A4 1.8tqm
03-01-2010, 12:55 PM
I have finally started to work on my Dads 1996 BMW 328i. This is the car I reffered to the condition as "Makes me cry at night" in the thread http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/19984-paint-hardness-log.html. This little adventure is one of many soon to come write ups involving this car. Today we get to see some stuff that didn't work and some stuff that did... Let's begin :)
The plastic door pillars on this car are terribly faded and gray looking. They are a hard and smooth plastic, I don't think I really have anything intended for this but we'll see what can be done.
Before:
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3674.jpg
WG on left pillar only, wasn't the results I'm looking for. If I remember correctly I had a really hard time getting a final wipe to be clean and streak free. (Time to move the dual 500w halogens back a few feet)
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3675.jpg
I grabbed a bunch of stuff from the "Good Products shelves" inside:
WG DGPS, Megs Cleaner Wax, Poor Boy's Trim Restorer, Chemical Guy's VRP, DoDo Red mist, Opti-Bond, XMT 360, AutoGlym HD Wax, Klasse AIO & SG, DP Max Wax and Pinnacle Souveran.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3679.jpg
After applying and removing each product the only thing that really left the hard plastic looking darker was CG VRP. Until a quick clean-up wipe with a light dilution of ONR, after that all of the test areas lost most of any significant benefit to appearance.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3687.jpg
Discouraged, I looked around for something else to try and spotted Megs Hot Shine tire spray on the "OTC Products Shelves" in the garage. I decided to give the pillars an IPA wipe down and try it. It looked great! and was easy to wipe streak free, but again a quick wipe down destroyed the results.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3694.jpg
I'm looking for more permanent results, like you can achieve by polishing. I figured that I may as well try, XMT 360 says its for plastic so I went with it. IPA wipe down again then tape off a test section. Polish was used with a 6.5" LC White Flat Pad on my Flex 3401. Spread at low speed, work at high, finish medium.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3780.jpg
50/50 shot... Of course
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3789.jpg
A nice close-up
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3786.jpg
From a distance
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3791.jpg
And a final shot dressed with my favorite, PB TR.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3832.jpg
I will keep this updated with longevity results. Any recommendations for better products to dress this type of plastic is welcomed and appreciated, along with all constructive criticism. :dblthumb2:
Here's a teaser pic from the most recent work I've done on this car.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3997.jpg
The plastic door pillars on this car are terribly faded and gray looking. They are a hard and smooth plastic, I don't think I really have anything intended for this but we'll see what can be done.
Before:
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3674.jpg
WG on left pillar only, wasn't the results I'm looking for. If I remember correctly I had a really hard time getting a final wipe to be clean and streak free. (Time to move the dual 500w halogens back a few feet)
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3675.jpg
I grabbed a bunch of stuff from the "Good Products shelves" inside:
WG DGPS, Megs Cleaner Wax, Poor Boy's Trim Restorer, Chemical Guy's VRP, DoDo Red mist, Opti-Bond, XMT 360, AutoGlym HD Wax, Klasse AIO & SG, DP Max Wax and Pinnacle Souveran.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3679.jpg
After applying and removing each product the only thing that really left the hard plastic looking darker was CG VRP. Until a quick clean-up wipe with a light dilution of ONR, after that all of the test areas lost most of any significant benefit to appearance.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3687.jpg
Discouraged, I looked around for something else to try and spotted Megs Hot Shine tire spray on the "OTC Products Shelves" in the garage. I decided to give the pillars an IPA wipe down and try it. It looked great! and was easy to wipe streak free, but again a quick wipe down destroyed the results.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3694.jpg
I'm looking for more permanent results, like you can achieve by polishing. I figured that I may as well try, XMT 360 says its for plastic so I went with it. IPA wipe down again then tape off a test section. Polish was used with a 6.5" LC White Flat Pad on my Flex 3401. Spread at low speed, work at high, finish medium.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3780.jpg
50/50 shot... Of course
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3789.jpg
A nice close-up
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3786.jpg
From a distance
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3791.jpg
And a final shot dressed with my favorite, PB TR.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3832.jpg
I will keep this updated with longevity results. Any recommendations for better products to dress this type of plastic is welcomed and appreciated, along with all constructive criticism. :dblthumb2:
Here's a teaser pic from the most recent work I've done on this car.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii437/dave22234/BMW/IMG_3997.jpg