Warflare fading question

[Jerrod4567]

My black warflares seem to get a lot of oxidation, what do you guys do to keep them nice and black?

 

[SaddleUp]

I asked a similar question awhile back and it was suggested to me to use a hair dryer or something along those lines. I never got around to trying it though.

 

[Jerrod4567]

I asked a similar question awhile back and it was suggested to me to use a hair dryer or something along those lines. I never got around to trying it though.

what would that do?

 

[Pokey71]

DONT USE ARMORAL!!!!!
thats all i can say on that... it will destroy the flares. and dashboards

 

[SaddleUp]

what would that do?

It heats it up to cause it to shine again similar to the way rubber or plastic does when it is melted. I do not know if it will work or not myself as I haven't tried it yet. I did however get it hot enough to soften it using a heater so I could form it around my fuel cap and recall that it didn't seem to harm it.

 

[Mark]

I used wd40 once.

 

[Carl]

I used ArmorAll It worked great.

 

[trailpsycho]

I would call WH and see what they suggest. ArmorAll is not that great. 303 Protectant may be the way to go....its used on alot of high-end vinyl products.

The deal with armor-all and some other cheap protectants is that they use lower molecular weight polymers for their 'plasticizer/fresheners' (for the sake of this discussion will call them "moisturizers") in them, so they do add shine and luster, but due to the lower MW, the compounds are more volatile, which means you have to apply it more often because they evaporate pretty quickly...as well because these 'moisturizers' are lower molecular weight analogs of the nautral 'moisturizers' in the plastics or vinyl, they essentially solubilize the moisturizers that are engineered ino the materials (which give them their suppleness or flexability) and can pull them out of the material....which means that while it looks better short term the material is likely to more rapidly dry out. So, if you start to use AA, you should use it often, especially in a high heat/sun/UV application or the material can 'dry-out'.

Some of the other "higher-end" protectants (such as 303) have 'moisturizers' that are less apt to evaporate-they are more similar to the 'moistuizers' incorporated during the manufacturing process- therefore they dont evaporate (as quickly) from the material and therefore they protect the look and funciton-longer and better than the AA. They do cost a little more and can be a little harder to find. Vinyl shops, boat suppliers, some bedliner dealers will carry it.

I hope that I have conveyed the concept well enough. I am not a vinyl/plastics guy, so I dont know their terminology, but I am an organic chemist, so alot of the concepts are universal. I believe this was discussed with regard to vinyl (dash pads and seats) and bedliners a while back, but I figured I would just bring it back up. Good luck.

 

[Tito]

I would call WH and see what they suggest. ArmorAll is not that great. 303 Protectant may be the way to go....its used on alot of high-end vinyl products.

The deal with armor-all and some other cheap protectants is that they use lower molecular weight polymers for their 'plasticizer/fresheners' (for the sake of this discussion will call them "moisturizers") in them, so they do add shine and luster, but due to the lower MW, the compounds are more volatile, which means you have to apply it more often because they evaporate pretty quickly...as well because these 'moisturizers' are lower molecular weight analogs of the nautral 'moisturizers' in the plastics or vinyl, they essentially solubilize the moisturizers that are engineered ino the materials (which give them their suppleness or flexability) and can pull them out of the material....which means that while it looks better short term the material is likely to more rapidly dry out. So, if you start to use AA, you should use it often, especially in a high heat/sun/UV application or the material can 'dry-out'.

Some of the other "higher-end" protectants (such as 303) have 'moisturizers' that are less apt to evaporate-they are more similar to the 'moistuizers' incorporated during the manufacturing process- therefore they dont evaporate (as quickly) from the material and therefore they protect the look and funciton-longer and better than the AA. They do cost a little more and can be a little harder to find. Vinyl shops, boat suppliers, some bedliner dealers will carry it.

