the car. I've done it on a couple of BMW's and they are generally between 5 & 10 pounds each.

By the time you've spent loads of cash on cleaning products, it could be the best option!

Tires/Rubber Trim: There are two main degrading agents that attack tires. They are UV light waves and ozone. Both of these attack the long hydrocarbon chains of the rubber and by breaking these chemical bonds, shorten the molecules with resulting loss of elasticity and other problems. Tire manufacturers add two primary sacrificial protectants to the rubber. To protect against UV, they add carbon black. The carbon black will turn white/gray as it absorbs the UV and dissipates the energy as heat. Thus the basis of rubber parts turning gray as they age. To protect against ozone, tire manufacturers add a wax based sacrificial protectant. The ozone attacks the wax and depletes it. As the tire rolls, additional wax is forced to the surface of the tire. This is referred to as "blooming". This blooming refreshes the surface wax protectant. A tire that has not been flexed will have the wax depleted by the ozone and thus begin to degrade and suffer "dry rot". The silicone oil in Armoural may actually dissolve the wax and be the cause of premature tire side wall cracking/failure. In conclusion, any tire dressing should contain a UV protectant to bolster the efforts of the carbon black and preferably not contain any silicone.

Plastics/Vinyls: The dash, door panels, seat backs, and numerous other interior/exterior trim pieces are usually vinyl. Vinyl may be viewed as raw semi-liquid vinyls that are held in place by a solid vinyl "skin". The dash and other vinyl parts are constantly bombarded by UV that breaks down the molecules of the skin, allowing the raw vinyls to escape (off-gassing). These vinyls then may deposit themselves on the glass, forming a haze that is difficult to remove. Silicone based products do not usually contain UV protectants, and the silicone may act as a magnifying glass, intensifying the UV degradation. Silicone oil may also dissolve the essential oils in the vinyl skin, hastening the premature formation of cracks in the vinyl skin. Silicone will also attract dust. A quality vinyl protectant, (although expensive), will contain a UV protectant and essential oils to replace lost oils from the vinyl.

Bottom line...303 is an excellant choice.

Hope this is helpfull..

Cheers,

Jim