Black honey combed grill?

[Chris92]

I put 303 on my grills the other day when I got a chance to clean my car.
so i'll see how long it lasts.

How's it holding up, still going strong?

[xjay1337]

Haven't had a chance to clean the car as I've been working hideous hours in London, what free time I had was spent on another car 
This weekend will hopefully bring a bit of time for a clean and I'll report back with some pics!

[DiZzYGT!]

I plasti dipped my previous car's grill, lower grill and fog light grills and lasted over a year without one stone chip and hardly faded at all. Make sure you buy the genuine stuff though as there are a lot of water downed fakes about on eBay etc.

[Spankiee]

Just used C4 On my front grills they look amazing once again

[NathED30]

Just used C4 On my front grills they look amazing once again

Hi mate I'm looking to get some c4 soon, what did u use to apply it in the small areas of grill?


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[swgti]

It'll no doubt be massively frowned upon  but I just used some "back to black" type trim restorer I had lying around, it was either Car plan or turtle wax, the grill looked fantastic and to be honest it lasted until I sold the car about 12mths later.

[Spankiee]

I used cotton wool bud things for your ears. Just keep swapping for a fresh one then buff off with a cheap micro fibre.

[Broomy]

Did my grills with autoglym trim restorer almost 2 weeks ago, what a PITA they are. Starting to fade already though so won't be buying it again in a hurry.

[Chris92]

I washed my Car on Saturday night then on Sunday morning I decided to try some 303 aerospace on my gti front grill, wasn't sure on best way to apply so I just sprayed on then with a brush I worked it in all the cracks then finally I used a towel and dried up what was left.

All looked good but next morning it seems to have gone back to grey   any ideas? Maybes how I applied it or I was thinking next time I should use a apc on the grill first and see it the 303 lasts this time.

[Scottymon]

'Carplan tyre slik' creates a really black glossy finish that lasts quite well... I'm sure there's more specific products though...

[xjay1337]

I washed my Car on Saturday night then on Sunday morning I decided to try some 303 aerospace on my gti front grill, wasn't sure on best way to apply so I just sprayed on then with a brush I worked it in all the cracks then finally I used a towel and dried up what was left.

All looked good but next morning it seems to have gone back to grey   any ideas? Maybes how I applied it or I was thinking next time I should use a apc on the grill first and see it the 303 lasts this time.

Make sure the plastics are dry... spray it on and leave it for like an hour then wipe off any excess ..

[Frenzy]

Posted in General section but worth posting here too. I used Poorboy's APC.

Suffice to say it required some TLC   this is how it looked before using Poorboy's APC:



So i set to work with Meg's QD to ensure a workable clean surface and then went back over the grill, getting into all those wonderful honeycombs with the Poorboy's APC. Once applied I buffed it off with a fresh dry microfibre cloth.

This is one half of the upper grill done (compare and contrast for a before and after):



And this is job [nearly] done:
EDIT this is actually a wider shot of half the grill done and half of the grill in poor condition - thought my workmanship was looking a bit shoddy compared with my usual standards   


Or at least job done for now because it's such a mind numbing task. Having spent about an hour on the upper section of the grill (it was in a poor condition not only colour-wise but also in terms of grit and dirt build up in all the cracks and crevices) I couldn't bring myself to tackle the bottom section so I'll leave that for tomorrow.  

That should last for about a month or so before it slowly begins to fade once more.

Looking at the photos i'll probably have to go over it again to see if i can get a slightly better finish. It's much better than it was but once you start improving something the goal quickly becomes perfection or as close as damn it!  

[Chris92]

^^ isn't poorboys apc just a all purpose cleaner and not a dressing? Have you use just the apc and nothing else? 

[Frenzy]

sorry fella, i've been calling it by the wrong name, as you get older names are meaningless, the ones that count are the ones that you give to things/people 

Seriously, I bought it a good couple of years ago so the name has obviously escaped me. It's actually Poorboy's Natural Look. It is an APC in as much that it lists that it can be used on vinyl, leather, tyre dressing, etc but it is known for restoring OEM look to plastic trims - other dudes use it achieving similar results so it is definitely proven for use in this task.

[Frenzy]

Day 2 with the Poorboy's Natural Look.

1st up it had rained over night and deposited grit and sand in the grill  so a quick wipe down with Megs QD was performed before making a second application of Poorboy's Natural Look. This time i didn't buff it off, i just let it settle and dry which is the alternative way of using this product, said to give a bit more of a gloss look.



Then it was the bottom section of the grill, again prepping with Megs QD before applying PB NL - i'll make another pass with it tomorrow. Finally i did the fog light sections, the side skirts:



and then the rear valance:



All in all she doesn't look too shabby for a 7 year old