Restoring faded plastic with heat gun works! My review.

Just wanted to share the results of this. Saw only a couple threads mentioning this. Thanks to Andrew for suggesting this as he told me about it after he noticed my really faded bumper valance. Eventually, if I can ever save up some money for a nice tube or plate bumper, it will be gone and I wont have to worry about it anymore. But thats one of the last things on my list of our never ending mods

First I wanna explain my previous attempts and experiences at trying to 'fix' the crappy looking plastics...
Ive used this stuff with good results, but it was kinda a pain to do and had to put about two coats on, then probably a month later it was back to being faded again;


I also used plasti dip on the fender flares next, but after many months now I am really not liking that stuff at all and will probably NEVER use it again. Now I'll be honest and say that I didnt put enough coats on (about 2) and did not clear coat it. But still, even if I had, I dont expect it would be long term. I found that it scratches easily and also has peeled and flaked like crazy on the underside of the flare where all the rocks have been hitting it. And thats a serious issue for me as I live on a nasty dirt road that I drive down every day. I still have not removed it because I just dont have the patience to sit there and peel it all off tiny piece by tiny piece. I do understand that a lot more coats shouldve been used, but it was my first attempt and it was mostly a test run to see how it holds up under worst case scenarios. I'm sure it wouldve held up a LITTLE better with more coats and perhaps a clear coat, but It would have been necessary to re-do it eventually or maintain it adding more coats over time. Did NOT want to deal with that. Same thing regarding the bed liner method. I heard that it works great, but eventually needs to be recoated to keep it looking 'fresh'. I may still do my rocker panels, but probably not the fender flares. I was going to find out about painting them, but since I ran into this and now finally tried it, I am so happy I did and I'm sure it's gonna last. If not it will be MUCH easier to go over it again with the heat gun. I havent looked into any reviews on how long this method lasts before it fades again, but I am confident that it may last years. Even if its a minimum of like 8-12 months then I am gonna keep up on it and not paint them. And the reason I am so anxious about painting or coating them, Is because when I go offraoding they get scratched up pretty good. I even had my belt buckle barely graze the front fender flare and it scratched off the plasti dip like it was nothing. So I dont want shrubs or anything else scratching up the coating or the paint or whatever. The bare plastic doesnt really get scratched up that bad, but even if it does, it wont look that noticeable as it will be scratching the plastic inside witch now matches the outside layer as it has been restored to black. If you have a faded valance like mine was, and you can see in my pics below, that a scratch is really only visible because the outside "layer" of the plastic is faded and whitish in color. When you scratch it, it becomes a black 'etch' inside the plastic because its penetrating the inside 'layer' or fresh plastic making it look like a bad scratch. So if that made any sense, you'll understand that if it scratches now you wont even really see it. And if you do, the heat gun will fix that right up. I had a TON of weird looking black 'scratches' and now they are all gone from using the heat gun as it effectively 'melts' it together. I dont like using that word, because I don't really consider it being melted. It just kinda penetrates the plastic and restores the outside layer. I guess it really is melting it, but just doesnt sound right. Melting to me is having it turn to liquid. And it never did that on me. I even tested a small spot and held the gun there to see if it would and it didnt. Dont get me wrong though, If you hold it there for a really long time it WILL melt. But yeah, that plastic material is great and holds up really well to abuse. I would like to keep it how it is.

Now some of you may be thinking that this write-up is kinda of overkill. "Come on guy! It's just a heat gun! Heat it up and you're done! NOT THAT HARD!!" And you're right, its not that hard, but it can be done the wrong way. And I will admit that I wished I had taken the time to wait and take the valance off as mine wasnt completely clean. And I am really anal about the mods and restoration stuff that I do and if it doesnt turn out perfect, I'm not completely satisfied. I am sure some of you can relate. But again, eventually this bumper will be gone so I wasnt TOO worried. And besides the few nit-picky things I regret, it looks a hundred times better than it did!!

