Getting car polish off plastic trim - how?

[300bhp/ton]

Anyone know?

Really annoying when you get the white polish marks on textured plastic trim and bumpers.

Anyone know a good way of removing it and restoring the plastic?

[HellDiver]

Pencil eraser.

[kambites]

Do you mean polish or wax?

[Liquid Knight]

Normal sprog wet wipes to get polish out. To restore, pop the trim off if you can use trim wax, back to black or gey colour magic.

[300bhp/ton]

kambites said:

Do you mean polish or wax?

Polish I guess/think (liquid stuff in a bottle that turns to a powdery dust when you polish off), is there a distinct difference between wax and polish as they seem to be marketed as the same thing often?

[Meoricin]

I have this issue - first time I polished mine (6+ months ago now) I didn't bother making sure it didn't get on the trim, so now I have wonderful white staining all along the plastic trim.

Back2Black stuff hasn't worked for me, nor has washing the car normally. I think I'll give baby wipes/rubber a go.

[mgtony]

As LK says, if the trim is black, this stuff if still available is great;



Some back to black products are clear, so just make the dirt/dullness shine, this trim wax is a black paste.

[Meoricin]

mgtony said:

As LK says, if the trim is black, this stuff if still available is great;



Some back to black products are clear, so just make the dirt/dullness shine, this trim wax is a black paste.

That's probably the issue - mine comes out as a clear liquid. It does make the black bits 'blacker' but no difference to the rest. I'll keep an eye out for one which is actually black.

[dieselglider]

I've heard Peanut Butter, yes seriously, is great for restoring plastic bumpers. Not sure though if it matters whether crunchy or smooth.

[Liquid Knight]

dieselglider said:

I've heard Peanut Butter, yes seriously, is great for restoring plastic bumpers. Not sure though if it matters whether crunchy or smooth.

Peanut oil is a foodsafe penetrive lubricant but peanut residue would be as difficult to shift as polish.

[MollyHouse]

Autoglym bumper car dissolves and removes wax from trim like nothing else. I use it on C4 vette body mouldings and the difference is amazing. It goes from horrible white streaked dry plastic to glossy rich black in a few applications. I've found it's also great on all the plastic and rubber window surrounds.

[bull996]

Liquid Knight said:

dieselglider said:

I've heard Peanut Butter, yes seriously, is great for restoring plastic bumpers. Not sure though if it matters whether crunchy or smooth.

Peanut oil is a foodsafe penetrive lubricant but peanut residue would be as difficult to shift as polish.

Peanut beutter is the best.

I had an old van i was selling and the HUGE plastic bumpers were almost white.

Tried LOADS of purpose made stuff, but the only thingthat worked was PB. I used smooth, rubbed it in and the rubbed it off.

I went through a lot of cloths, but the results were better than anything else.

As it happened, it didt sell for 2 months and they still looked like new.

[r4_rick]

use a glass cleaner like fast glass to clean the polish off the trim and then the bumper care to add the shine, if you just use the bumper care first the polish will come back through in a week or so, using the fast glass first actually takes the polish/wax out.

[mikeyr]

HellDiver said:

Pencil eraser.

This, you can wash off the rubber residue afterwards, dead easy!

[michaelhale]

I was reading all of the above ideas and had one of my own to try ....Black shoe polish !!! ..went out tried it ..teat like shoes one stiff brush to put on ...one big soft one to polish off ...hey presto ...nice shiny black bumpers all round..:-)

[Steviesam]

michaelhale said:

I was reading all of the above ideas and had one of my own to try ....Black shoe polish !!! ..went out tried it ..teat like shoes one stiff brush to put on ...one big soft one to polish off ...hey presto ...nice shiny black bumpers all round..:-)

Problem with that is it will leave black marks on the person that you run over.

[Xtremescoobys]

Just wash & jet wash the thing then apply a trim polish not rocket science

[Squiggs]

Xtremescoobys said:

Just wash & jet wash the thing then apply a trim polish not rocket science

Working on that basis you would think that if you were driving into rain at 70mph on a Mway it would cure the problem ..... but it doesn't!