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Author Topic: Discoloured grille  (Read 5489 times)

MPS

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Discoloured grille
« on: February 13, 2011, 12:23:46 pm »
Hi

I have a problem with my honeycomb front grille (the bit with the gti badge on) in that it seems to have discoloured from the normal black colour to a sort of bluey grey colour, has anyone else had this problem? Really odd and it stands out a mile compared to the lower grilles which are still black.

I think it may be down to the previous owner living near to the sea and the sea air / salt, that and sunlight that has degraded it.

Finally does anyone know of a decent product that will restore the original black colour to the plastic?

Any thoughts / suggestions gratefully appreciated

Cheers!

Matt   :happy2:

I'll get a photo up to show the discolouration in a bit once its stopped blowing and raining outside (nesh-boy, lol)
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Offline stealthwolf

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2011, 01:31:30 pm »
(Black) plastics naturally discolour and fade over time. This can be accelerated by various processes/chemicals eg strong traffic film remover. Fading black plastics are easier to restore. There are a zillion threads on this subject. Discoloured areas are a bit more difficult.

Pics would be immensely helpful.
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MPS

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2011, 02:35:01 pm »
Just had a look at G-Techniq's site, looks like their C4 Permanent Trim Restorer would do the trick, not cheap though!
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Offline RedRobin

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2011, 02:39:19 pm »
.
I had that problem a long time ago and it turned out to be the cleaner I was using. IIRC it was a bug spray/cream at fault. I think I restored it with elbow grease and Back-to-Black and now only use Meg's shampoo or Quik Detailer on the grills.
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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2011, 02:49:46 pm »
Thanks for the replies guys  :happy2: I think I've got some back to black in t'shed so I'll try that first! Resent forking out loadsamonies for this problem!
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Offline RedRobin

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2011, 02:59:43 pm »
^^^^
Thanks for the thanks  :happy2:

Let us know if Back-to-Black does the trick. It's a loooong time since I did it but I recall it took some persistence.
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Offline ub7rm

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2011, 03:34:43 pm »
Failing all that take it off and use a heat gun, not so close to melt it obviously but just enough to get the plastic to turn.  Best trying it out on a mates car first  :grin:

edit:

Like so,

http://www.eastsidevw.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2309&p=25008&hilit=heat+gun#p25008

guess it depends on if the plastic is suitable for this treatment.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2011, 03:38:09 pm by ub7rm »
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Offline VC

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2011, 05:20:20 pm »
Quote from: ub7rm on February 13, 2011, 03:34:43 pm
Failing all that take it off and use a heat gun, not so close to melt it obviously but just enough to get the plastic to turn.  Best trying it out on a mates car first  :grin:

edit:

Like so,

http://www.eastsidevw.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2309&p=25008&hilit=heat+gun#p25008

guess it depends on if the plastic is suitable for this treatment.

well i never... clever trick that  :pomppomp:
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Offline apollo13

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2011, 05:20:25 pm »
When I did my front end conversion to the facelift GT Sport style grilles I bought the lower 3 grilles new from the stealer and the main grille from ebay.

When I had them all together the main grille was noticably lighter in colour. I rang around a few places and did a bit of reading (mostly on US forums) and the product they all raved about was SEM Bumper Coat. SEM is well known in the SMART repair world apparently.

Its a spray but not paint, more like a dye. It was easy to apply and the grille matched the others perfectly. 10k miles on and a pretty bad winter it looks just the same as it did the day it was sprayed.

I think it was about £12 a can but I only used half a can at the most.

I had trouble getting hold of it as its a US product but it does come up on ebay now and then or try somewhere that supplies SMART repair consumables.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2011, 05:31:17 pm by apollo13 »
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Offline stealthwolf

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2011, 05:48:52 pm »
Using a heat gun is fine if the plastic has faded, but am not sure how it would affect the discolouration.
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Offline RedRobin

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2011, 06:01:26 pm »
^^^^
Personally I wouldn't be inclined to trust a heat gun on any bodywork cosmetics.
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Offline craigy123

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2011, 07:37:11 pm »
Autosmart smart trim, it's an aerosol. Simple and effective and cheap as chips. It's what I use on mine anyway.
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MPS

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #12 on: March 12, 2011, 04:02:13 pm »
Hi Guys, a few weeks on and I've fitted my black badge which really makes the fading plastics stand out really bad!!  :surprised:  :sick:



Horrid isn't it!

The SEM bumper coat sounds good, does anyone know of a UK stockist of this product?
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Offline keith

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #13 on: March 12, 2011, 06:02:31 pm »
For that you want something that has an oil in it as sprays may not last that long, something like Valetpro Trim Glitz, would be a bit of graft getting on those honeycombs.
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Offline apollo13

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Re: Discoloured grille
« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2011, 06:20:12 pm »
As said before this is what I used on mine

http://colourmatchcentre.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=33&products_id=248

Its used for greying bumper plastics but i found it matched my oem fog grilles perfectly.


« Last Edit: March 12, 2011, 06:29:06 pm by apollo13 »
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