As far as tips and advice if you plan on doing this, I will throw a couple things out there.. When I did mine, I did it while it was on the truck of course, and I washed it first. But apparently I didnt wash it good enough. All the hard to reach cracks and crevices that I couldnt get to with the wash cloth, dried up and was still dirty. I have been mudding alot in the past so the brown mud kinda stained itself onto the plastic on the underside part too, as well as in those cracks/crevices. Also behind the light bar I have mounted was stained brown and not really clean. If you have a dirty/stained valance, make sure it is REALLY clean first!!! I found that the heat gun wouldnt really penetrate any of those areas at all. I am REALLY hoping it will come off when I eventually take it all apart and get those areas. Because I may have actually 'bonded' those stains into the plastic now. I guess I'll find out when I decide to do this. But If you really want to do an awesome job and make it look really clean and get all those hard to reach areas, take the time and remove the entire valance. A PAIN i know, but it will be really worth it. IF yours is really clean already and dont have any mud stains, or is only a little bit faded, then you would probably be ok leaving it on the truck. Or if you just dont care about it and just want to make it look better but not PERFECT, then go ahead. As you will see below, mine turned out GREAT, but not perfect...
So anyways... I took my time, got the hard to reach areas first, made nice even strokes and tried to keep going until I was finished. I did one corner first and then I stopped to take a look as I was amazed. But after I took that break and continued, I noticed a streak from where I stopped and started again as it didnt really blend together from the temp differences. Same thing when i took the pics. But after I got all done I continued to go over the entire thing one more time (farily quickly) to try and "smooth out" any streaks from going too fast/slow in some areas and that seemed to work. I also noticed a few round lighter colored spots/blotches. Not sure why those were showing up. I tired to smooth those out again too and it seemed to help, but I'll have to check it out tomorrow and see if they are still there. It could be due to the fact I didnt wait long enough for the valance to completely dry and there was still a few water spots that penetrated the plastic and hadnt completely dried yet. Or it may be bug juice that penetrated too. I really dont know.. But overall it looks pretty even, and its really not noticable from a distance. Just one of those nit-picky things that bugs me. Oh and one more tip, DO NOT touch the tip of the heat gun to the plastic. I accidentally tapped it a couple times on the plastic as i got too close trying to get into the hard to reach areas next to my light bar, and it instantly melted where i touched it. Barely noticeable but yeah, that tip gets extremely hot. "OOPS"

So.. I think thats long enough of my rambling... Here's the results. I did this starting at dusk and these are the only shots I have of the mid-process. I will see how she looks tomorrow in the daytime and take more pics of any flaws if I find them.. Oh, almsot forgot to say that this is the heat gun I used from Ace Hardware for $24.99.

Theyve got a digital one too, but I really dont see the need for it. I used mine on high and it never shut down and worked great!

 

Yes! I like this! It really does work. I restored a bunch o plastic lawn chairs suffering from terrible oxidation with a propane blow torch. Just a quick sweep of the the torch and like new, smooth plastic surface. I would advise a good prep first, wet sand or very fine sanding and cleaning.

 

Looks a 1000 times better. My bumber is faded badly so this will be on my to do list. I'm sure it will last a long time since you are resurfacing the plastic and not just applying a residue like the "plastic restorer".

 

Yeah I hope so. Now only to get other things restored like the rubber trim that surrounds the Windows. I am gonna test a tiny spot on that stuff and see how it does. Kinda anxious about it because it's rubber not plastic. Maybe on the low setting.

But yeah I thought it best to post here rather than in the detailing section because I'm sure there's lots of of 1st genners that need this with our older trucks. I'm thinking about keeping an eye out for friends or even people I come across with faded bumpers and be like, I'll restore that back to black permanently for a price! But when they see I use a heat gun they'll be like, oh, I coulda done that. Lol. So Idk.. Not really news to some. But I sure didn't know about it and I am always on the lookout for cheap and easy mods/fixes!! And if you guys wanna see it in action you can always hit up YouTube and there's plenty of vids showing it done. Just surprised I hadn't discovered this earlier myself.

Oh and another thing, if anyone has any ideas for me on how to more easily remove this crappy plasti dip job I did, I'd be greatful. Gonna do that as soon as possible. A friend that uses it said he just recoats his stuff a couple times, then it peels right off. But I really don't wanna do that. I might try it, but I can't see spending more money to get it removed. After I was done with the bumper valance, I tried peeling some off on the back fender flare that's all chewed up from the rocks, and I found its gonna be painstakingly slow. Was just picking it off in little ass pieces. Ugh. I also heard that the goo gone dissolves it right off. But they also said it shouldn't be used on plastics. I'm guessing because it will seep into the plastic. But how badly? I'm wondering if it'll be like the plastic restorers and maybe fade back away after time. But Idk. I guess I could test it on a small spot. But if you know of a better way please share.

