Jerrod4567
Sr. Member
My black warflares seem to get a lot of oxidation, what do you guys do to keep them nice and black?
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?
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.
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.
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...
Where do you get 303?