How To Clean a Black Fender Trim......
 

I use to keep them nice and shiny with Meguiars Black Plastic detailer.


Now, I have one getting stained from rain with a white chalky deposit. How do you clean them?

Ive been using Black Magic Si on mine.. and have the same issue. **For cleaning, I use a brush and scrub them aggressively with soap.. then recoat. Not ideal.. but keeps the white at bay until the next rain.

I used 409 and even lighter fluid with no good results. When they become stained with rain and road dirt, 2 of these trims come back with this white chalky deposit.


I would like to know if it is safe to use paint thinner on these plastic trim pieces.


I never had this problem before.

I would never use harsh chemicals on that fender flare material. I use Eastwood's Plastic, Vinyl & Rubber restorer. It requires very little product/elbow grease to bring back the black. It keeps the flares on my 10 year old MINI looking black, shiny and new. I use it twice a year or so. It's a bit on the expensive side, but you need only a small amount. It's well worth it.

Today, I tried the peanut butter with a tooth brush as discussed on another tread. You have to see to believe and this really works to clean out the white deposit and bring the black textured finish.


I didn't put anything else as protectant and did only the trim that was getting real white and the left part of the front splitter. I will see in a few days with rain and bad weather how things will go.

Oil in the peanut butter must push the il back in the plastic. I just wash mine with CG mr.pink and a bush then apply CG VRP dressing. After it rains some does need to be reapplied a little.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...arch-fade.html

Food for thought. I seen a guy paint em. Or maybe it was vinyl wrap? Not sure.
Food for thought
PM

Wouldn't peanut butter attract rodents?

What about simple Armor All wipes to maintain the black color?

It attracts elephants ;)

C'mon, you are not serious ,,,,, you apply and scrub peanut butter with a tooth paste and you wipe it. Its that easy and no mess and no stain on paint. The trim comes back as brand new


After 2 days, I can say that dust doesn't even stick on the surface and it stays black as I drive on mostly dry freeways for now, The real test will be when it will rain.


I am confident it would not even need a protectant but I will see.

Check out PRE Wow and BLACK Wow, as well as the 3 Renew Protect products linked below:

Follow-up on Peanut Butter Cleaning.....
 

It's mostly 2 weeks from the beginning of my experimentation with the peanut butter cleaning on the front left fender trim.


The white residue is definitely gone and the trim is still black after more than a week of rain and wet driving conditions with no other discoloration.


This seems to be a cheap solution to the problem without spending big money on cleaning and dressing products.

I used to use peanut butter, but have graduated to peanut oil.
Works very well and doesn't make me as hungry when I use it.

I believe peanut oil with a brush should even works easier and better.

I used to use Mother's or Meguiars but I invested into Chemical Guys last year and use the factory finish trim coating. I did it back in October and I haven't had to touch it since.

I am still on the "peanut butter" raw cleaning and the fender trim I am testing stays nice. It stills repel dust, dirt and water without any other protection.

Armor All is garbage. I stopped using it 25 years ago.


My experiment with peanut butter is surprising me and still expels the dirt and water better than I would have expected. I never put any protection on the surface and I see a big difference from the 3 other fender trims protected with Meguiars's. They are getting badly discolored.


Again, here in the Northwest, it is raining, messy and dirty at this time of the year and we don't wash our cars every week. I washed for the 1st time in mostly a month.

+1
If you don't use it for a little while it will dry out the plastic, leather, vinyl ect-Better off using nothing IMO.

But...Mothers or Meguiars are my go to.

I did my spring cleaning last week. I am not convinced anymore by the peanut butter treatment. After winter, all 4 were pretty much the same.

I scrubbed them and went back to the Meguiars treatment. They look nice now but they still need high care maintenance at every wash.

Early formulations of ArmorAll were known to dry out and crack interior components. My understanding is that the formula was changed years ago and that issue was eliminated.

ArmorAll is too shiny and greasy for my personal tastes and I don't use it but I don't like to see misinformation about a product posted. Do your own research.

Using nothing is bad advice.

Sarcasm can be must-read in posts as IMO armor all is crap. But if you continue to read the post and most of the others, mothers and meguiers are the better 'go to' for cleaning and protection. And my research is from seeing it happen...and yes they may have changed their formula, but once someone is put off by a product, what are the chances they will say "I'll try it again". Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. I do agree it is super greasy. So take it for what it's worth, use it don't use it... it's my opinion, if you don't like it...