 

That's pretty awesome! I need to do this to my bumpers and fender flares.

 

Definitely cool stuff. Wife's RAV4 has that black fady plastic trim all the way around the bottom of it. She will freak out whenever it becomes time to do this to it.

 

GooGone will work. Oil sprays like WD40 also works. Keep in mind, as you have actually mentioned, that the oily residue will be on the plastic, and might even be absorbed into the plastic a little bit, so I would wait for it to dissipate over time before doing the heat treatment. (maybe the heat will make it dissipate/evaporate, but I am not sure. I don't think it will be a good idea to "melt" the surface while there are oils mixed in.

 

She doesn't have to know how you did it....
Just reap the rewards afterwards...

 

That looks really good OP!. Definately an option to consider, especially if you do not want to go the paint route. I do not really go off-road (with this truck), so I had my valance and flares painted, and I love it. But I can see the scratch concern, since these are the first items that will come in contact with branches etc. when off-roading.

 

I don't get the oxidation on my valence, only on the fender flares and the rest of the plastics are faded or fading. For the fenders, I just to a Mr Clean Magic Eraser and went to town. I do it every 3 or 4 weeks if I remember to buy the erasers lol. Don't really know what I'm going to do with the other trim. Will this work with the smaller trim such as the strip on the bottom of the door or around the windows?

 

98-00 fender flares are fiberglass.

I wonder if the heat gun method would work on them?

I just went with the route of painting them. Came out great. Will need touch up once a year from winter gravel and off roading.

 

I really don't think the heat gun will work on any of that stuff. Like I said ima try a small spot of the rubber trim that surrounds the back window. Mines kinda faded/oxidized. But it's a rubber. I don't think it's gonna work. For that stuff the trim restorer oil stuff will have to do. Or even wax would probly work. But yeah I think the heat gun will just melt it. The heat gun method only really works on the pourous flexible trim plastics. If it's a hard plastic like an abs stuff, it ain't gonna work. It'll just melt I think. And I know almost nothing about fiberglass. But ima say it probly won't work either. Wouldn't those fenders be painted or coated?? Idk I think we are screwed for all that other stuff. Besides using the restorer liquids and whatnot and keeping up on it. I am gonna look over my truck and find things like that that are faded and test a littleinconspicuous spot and see what happens. I'll let y'all know.

 

Oh and I checked out my valance today before I left for work and man, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! I am still amazed. Did not think it would be that easy and turn out so good. Completely changed the look of my truck and made it appear years younger!

 

Hmm...will this heat gun work on wife's face?

 

No.. Probly not. But I'm sure I can think of a few ways I can, I mean... YOU can, make her 'feel' years younger again. Lol.

 

I used a heat gun on my fender flairs two months ago and they are already faded. What's the key to making it last? I used a cheap harbor freight gun. Could the max temp of the gun be an issue? I performed multiple even passes too.

 

Nooooooooo don't tell me that!!! Lol. Ugh, mine better last, damnit. I guess it'll still be worth it in the end even if I have to keep up on it that often. Seeing as it's sooo easy and only takes like 30 minutes to do... But crap, ima be pissed if it fades that quickly again. Idk, maybe I'll luck out and perhaps you did just use a crappy gun. Mine 'feels' crappy and cheap from Ace. But I used high heat and really let it penetrate. And went over it really good twice. So maybe yours wasn't hot enough? Or maybe went too fast? Idk. Because you can do light layers by going over it too fast or with not enough heat. I went really slow and made sure it was turning dark in color until it didn't change anymore. What's the wattage and temp ratings on yours?

 

I did mine last summer and they faded again within a month, but now they were 10x worse than what I started with. Now they are almost all completely white. Ugh. Looked good while it lasted though. I used a propane torch though.

 

A propane torch!? Yer crazy. Lol. Well that's probably why they got worse. Idk though.

Well, I guess I'll keep an eye on it and keep you guys posted. I just realized I can probly get the plasti dip off my flares with my power washer. So I'm gonna do that next Monday or Tuesday and heat those up too.

 

Have any of you used 303 aerospace protectant after using a heat gun? Stuff works wonders to prevent oxidation on plastics. Just a thought. It used to bring my flares back to life for a good while. now they are so faded I don't worry about it though.