Restoring plastic (side vents)

**cay7man** · 08-27-2017, 02:04 PM

I messed up during air scoop installation on my car. Then I went onto make more mess by removing the side vents
for cleaning during all the glue/epoxy mess made I made during installation.

During cleanup I tried plastic deep cleaner, 3M adhesive remover etc. For some reason, the vent plastic turned
into like this.

How do I restore this to black?

Restoring plastic (side vents)-img_4680-jpg

**LSNAutoDetailing** · 08-27-2017, 02:21 PM

Good closeup shot, can we get a shot from 3' away for a perspective?

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First hit it with some APC to make sure it's clean.

**DaveT435** · 08-27-2017, 02:25 PM

When it's wet does it look like it's supposed to??

**cay7man** · 08-27-2017, 05:55 PM

here it is from 3' and also the other side which was OK job. Could have been more snug fit. I screwed it up in couple of places. I could see the white glue

Restoring plastic (side vents)-img_4682-jpg

Restoring plastic (side vents)-img_4687-jpg

(sorry I don't know why the pictures orientation change after I insert them)

I think it doesn't look black when wet. It was block yesterday though. Will confirm

@LSN, any of those are permanent fix?

**DaveT435** · 08-27-2017, 06:15 PM

Ok, so let me make sure I understand what happened. You removed the vents and did some repair on then using some sort of adhesive, then you removed the excess adhesive with some sort of solvent?? I'm trying to figure out exactly what I'm looking at.

**cay7man** · 08-27-2017, 06:22 PM

I had perfectly fine vents. I tried to install the air scoops myself. It required applying glue to the edge of it. For better fit, I used some epoxy as well. The install went OK on one side. Though the fit wasn't perfect with bit exposed glue etc. The picture is above. The other side install was pretty bad. After I put the scoop over the vent I was keep adjusting it for good fit. After an hour or so, I ended up pulling it out. At this point, the glue and epoxy were all over the vent and body panel. I scrapped off as much as I could. Then used 3M adhesive remover, goof off, and APC ( all the chemicals I could find in the garage) to remove the rest. In the process I made damages to the vent plastic insert (not shown here), grille, body panel and the vent shown.

**DaveT435** · 08-27-2017, 07:12 PM

Ok. Now I see. It looked like something that was sprayed on there that caused the problem. Do you happen to have any Optimum Hyper Polish?? I would try polishing first. Hyper Polish would be ideal. If you have a microfiber applicator that would probably work. If you see improvement but it's next to none move up to a light compound. If you see descent improvement with the polish keep going until you have the desired results. If you get no improvement then I would try covering in up with another product. With the difference in colors I do think you'll be completely happy just trying to cover it up. I haven't had much success with that type of product when you have multiple colors, maybe others have??

**LSNAutoDetailing** · 08-27-2017, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by cay7man

here it is from 3' and also the other side which was OK job. Could have been more snug fit. I screwed it up in couple of places. I could see the white glue

(sorry I don't know why the pictures orientation change after I insert them)

I think it doesn't look black when wet. It was block yesterday though. Will confirm

@LSN, any of those are permanent fix?

Technically your post is "restoring plastic" but this is a repair not resto.

Thanks for the better photo... if that's glue on the vent, my suggestion above will not work.

I don't think a compound is going to remove the glue resin, especially if it's textured plastic.

You may want to try a mineral spirit... but do a small test spot first... Perhaps a touch of heat..

You may want to contact Porsche dealer. It may just require a new scoop insert.

Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app

**DaveT435** · 08-27-2017, 08:54 PM

Originally Posted by LSNAutoDetailing

Technically your post is "restoring plastic" but this is a repair not resto.

Thanks for the better photo... if that's glue on the vent, my suggestion above will not work.

I don't think a compound is going to remove the glue resin, especially if it's textured plastic.

You may want to try a mineral spirit... but do a small test spot first... Perhaps a touch of heat..

You may want to contact Porsche dealer. It may just require a new scoop insert.

Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app

It doesn't look like glue to me, it looks like something he used to remove the glue dis colored the plastic. You can see where whatever he used was running down, I'm on an iPad and can't see it real clearly, but that's what is looks like to me.

**cay7man** · 08-27-2017, 09:54 PM

LSN & Dave - I was not saying that was glue. The glue/epoxy damage is around the plastic on the body panel. You might be able to see it. This discoloured plastic I believe was due to one of the chemical I used (method APC, 3M adhesive remover, griot's paint prep, car pro ironx). I was basically reaching out to all the chemicals I could to get the glue and epoxy out from the area surrounding the vent. I for sure didn't use any paint thinner or acetone though I had them around.

Wondering if I could simply paint that insert? This thing already out of my budget. I should have taken to a pro for install. OEM scoops cost close to $1500. These scoops are from directcartoys. Their method of installation is using glue. OEM part install requires whole vent assembly install and screwing to it.

I damaged one of the scoop as well. I'll have to order another one tomorrow.