GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

got some charcoal bumper coating from o'reilly auto parts and some adhesion promoter. taped it up and sprayed it. looks great.BeforeBefore sprayingAfter SprayingFinished

Looks great! You could of also used the plastic restorer stuff that's suppose to work really well.

i used to use back to black. had to use it once a month with 2 coats. this will hopefully be truly permanent.

Quote, originally posted by bassplayaz06 »i used to use back to black. had to use it once a month with 2 coats. this will hopefully be truly permanent.Geesh, I didn't know that it didn't last longer.

Looks GREAT, Bassplayaz! I hope it holds up for you.Nah, I've used Back to Black too, on the rear bumper protector on my Mazda3 HB. It doesn't work that well or last that long. It's a bummer. Don't waste your time/money. When I was "in the business" we had a professional plastic/rubber restorer that worked much better. It was a clear liquid like lacquer thinner. I tried it on some Volvo's bumper trim but didn't have much use for it then and I can't remember what it was called, but it probably caused cancer and was taken off the market.

Quote, originally posted by 06pvibe »Looks GREAT, Bassplayaz! I hope it holds up for you.Nah, I've used Back to Black too, on the rear bumper protector on my Mazda3 HB. It doesn't work that well or last that long. It's a bummer. Don't waste your time/money. When I was "in the business" we had a professional plastic/rubber restorer that worked much better. It was a clear liquid like lacquer thinner. I tried it on some Volvo's bumper trim but didn't have much use for it then and I can't remember what it was called, but it probably caused cancer and was taken off the market. Refinish Restorer, probably... that stuff is awesome.

Possibly, but this was back in the '80's, it was only available to professional shops at the time and it was nasty smelling stuff but worked great. A lot of quick evaporation. We were not a body shop but somehow got a pint of it to sample. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was not healthy for humans to injest and was certainly not "green," but it made the rubber/plastic trim look brand new, almost as if it took off the top sunbaked layer.

Better hope it doesn't get hard water soaked at it or it will flake off. I tried this a hundred million times on my Cr-v and it always flaked till I used a flexible primer. That's the key to making it stay forever. Wind and water flex and crack it, but if it stays, then awesome. I just never had it work for me. Make sure you use a clay bar now to pull all the paint off the rest of the car (trust me it's there)

It looks good! Hopefully it stays. Really helps the red POP.But what is this? A K&N sticker on the Prius? Blasphemy!

Hey! Oiled filters FTW!! j/k Looking at that picture again.... A Prius, A Vibe and a GMC Yukon XL? Interesting selection of vehicles.....I mean, think about it: 40mpg, 35mpg and 12mpg??

Looks great ! Diggin the 5 spoke wheels too.

Looks great!

thanks y'all! we sprayed an adhesive promotor/primer on before the coating. haha all our cars start off with a k&n drop in filter. dad's averaged 55 mpg for the entire life of the prius so far. and we get about 18 mpg in the yukon. the black truck on the other side of the garage gets about 8 mpg.

Quote, originally posted by 06pvibe »Possibly, but this was back in the '80's, it was only available to professional shops at the time and it was nasty smelling stuff but worked great. A lot of quick evaporation. We were not a body shop but somehow got a pint of it to sample. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was not healthy for humans to injest and was certainly not "green," but it made the rubber/plastic trim look brand new, almost as if it took off the top sunbaked layer.That sounds like the stuff to me... can't get it on your skin, only order it through obscure professional places online (not at auto stores), expensive and comes in a large tin, smells terrible, works great.

got the overspray off today. just some polishing compound and a rag.

that turned out REALLY friggin good man. Great job. really

thanks man. yeah, i love knowing that it'll always look good without having to mess with it.

Looks good, I'd like to see how it holds up against rocks, sand, road debris, etc. Just seems like a prime place for paint to chip, although I guess a quick touch up spray would work fine.I've had great results with Meguiar's #40. The key is to put it on the rag/towel and work it into the cladding as if you were waxing it, then remove excess. Many people just spray and wipe and it looks great for a bit then dulls quickly.

welp, it's startin to fade off. we're gonna respray it within the next few weeks with thicker coats.

I wondered how wel that was holding up...was hoping it was doing well..poo.

im wondering if it chipped or anything, i can live with spraying it every year, but not if it chips off.

Quote, originally posted by macantley »im wondering if it chipped or anything, i can live with spraying it every year, but not if it chips off.If you spray it every year, the thickness of the product will build up and build up. Also the likelihood of improper prep or a contaminated spot occurring rises with every respray. I can almost guarantee you that it will indeed either chip or flake at some point. Sadly, it's the nature of paint.As already mentioned, it's plastic, just like the nose of virtually every modern car is plastic. The industry has a flex agent and adherence product that gets mixed into the paint before it is applied. Without this agent / additive, it's NOT going to work.Sorry but them's the facts ......Dave Maybe, just maybe but I'm a skeptic, the plastic paint formulations you can find in the hardware store may work well, certainly better than just paint but it remains to be seen......

what are those wheels from?

Hi Folks,

Here is an old trick I started using back in the 70's on vinyl tops that were dull and faded. Across the years, the product has changed names 3 times. It started out as Johnson's Clear, then Future and now it is marketed under the Pledge name. No, I don't own stock in the company..........

Two things I need to say. One, prep is important. Make sure surface is clean. Two, do not use circular motion when applying. Long straight strokes with a foam rubber paint brush is the cheapest and easiest way to apply the base coat. After that, wait a day and then for best results, use an HVLP spray gun for the second coat.

Color comes back. Bugs and road grime rinse off easily. Unless you power wash it with harsh chemicals, it will stay nice for a year.

I just bought a product called BONDO black that's supposed to be for this use. Anyone ever tried it? I really like how IBYTRUX's looks but I'm not sure what PLedge product was used. I don't want like to use a spray can unless I'm going to complete the job during that session, I have a lot of plugging/spitting issues with spray cans the next day. Any tips?

http://www.amazon.com/Forever-Black-Bum ... roduct_top" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm going to try this in the spring time, as it seems to have decent reviews.

I tried out this stuff last year: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C4 ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , but it faded after several months.