I hope that I have conveyed the concept well enough. I am not a vinyl/plastics guy, so I dont know their terminology, but I am an organic chemist, so alot of the concepts are universal. I believe this was discussed with regard to vinyl (dash pads and seats) and bedliners a while back, but I figured I would just bring it back up. Good luck.

Good reply, thats a hell of a lot of info!!! I always wondered why once you started using AA you were like a crack addict and couldnt stop! On my 00 Heep, I used it on my plastic flares and bumper ends and if I didnt keep up with it they would grey like an old man, worse than they were before.

Now I know...and knowing is half the battle!

 

[Tito]

I wonder if you can buff them and wax them to get the shine back. I know I had a set of bushwackers on my Yukon and I was hit in a parking lot and got a scratch along the rear one. Well the body shop instead of replacing it buffed and polished it so much that it looked painted! Of course now I had 1 shiny polished one and the other 3 were the matte finish the way they came. Needless to say they are all polished now.

 

[NoJoe]

In a parts store we had an ashtray with a replica Goodyear tire around it, we would empty the ashtray and put armor all on the tire, this was inside on a counter, well one day I took the tire off rhe ashtray (about 2 years) and the side that had armor all was all cracked when compressed and the bottom of the tire was like new with no cracks, need I say more?

 

[Mark]

I would call WH and see what they suggest. ArmorAll is not that great. 303 Protectant may be the way to go....its used on alot of high-end vinyl products.

The deal with armor-all and some other cheap protectants is that they use lower molecular weight polymers for their 'plasticizer/fresheners' (for the sake of this discussion will call them "moisturizers") in them, so they do add shine and luster, but due to the lower MW, the compounds are more volatile, which means you have to apply it more often because they evaporate pretty quickly...as well because these 'moisturizers' are lower molecular weight analogs of the nautral 'moisturizers' in the plastics or vinyl, they essentially solubilize the moisturizers that are engineered ino the materials (which give them their suppleness or flexability) and can pull them out of the material....which means that while it looks better short term the material is likely to more rapidly dry out. So, if you start to use AA, you should use it often, especially in a high heat/sun/UV application or the material can 'dry-out'.

Some of the other "higher-end" protectants (such as 303) have 'moisturizers' that are less apt to evaporate-they are more similar to the 'moistuizers' incorporated during the manufacturing process- therefore they dont evaporate (as quickly) from the material and therefore they protect the look and funciton-longer and better than the AA. They do cost a little more and can be a little harder to find. Vinyl shops, boat suppliers, some bedliner dealers will carry it.

I hope that I have conveyed the concept well enough. I am not a vinyl/plastics guy, so I dont know their terminology, but I am an organic chemist, so alot of the concepts are universal. I believe this was discussed with regard to vinyl (dash pads and seats) and bedliners a while back, but I figured I would just bring it back up. Good luck.

Spoken like a true chemist! ;D

 

[1975SPORT]

Theres a product that FOOSE promotes by mothers that re instates the black trim on your cars, called true black or something. Ive seen it used and it works awesome. I however, have not seen how long it lasts but even if you have to cover it every couple of months it would probably work...

 

[Jerrod4567]

Theres a product that FOOSE promotes by mothers that re instates the black trim on your cars, called true black or something. Ive seen it used and it works awesome. I however, have not seen how long it lasts but even if you have to cover it every couple of months it would probably work...

You know what? I think my buddy was talking about that and has some, I will try it out and report the results back here.

 

[SaddleUp]

Here are the threads I mentioned previously.

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84780

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81942

 

[Redleg]

Where do you get 303?

 

[broncotime]

Where do you get 303?

You should be able to find it at most marine supply stores. You can also find it on-line if you try a google search.

 

[Redleg]

Just ordered some off Amazon.

 

[Clint]

303 is awesome! I use it on my SuperDuty trim and it holds up really well.

 

[Tim D.]

For those who mentioned the Mother's product, I believe you may be talking about Mother's Back to Black. I use it on the flares and other black plastic on my DD. Also works great to get ride of carnuba wax if you happen to get a bit on textured black plastic.