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Discolored Black Plastic Trim

6K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  Sparkland 
#1 ·
Our 2019 Ascent is now just over 4 years old. It has 16k miles and lives outside. Most if not all of the plastic trim at the bottom of the rear bumper and around the fender wells are discolored, faded (turned grayish) or have drippy lines. We regularly wash and dry the car. I use standard window wash fluid on the rear window.

Have you experienced this and what have you done to improve your plastic trim?
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#7 ·
Apparently I'm in the minority here but I wouldn't use 303 on that. I used 303 on one piece of exterior trim on my Ascent and have regretted it since. Now that piece almost looks like it has an oil sheen over it. 303 looks great but you'd have to keep applying it to maintain that. It does work excellent on the interior.

Any guesses what the drip marks might be from? My trim has greyed some, though not as fast as me, but it doesn't have those streaks in it.
I'm not sure what some people have used on Chevy Avalanches, but if you ever see one with all the plastic that looks nice ask them.
 
#9 ·
Apparently I'm in the minority here but I wouldn't use 303 on that. I used 303 on one piece of exterior trim on my Ascent and have regretted it since. Now that piece almost looks like it has an oil sheen over it. 303 looks great but you'd have to keep applying it to maintain that. It does work excellent on the interior.

Any guesses what the drip marks might be from? My trim has greyed some, though not as fast as me, but it doesn't have those streaks in it.
I'm not sure what some people have used on Chevy Avalanches, but if you ever see one with all the plastic that looks nice ask them.
Also not the most water resistant. First rainy day will pretty much wash it all off.
 
#12 ·
My 2nd row window panels were turning a whitish caulky color over time. One of the panels was actually replaced a year after buying my Ascent but still turned color. At first I thought it was just crude or UV damage and tried various cleaning solutions without success. I bought some Cerakoyte but didn't get around to trying it. Instead I tried Mr Clean magic eraser sponge which did the job. I just went light pressure and made sure the sponge is wet. Magic eraser is a fine abrasive. I haven't tried on the body cladding. Here's the vid

I believe my whitish caukiness may be due to the car wash + wax solution i use built up over time
 
#14 · (Edited)
On my Outback, I used tire shine, which would last for "ages" (half a year to a whole year, even with me doing silly things).

Here's a vid of my Outback (and Ascent) from the day I came home from @Liberty Subaru with my Ascent. You can see its a little dull. Been about 10 months since I took care of it.



Here's some of the stuff I've done with it that has abused that black trim.

Tire Wheel Vehicle Car Hood


And finally, here's what it looked like, in the last five minutes of me owning it, after dressing the wheels and black trim with tire shine (I never did the roof rails and rarely did the window trim, so, you can see the difference between once a year on the rest of the trim vs never doing it).

This was a little over a month since the vid of it and my Ascent. You can see the big difference, after I'd wiped them.

I washed the car, let it dry, did a tire and a quarter of the trim with the same rag. Then did another tire with more tire shine and moved to another piece of trim with the soaked rag. Etc.
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#16 ·
That's exactly the brand I use. I bought it at AutoZone I think. Since then (thanks to those results), I use a bunch of their other products as well.
(never actually needed to use the leather cleaner - but bought it pre-emptively for the Ascent - still see no need)

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