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My 94 wheel wells are all faded and not really black anymore, they sort of look gray now. I tried using Armorall, Mequires Ultimate Black etc... but nothing is really working. I know there are undercoatings, but thought they would be too thick. Is the best thing to do to simply paint them with a satin black paint?
Just looking for suggestions, so no wrong answers here..
Thanks...
I seem to recall someone using a heat gun to sort of burn the surface back to black... I could be remembering wrong.
Hmmm... That’s an interesting thought if it would actually work. Sounds like it could distort the plastic at the same time though. We’ll see if anyone else remembers that one.
Thx.
Hmmm... That’s an interesting thought if it would actually work. Sounds like it could distort the plastic at the same time though. We’ll see if anyone else remembers that one.
Thx.
Take them out, clean them real good and hit with buffing compound. Use a coarser grade then work finer, just like you would paint. You are trying to remove the oxidation, embedded dirt. I did this when helping do a frame off, 100 percent resto on a 73 boattail coupe. Done right, the plastic looks new. Avoid the temptation to use any type of abrasive paper, unless you are up in the 1000/1500 grit range, which is a bit expensive to use on wheel wells.
Using a small, air driven buffer works better, but you can achieve surprising results by hand.
I buffed out the fan shroud and its parts, wheel well components and other plastic pieces on a 45 year old car and they did not look out of place with every other part being painted sandblasted, etc. We even sandblasted every nut and bolt and either painted them chassis black or satin clear using Eastwoods Bare Metal Clear.
AND you won't take a chance of hurting it with a heat gun as the hurt can happen real fast and then you experience that Ohnosecond. Just like a Nanosecond is a fraction of time, an Ohnosecond is that fraction of time when you realize how bad you just effed up.
I used SEM Trim Black on mine when I had everything apart. I have put about 10K miles on it since doing them and they seem to be holding up well. I cleaned them thoroughly with Simple Green and a Scotchbrite pad, then wiped them down with alcohol before I painted them.
I used SEM Trim Black on mine when I had everything apart. I have put about 10K miles on it since doing them and they seem to be holding up well. I cleaned them thoroughly with Simple Green and a Scotchbrite pad, then wiped them down with alcohol before I painted them.
That came out looking great, which SEM Trim Black did you use? Jet Satin, Gloss etc.... Depending on availability and cost since they come out so easily might be to buy new ones, but I haven’t really looked to see if they are even around and if so, what they cost new NOS.
This looks like some sort of paint sealant, not sure how this would bring back the black color in plastic? Do you have first hand experience using this product?
Thx.
Some were a gray color. My Original 91 with less than 8K miles as you can see the front half are a gray color.
Yeah I know what you are saying, originally the plastics weren’t jet black. Yours still look correct, but think they were all the same in color right? Mine is a 94 and I have owned another 94 an 85,87 and 05 too. This is my 5th Vette... I think that the original wheel wells could be described as gray or black depending on who you talk to because the plastic can vary a bit.
man. I've spent some time cleaning my undercarriage but ya'll are putting me TO SHAME...
EDIT: to contribute to the OP's question, though-I've cleaned with barebones from Chemical Guys (you can get it on amazon) and it does a pretty good job of cleaning the black plastic and making it black again. They also seem to stay clean for longer when I use it-supposedly it's a sealant that repels dirt but I'm not sure how much I believe that.
Yeah I know what you are saying, originally the plastics weren’t jet black. Yours still look correct, but think they were all the same in color right? Mine is a 94 and I have owned another 94 an 85,87 and 05 too. This is my 5th Vette... I think that the original wheel wells could be described as gray or black depending on who you talk to because the plastic can vary a bit.
I found out about the color difference when I hit a tire tread and cracked on of mine, only the front half was the gray shade all the rest were black, I had to replace both R & L side to get a match and they were black. The rears are all black and made of plastic the fronts are fiberglass. It may also be a 91 only thing as it was the first year of the new front bumper. I'm sure vender who supplied parts changed thru the years.
That came out looking great, which SEM Trim Black did you use? Jet Satin, Gloss etc.... Depending on availability and cost since they come out so easily might be to buy new ones, but I haven’t really looked to see if they are even around and if so, what they cost new NOS.
Thanks, I felt it was worth the work to get it there. I used the Satin finish for all of the trim, frame and wheel wells.
WOW I've put a lot of work into my wheel wells but I haven't been able to get them near what Gashousevette and Fastnail have accomplished. Those look fantastic. I've used simple green and then the scotchbrite pad but I used 303 as my final coating and it still comes out blotchy due to the oxidation. Next spring I will try the SEM Trim paint.
On my 95 the front pieces appear to all be the same uniform black....no grey. I remove the rears to clean them as like was stated they're easy to remove and a lot easier to clean that way.
I have looked for NOS OEM replacements for the rears as one of mine is slightly damaged but I've not found any. Plenty of used ones on fleebay but not any new ones.
Thanks, I felt it was worth the work to get it there. I used the Satin finish for all of the trim, frame and wheel wells.
Was the SEM satin you used just their regular paint, or was it their undercoating? SEM has quite a few options like satin, Jet satin etc.. I just want to order the correct product.
Thx.
I used SEM #39143 Trim Black for all of mine. It has a satin finish and matches the other trim on my 96. The only thing I would do different of I do it again is SEM makes an adhesion promoter for use on plastics with their products. Mine still looks as good when its clean as it did when I did them.
08-30-2018, 11:46 PM
How to restore faded wheel wells
