GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

The plastic on the Vibe is taking a bit of a beating here out in the sun in Florida. So I researched a bit and decided to try out Turtle Wax's Trim Restorer. It promises to restore the trim and other plastic or rubber back to new-like condition, shiny and black. BUT for up to 3 months. So not a permanent fix.
So I went and grabbed a bottle of it (just under $7 at Walmart. I believe around $9-10 at Autozone)

It comes in a 10 oz bottle and includes a round applicator:


Here is a before shot of the trim on the roof I was specifically targeting:


And here is an after photo about 15 min and a quick wipe with a cloth later:



So far, I am quite impressed but the true test will come after a few days and maybe some rain or a car wash.
I also applied this to the plastic under the windshield wipers, the black plastic under the rear bumper cover and the side mirrors and window trim. Right now it all looks nice, shiny and black.
Word to the wise: This stuff is very oily feeling and its best not to get a lot on the paint. Its tough to remove.
Ill try to update this thread as the days go on.

Looks good, must be nice to only have to worry about faded trim..

Yeah, though I like the look of the cladding on the older Vibes, I'm glad that my 09 does not have any.

I used the samed Turtle Wax trim restorer on my 03 Vibe and it worked great. 2 things though, first it required a second pass since it had so much fadind, and two if has a tendency to streak a little once wet.

As for the cladding, I would prefer mine did not have the cladding.

Back to Black does the same streaking when wet.

Really wish I could find a product that would restore the grey cladding on a more permanent basis.

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Refinish Restorer. Not cheap, but its the best stuff out there, almost 50 bucks for a can. Im in Florida as well & our cars take a beating from the sun. I applied back in November & its lasts 6 months before I needed to reapply last week. Even after 6 months the cladding still looked better than before I started using it.

Keep me updated on how well it works. My railing looks like that and the plastic under the wipers looks so much worse.

I ended up painting the plastic under the wipers with Krylon Fusion paint. Hasnt faded or chiped & looks just as good as the day I painted it. Painted it over 6 months ago. More of a "permanant" fix. I found a F150 forum where guys were painting thier cladding with it & it looks fantastic. Too bad they dont dont have a shade of grey but if you wanted to paint your cladding black that would work.

This is the link to the F150 forum. http://www.f150forum.com/f6/krylon-fusion-paint-58448/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I bought a couple 25% bonus cans of satin black Krylon Fusion at Walmart for $4.34 each to eventually use to paint the grilles and other miscellaneous exterior items on our Vibes.

When I come back from Chicago I'll definitely try the Krylon Fusion paint. Maybe I can convince Carrie to do it for me

I actually removed my rear wiper last night and painted it with the satin black Krylon Fusion. It looks better than brand new and it's so nice not having to sand, prime, etc. I just sprayed a couple coats and let it dry overnight. I am definitely going to use it to paint some other exterior parts that are looking a little less black these days i.e. grilles, cowl panel, etc.

Ethan, I was going to tell you that you could come out to my house and I could help you paint some stuff on your Vibe if you wanted. I've got a nice garage to work in. And since I just installed our TRD strut braces, I know how to remove the plastic pieces under the wipers, so that would be a breeze to take them off and paint them and it would really improve the look of your Vibe having it all nice and black again. I was amazed at the difference painting my rear wiper made, so I can just imagine a bigger piece like the cowl panel.

cptnsolo77 wrote:I ended up painting the plastic under the wipers with Krylon Fusion paint. Hasnt faded or chiped & looks just as good as the day I painted it. Painted it over 6 months ago. More of a "permanant" fix. I found a F150 forum where guys were painting thier cladding with it & it looks fantastic. Too bad they dont dont have a shade of grey but if you wanted to paint your cladding black that would work.

This is the link to the F150 forum. http://www.f150forum.com/f6/krylon-fusion-paint-58448/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

vibenvy wrote:I actually removed my rear wiper last night and painted it with the satin black Krylon Fusion. It looks better than brand new and it's so nice not having to sand, prime, etc. I just sprayed a couple coats and let it dry overnight. I am definitely going to use it to paint some other exterior parts that are looking a little less black these days i.e. grilles, cowl panel, etc. I was amazed at the difference painting my rear wiper made, so I can just imagine a bigger piece like the cowl panel.

So, can y'all guys give me an update? Im gonna restore the roof rails on my Vibe, the front wiper bay area, and the rear bottom lip of teh bumper... they vary in fading but I definitely want to get it done. If the Kyrlon is holding up, I'd prefer that. However, if it's cracking and I'd have to restore in a year, I'd rather do the Restore Refinisher....

The Krylon is holding up great ! No peeling, cracking etc. I painted the plastic panels under the front wipers, front & rear wiper, & rear roof rack cap. I live in South Florida & the sun is INTENSE here. Just recently I painted the trim that runs along the base of the passenger & driver side windows & the Vibe looks super sharp now. I was going to paint my door handles with the Krylon fusion but they are high contact areas. The paint would wear off & look uneven & probably look worse than before LOL.

