Black gloss trim troubles

[Machine154]

Only 6k miles on this Jeep Grand Cherokee, but the gloss black trim is nothing but troubles. I’ve done a mix of foam cannon / bucket washes and a few waterless washes. This is the rear that also gets the dirtiest. I finally figured out how to get rid of the cloudiness near the exhaust. My cleaners weren’t working until I hit it liberally with bug and tar remover and light repeated agitation.

Cloudiness near the exhaust - do you think it would be better to avoid any polish here? Not sure if it might be making it worse.

Micro scratches - do I need to give up on waterless washes? I’ve been super careful but still getting scratching.

These blotchy spots - any idea what they’re from? I guarantee you I’m not dropping stuff on it. I’m wondering if road debris is hitting it from swirling air at highway speeds. With 6k only, do I need to accept that this panel will just be trashed, else I’ll end up polishing through the clear coat?


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[rlmccarty2000]

That picture looks pretty bad. What products are you using to protect it? Which waterless wash are you using? Technique? Towels? Use a lot of wash solution and wet towels and you shouldn’t be getting much marring. The towels could be the problem. Sounds like a coating should be in your future.

[Machine154]

That picture looks pretty bad. What products are you using to protect it? Which waterless wash are you using? Technique? Towels? Use a lot of wash solution and wet towels and you shouldn’t be getting much marring. The towels could be the problem. Sounds like a coating should be in your future.

I’m using the tri-color pack MF towels from AG. I picked up 1 spray bottle of Mother’s waterless just to try the whole waterless thing. The horizontal micro scratches are from washing I believe but not those other marks. I’ve still using up some Zaino I had on the shelf for polish. No visible problems on regular silver paint for the rest of the vehicle. I’m using the roll your hand technique with 1/4 of the MF towel at a time and followed by another dry towel to buff.


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[DaveT435]

If it's anything like the stuff on my wife's truck or neighbor's Honda it scratches if you look at it wrong. It's one of the softest materials I've seen. If you polish it out, put a good coating then be extremely careful when Washing that area you can avoid the scratches.
Maybe someone else has something that has worked besides a coating...

[PaulMys]

Hard to believe any manufacturer would let this be installed. Did they not take into account that this material would be touched/washed during the vehicles life span?

[itsgn]

These blotchy spots - any idea what they’re from? I guarantee you I’m not dropping stuff on it. I’m wondering if road debris is hitting it from swirling air at highway speeds. With 6k only, do I need to accept that this panel will just be trashed, else I’ll end up polishing through the clear coat?

To me this looks like the outer coat - whatever that was - would be already seriously damaged (actually, fully gone at the white patchy areas), and it would be the inner plastic material showing through. If it's that, you obviously can do nothing, but repaint the part, if it's painted. Or buy a new one, if it's coated with something else, like some rubber-like or a colored plastic material.