Car sales in 2012 are estimated to expand, which is great for all automakers. However, many owners are keeping their cars longer than every before. Hey, buying a new car is pretty dam expensive, and you need to buy a new washing machine and dryer before you can buy a new car. (Unfortunately those not so fun purchases just wiped out your new car budget. Sorry to hear that buddy!)
The thing is your trusty reliable car, while you love it and have no plans to get rid of it, is showing some wear and tear and age. One clear way you know when a car is aging is when the plastic fading. What are you supposed to do? Well, Meguiar's has a great product which might help with this, Meguiar's Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer.
Basically Meguiar's Ultimate Black does what you think it does, restore plastic. Black plastic is on most cars, whether it be our Camry with a black interior or my Honda Accord with a beige interior, usually has some black. So this product is fairly universal and applicable on most vehicles.
I used the Plastic Restorer on my Honda Accord, and I got to say, “Wow!” it looked great! I couldn't believe the results actually. To be honest, it worked a lot better than I thought it would. It really helped make my car look better, and not show it's age as much. Meguiar's Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer worked so well, before I knew what I started doing as many plastic parts of the car as I could.
After I was done, and it dried a bit I noticed the effect of the plastic restorer had worn off a bit. I checked the instructions and saw it said sometimes a few coats are needed. So after letting the first coat dry for day or two, I reapplied a coat, let it dry, then did it again.
Check out my before and after pictures, where there is 3 coats on the plastic. What do you think?
Bottom line… it might be hard to see in some of the pictures, but yes, Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer works. You can see that I even used it on some dried up wax that was on my license plate holder. (That is what the white spot is, probably should have been more careful.) It didn't mask it completely, but did a good job of blackening up the plastic enough so you don't quite see it as much now. My only complaint of Meguiar's Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer, I used up the bottle to quickly!
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If you have any questions about this product, please leave a comment below.
don’t know when this was posted, but would like to know how it held up after it got wet. I am in the process of restoring the cladding on my 2002 Avalanche. I started with the bed panels (3), and after 3 coats were looking really great, then last night I started the bridge over the cab. This morning the parts that were treated last night have streaked and spotted. I have reapplied a new coat, and was wanting to know your treatment has held up over time. Thanks
The restorer definitely wears off after awhile. It didn’t streak or wear off the next day for me though. Did it rain the night you put it on?
These pictures were taken a month or two before the post and the plastic looks better but the shine isn’t quite all there anymore. Thank you for commenting Anita.
Ultimate Black works great on black plastic, but much less effective on grey
I haven’t used Ultimate Black on anything but black plastic but thanks for letting me know. I am going to have to reapply it though as it really has worn off on my Honda Accord. Thanks for commenting Bill.
I have used Ultimate Black on grey trim that was in horrible shape. I live in Dallas, and our summer sun is brutal. On my 1 year old Avalanche it was a breeze and held up well. I also decided to use it on my beater 2002 Ford Escape XLT. Maroon with GREY BUMPERS AND GREY ACCENT TRIM ON LOWER DOORS. The Escape’s trim and bumpers HAD NOT EVER BEEN TREATED, and were faded to a point that I expected it to have little effect on the appearance. I treated the bumpers and trim 3 times over 3 days. The 1st day I was shocked at how good it looked… I did not buff it out. Day 2…… I noticed it had absorbed some but still looked pretty good, and I applied a second coat…. Again, I did not buff it out at all. Day 3.. it is looking really good, and quite honestly, I don’t think I really needed to apply the 3rd coat but I did anyway. After about 2 hours, I took a dry microfiber cloth and rubbed it down. It looked fantastic. REMEMBER, NONE OF THIS TRIM HAD EVER BEEN TREATED BEFORE THIS. The fade on it before treatment had the sort of chalky looking fade that grey ends to get when it is not taken care of properly. After 3 weeks, and 2 washes, it is still looking really good. I am sold on Ultimate Black, and intend to treat the trim on the Escape as needed from here on out, and certainly on my new Avalanche. If I sound like a commercial for these guys, I am not and will be glad to send pics of the trim on my Escape to anyone who requests. dfw101@live.com BTW, I believe I paid less than $8 for a bottle of this stuff at Walmart. This price is right and it works.
I am looking for something more permanent.
Unsure if there is something “permanent” to restore the look of plastic. I’ve checked around and honestly this Ultimate Black seems like one of the best options on the market. The other plastic restorers will wear out as well.
If you find something that is more permanent for restoring plastic, please let me know.
WARNING: is there a review marking less than one[1]?
If you use this product, DO NOT let the rain touch it !!?!. Did a decent job in restoring black -for about two days!
In the meantime, a drizzle of rain smeared the restorer onto the paint. Streaks everywhere…took two hours and isopropyl alcohol, followed by water, and maximum elbow grease to get streaks to go away. USE THIS CLEANING METHOD AT YOUR OWN RISK. Sorry, will never use this product again.
Works good, but it took the skin off my hands. Use caution.