Renovate plastic trim

[Shayne]

My interior plastic was so scratched i thought them well beyond a tidy up but i chanced upon a thread (while searching for extended wheel lugs ?) where a fella suggests using a heat gun to renew plastic car interiors . I give it a go and i'm astonished by the result .

Scrub everything down with soap and water coz its probably had lots of FLAMMABLE stuff sprayed on it over the years . Then just go over it all with a heat gun as if you were trying to speed up paint drying . I'm no scientist but i can only explain it seems to make the plastic sweat . All the whiteness where it looks like someone scrubbed the grey plastic with wirewool completely vanished . The deeper gouges are still there but are not nearly as noticable coz heat makes the original colour return to the surface .

Don't (like me) heat any one spot too much as it will go smooth and shiney and wont match the rippled original effect and dont (like me) forget your using a heat gun instead of a magic wand and burn the carpet .

It took me an hour to do all the plastics from the rear of the front seat to the back door , once finished i sprayed a load of backtoblack over it and left it overnight .

I swear the whole interior now looks brand new so a tip worth sharing i reckon .

 

[Marius De Kock]

Nice tip thanks for sharing.

 

[Mark N]

folk use that technique to clean up motorbike plastics...hadn't thought about using on car interiors - good tip. Trick is heatgun fairly hot and move the heatgun briskly. You essentially want to 'melt' the very top of the plastic so it flows out nicely.

 

[Shayne]

Before and after .

 

[grantw]

That is quite an impressive difference!

 

[Shayne]

And whats more Grant it is permanent the scratch is not hidden it is gone full stop .

 

[tilly1]

also peanut oil makes it look 100 times better