Restore window trim

Pulled from the neon build thread 

I need to recondition the rubbery/plasticy window trim. Been scrubbing with glass cleaner and a paper towel,  but they are faded, discolored,  and have overspray on them the roof weatherstripping rail and roof mouldings bein the worst.  

What/how do i restore them? These are the best ive found. and new are not available.   

Have i stumped the hive?

First thing to try is Mothers Back to Black. (ive also used ATF in a pinch, the seal conditioners in it will swell up and hydrate the rubber/plastic)

Next would be a good hard scrub.

Then try spraying some brake cleaner on a rag (a little goes a LONG way, start really really small) and rubbing. use a rag of tee shirt material.  This is the nuclear option. If this fails, its paint time.

Alternatively, mask and spray with plasti-dip. 

In reply to Apexcarver :

Plastidip? Really? How does that hold up long term in this? 

Ive tried the back to black, windex, and lacquer thinner now. The overspray ain't going anywhere. The rubber is now clean of the oxidized layer. But not cosmetically appealing.....

Sprayed the front bumper of my meotter 7 years ago and it's still hanging in there. Especially if you rough the surface a bit it will stick

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/restoring-90s-sun-baked-trim/135905/page1/

I didn't get much last time either.

What I ended up doing was sanding them down and repainting them. Body shop did the work, so I don't know the exact type but they talked me into it. It was from a rattle can.

Have you tried the heat gun trick?

SEM trim black, made specifically for this application:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdYq8HJlYUQ

For the rubber bits, Shin Etsu grease works wonders:

https://www.amazon.com/Honda-Genuine-Shin-Etsu-Grease/dp/B006Z9TZ9M

Never tried the heat gun trick. Any how tos?

As far as sem: i thought it was only for plastic? Im concerned about ruining stuff that is unobtainable these days.

SEM trim black can be removed with lacquer thinner if it doesn't look the way you'd like. High humidity while painting will make it blush so keep that in the back of your mind.

Heat gun trick is pretty simple. First clean part as well as you can with reasonable time. Heat up the surface of the plastic and you'll see the change in color, practice a little on some old black plastic trim part you've got hanging around. If you do it near painted surface make sure to have something to keep the paint from heating up quickly like aluminum flashing you can hold next to the area you're heating. What you want is to heat the plastic surface quickly without really heating the piece much internally. You'll get the technique pretty quickly.

Cool! Will the heat gun trick work with rubber too?

And sem: what do you mean by blush?

Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:

Cool! Will the heat gun trick work with rubber too?

And sem: what do you mean by blush?

I don't use a heat gun intentionally on rubber except for special circumstances when trying to "work" the material for some reason. I doubt it would work on the butyl type rubber a lot of car gaskets etc. are made of anyway. For those rubber parts,  a small piece of SOS pad (cut them up with scissors) will clean the rubber then rinse well and use a product like Mothers Back to Black. If the rubber is attached to a piece of plastic trim clean both the plastic and rubber before using the heat gun on the plastic. Then use the Back to Black on the rubber after the heat gun trick is completed on the plastic.

SEM:  Trim Black is a high quality really dark black compared to spray cans of say Krylon or Rustoleum. It lasts a long time and doesn't fade like many spray paints.So it costs a lot more as you'll find out. #39143 is what you'll want for hard plastics like window trim and metals. If you're trying to repair or freshen the appearance of a factory flat black flexible urethane bumper cover back use 39103 flexible black.

Blushing can occur if spraying is done in high humidity. I think there's a combination of temp and humidity a chemical engineer could explain but that's above my pay grade. If blushing occurs you'll get a finish that almost looks like its frosted. Instead of being a deep black it'll have a whitish look that can almost look like frost on a black surface.

Be aware that SEM Trim Black CAN NOT be used over painted enamel surfaces. It will lift and bubble the enamel and you'll have to completely strip the item. I learned this the hard way on a bolt in roll bar from Autopower. Sure wish I'd learned that tip on a little piece!!!!

The Neon won't have enamel on the trim as far as I know.

Clay bar for the overspray? How textured/porous is the trim?

I'm chiming in due to this being relevant to my interests. I'll come back later to really read.

Useful discussion, for sure.

My experience and resolution:

Claybar and solvent didn't touch the overspray. So i had to get more radical. 

I pulled the trim. Scrubbed with scotchbrite pad. Then scrubbed and scrubbed with lacquer thinner and a paper towel until the towel stayed clean. Put the trim on the bench and did many super light coats of rustoleum semigloss black.

Satin black may be a better choice in the future. 

As with many things, the most reliable answer is committing  to an unpleasant investment of sheer tedious man hours into something you don't want to sink big time into  (take it off, sand it, paint it right, put it back). It works pretty much every time but it never starts being the way you actually want to spend your time.