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Sun faded roof rack, help!


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Hey all, kinda new here, but have been lurking a lot… great site! Please pardon me if this has been addressed, but I really did try searching several word combinations! I got an ’07 wagon at the end of Sept. I think the PO was from Florida as the roof rack rails (the ones that are part of the car) are really faded and look like crap. Any ideas as to how to revive the black paint that’s on them with out removing them or repainting them? Any input would be greatly appreciated! :confused:
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I have the same issue - they look they are two or three different shades of black/grey. I was thinking about pulling them off and having all the rail elements powder coated together. Any thoughts on whether that would last or would that just fade too? I am thinking by painting them that way, I could then protect them with wax, etc. just like any other painted surface instead of trying to maintain the color of the black metal and plastic.
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I would love to take them off and hit with a coat or two of Plastidip, but have NO idea how to get them off. I imagine that it's a huge PITA and you'd have to take out the whole headliner. NOT fun in general and even less so with that MASSIVE sunroof. Let me know if you go this route, I'll do the same!
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An 07 shouldn't really be that faded just yet. It is possible that it is just wax or polish on the parts and can be cleaned off. There are a number of options out there, but Back to Black isn't one that I would necessarily use. I've never had good results with it. What you really want to do is give the rails a good cleaning and then protect them with something that can restore the appearance and protect them from fading. I've used a couple industrial products that you have to buy by the gallon that work really well, but they don't make much sense to recommend here. The only consumer accessible professional grade product I've found that works is Poorboy's Trim Restorer. It does a great job of cleaning and restoring the faded trim.

 

These are some pictures from the guide I wrote last year. You can read more here if you want.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/CorollaDetail/pbtrimrestorer.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/CorollaDetail/trimbefore1.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/CorollaDetail/trimafter1.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/CorollaDetail/trimbeforeandafter.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/CorollaDetail/railbeforeandafter.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/CorollaDetail/cowlbefore.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/OCDetails/CorollaDetail/DSC07083.jpg

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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It can be used on any rubber/plastic which has fading. Just evaluate what you are using it on to determine if it even can be repaired. Some things are just ruined. If you are trying to restore the dash of a 1974 Toyota with this, then you can pretty much rest assured it isn't going to work. ;) If the damage is too bad, then it is possible the sun has bleached the color right out of the material. For most vehicles less than 10 years old you can get pretty good results with this. It takes quite a bit of abuse to get irreparable damage.

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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i cant tell if my dash is fading or its my eyesight... could be both? i would hope it works on the dash and my bumper cover on the back (that black part the wagon has)... im sure i could find alot of plastic / rubber things to use this on....
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Any good vinyl/rubber cleaner and a toothbrush can get wax and polish off plastic, but if that fails then this is a great product to follow up with. Likely you just have wax on the plastic on the back since usually that piece doesn't fade much.

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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It's not a dye or a cover up. It actually restores the trim so the fading goes away. if you have repaired the damage then it doesn't come back when you wash the car. :)

 

Poorboy's stuff has to be ordered online. They have a great sample kit with all sorts of different products (which is what I used for that guide) but you can order the product all by itself too. Autogeek.net is where I do my shopping simply because they have just about everything under the sun, but you can get it in a number of other places too. The pricing is the same, so whatever works for you works for Poorboy's I'd wager. ;) Ordering online is the only option for most Enthusiast and Professional grade products.

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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I believe my car spent a lot of time in Florida, so all of the black trim has a good amount of fade. I ordered some Poorboy's, I'm just gonna dunk the whole car in it. :lol: Here's pics of the roof rack, you can see the marks from where the PO never took off the towers for the crossbars.

1871250984_roofrack1.jpg.07c2057b25e44b8d8e9c7664939e92b7.jpg

1289570570_roofrack2.jpg.a07695fcd29d3ad0b346f294b41f73e7.jpg

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You could... Or you could just go get some plastidip and cover it that way. Not as permanent as bedliner, but it would probably look better. If you put the coats on heavy then it levels off and looks just like black vinyl. Or you could just use vinyl. I've done that before too. Either way, it will look better than paint chipping off.

_________________________________________

“Cleanliness becomes more important as godliness becomes more unlikely.”

O C D E T A I L S . C O M

OCDETAILS BLOG

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