I did find out that Krylon does carry a charcoal grey in the Fusion paint. If I didnt have the Refinish Restorer & paint my cladding in a heartbeat. This paint is tough & holds it shine.

Although I have only painted my rear wiper so far and that was just a few months ago, it still looks great. Nice and black! Once the weather cools down a bit more, I am planning on doing all the grilles on the front, the cowl panels under the wipers, the wiper arms and wiper blade housings, the black on the mirrors, the window trim, the trim on the roof, the Honda antenna and base (they'll finally match !), the XM/OnStar antenna, the small grilles in the side skirts and the lower rear fascia. Basically everything that's black because it's all starting to fade slightly and look kind of crappy. I would rather paint everything than try different cleaning products that may or may not make a difference.

cptnsolo77 wrote:The Krylon is holding up great ! No peeling, cracking etc. I painted the plastic panels under the front wipers, front & rear wiper, & rear roof rack cap. I live in South Florida & the sun is INTENSE here. Just recently I painted the trim that runs along the base of the passenger & driver side windows & the Vibe looks super sharp now. I was going to paint my door handles with the Krylon fusion but they are high contact areas. The paint would wear off & look uneven & probably look worse than before LOL.

thats awesome, the sun is crazy over here and then there's the humidity... yea, dont think the door handles would hold up, plus, it may get on our hands after so much contact.

cptnsolo77 wrote: I did find out that Krylon does carry a charcoal grey in the Fusion paint. If I didnt have the Refinish Restorer & paint my cladding in a heartbeat. This paint is tough & holds it shine.

cptnsolo77 wrote:

vibenvy wrote:Although I have only painted my rear wiper so far and that was just a few months ago, it still looks great. Nice and black! Once the weather cools down a bit more, I am planning on doing all the grilles on the front, the cowl panels under the wipers, the wiper arms and wiper blade housings, the black on the mirrors, the window trim, the trim on the roof, the Honda antenna and base (they'll finally match !), the XM/OnStar antenna, the small grilles in the side skirts and the lower rear fascia. Basically everything that's black because it's all starting to fade slightly and look kind of crappy. I would rather paint everything than try different cleaning products that may or may not make a difference.

well, it's set, im gonna go this as my next weekend project. Im thinking the same way vibenvy, rather paint and get that perm. finish as opposed to constant reapplications. I saw another product at Walmart that was named "Trim and Guard" but sounds like the Kyrlon is way better. My Vibe looks like it wasn't garage kept at all so the paint is dull, not faded nor cracking, just dull. The trim is super beat up, especially the top where the roof rack would go.

CORRECTION !.....I painted the driver side & passenger side window molding with Dupli-Colors bumper black, not Krylon fusion. The Window trim is a rubber & the bumper black has a flex agent so it wont crack. I didnt want anyone to paint those areas & blame me Its cool how the small details make your car look great. After I painted the moldings I find myself impressed with how my 10 year old car looks. Nothing is faded except my door handles. The Vibe is a great car..... even if I had extra $$$ to buy another car, I would definitely keep the Vibe anyway. Its styling has aged very well & does everything that it needs to do very well....

I used some type of bumper coating (can't remember which one) on the window moldings of my former 2002 Pontiac Sunfire SE Sedan and it started wearing off pretty quickly.

I wonder how a coat or two of adhesion promoter, followed by Krylon Fusion would work for anything that's rubber? I am 99% sure that everything I listed in my last post is plastic though, for sure on the 2009-2010 Vibes at least.

cptnsolo77 wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2013 7:12 pm Refinish Restorer. Not cheap, but its the best stuff out there, almost 50 bucks for a can. Im in Florida as well & our cars take a beating from the sun. I applied back in November & its lasts 6 months before I needed to reapply last week. Even after 6 months the cladding still looked better than before I started using it.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I saw some videos online exolaining how you can use a heat gun to darken the cladding. But I dont really fancy the idea of doing that. I would imagine it would weaken the plastic. I think Ill get this instead.

If you want the coating to last, you need to have the plastic clean before applying any type of coating to it. The fastest way I found to clean textured plastic that has been discolored by UV is to use a stiff carpet bush in a DA polisher. Remove the backing plate from your DA polisher and put a stiff (Black) carpet bush for a Cyclo on it. Spray the plastic trim with a cleaner like 409 and use the DA/bush on the surface of the plastic to scrub it clean. This will remove the dirt and oil from the textured surface and also remove the surface oxidized dead plastic so that the coating can bond to the surface. I use Carpro plastic and wheel treatment on my plastic to get it back to black. The Carpro last about 3 years before I have to treat it again and that is because of wear on leading edges of the wheels where sand/ice/snow get thrown on the plastic.

Here is a link to the bush that will fit most common DA polishers: https://www.autogeek.net/cyclo-brushes.html

If you do not have a DA polisher, you can do the same thing with a bush by hand but it will take a lot longer to do.