205 Hit exterior trim treatment

I

ipb205

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Hi, what products are people using on the grey exterior trim and bumpers etc to bring it back to life?
The UK forums talk about Plasticare but I'd rather find a local product.
I've tried Bowdens Vinyl care but it just coats the existing rather than darkening the trim as per original.
Hints and tips welcome thanks. It's for a 92 Sorrento Green GTi.

Sent from my SM-G960F using aussiefrogs mobile app
 
You will want a more black than grey colour. A 92 should have essentially black trim.

Try get some ‘Back to Black’ trim dye on them. Its also good to clean them properly first and remove any muck.
 
This is what I like using.

Remove the red trims so you can clean them separately and so you don't get dye on them.
73651ce45d91df454874b50038354f93.jpg
 
I have also used forever Black
Had to go around 6 coats to achieve the desired effect.
You should also apply in swirls or continuous strokes to avoid streaks
 

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I used to use aerospace 303 or the Autoglym bumper stuff. Both worked really well, but I’d reapply after each wash to maintain.

9cda5eb4e997b2a916510ecdc0426dd6.jpg
 
I think I have applied once in the last three years. Still looks good. But my car is always garaged which obviously helps.
 
ipb205 said:
Are the red trims easy to remove without damaging?
Click to expand...

Generally it's not hard, except for the little ones directly behind the front wheel arch - don't even try removing those as you'll bend them every time and you can't replace them easily any more.

Look carefully at the other side trims and you'll see that each one has one end that is bent over and the other end is open (hopefully this will make sense when you look at them). You need to gently lever the closed end of the trim out of the channel its sits in and slide it sideways so the whole trim slides sideways off the plastic clips that hold it.

The bumper trims are held much the same way, but I find it easiest to find where the clips are that hold the trim onto the bumper and carefully lever the whole clip out of the bumper rather than risk bending the red trim. The plastic clips can be replaced if you break one but an original red bumper trim is unobtanium.

Others may have better tips on how to do this, but you'll work it out...

Post up some photos for us.
 
Last edited:
Great advice. Ive also managed with small screw drivers to slide the clips aside. Good tip
 
cam85 said:
https://www.205gtidrivers.com/forums/topic/89268-removing-and-fitting-new-trim/
Click to expand...

That link is discussing completely removing the whole black trims. You don't really need to do that just to recolour them - you can generally just lever up the edges enough just to get some masking tape in there to protect the paint from the black dye. If you really want to take them off, the door trims come off pretty easily. The wheel arches, however, are tricky and at some point require taking a deep breath and pulling. You'll always break clips so you need a new set handy. If all you are doing is cleaning and re-dying, I wouldn't do it. Just taking the red trims off should be enough and mask up the outer edges.
 
True.

Mine all beed to come off to scrub off the old paint job thats flaking off! Ive got a trim clip kit which will help with all the potential breakages. I like the ‘take a deep breath and pull’ statement. Couldnt be more appropriate.

Cam
 
When renovating plastic trim, I always just use a heat gun.
It restores the trim almost to original. True, it does fade again over the next couple years, but lasts better than most products. A producty that completely coats the trim to provide a new surface might be better, but none of the products that are supposed to retore shine or renovate the trim work nearly as well.
 
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