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Body Shop Sail Panel Restoration

tralme98

Full Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2015
Messages
39
Location
Wisconsin
Backstory:
Driving around I got some people telling me to get some back to black on my sail panels because it look terrible. I can take some flack so I went on until it was unbearable(neighbors even chimed in). I called up my friend and asked to try out his Mother's Back to Black. I pulled in my Avy after a car wash into the garage, dried her off and started applying generous amount of product to the pannels and followed the directions on the back religiously. I spent two hours massaging in the product into just the top panel (with the high mount brake light in it) to get a comparison. My father walks in (30+ years of auto body & collision repair) and 1st off, tells me off for bringing in a silicon based product into his garage because it will cause fish eyes in paint when he spray customer cars in our paint booth/ garage bay. (Oops  :E:) Then he cooled down enough for him to share some father son advice, the trim Restoration trick he had been using for years!  (y)

The Trick:
Use a heat gun, the bigger the heat out put area the better
If you have a cheap gun use the max setting, after letting it warm up so heat output is consistent, carefully aim the gun around and inch away from the plastic and watch the witchcraft appear before your eyes. The plastic is heated to a point right before melting and brings back the original, factory color and texture of the trim. Thanks Dad! You want to do this all in one go so you minimize the risk of creating heat lines in the plastic. Warning : Cheap Guns will start on fire after couple hours of use  :laugh:

I Cannot Stress This Enough: Use Extreme Cation When Doing This Because Permanent Damage is A Huge Possibility!

The Pic's
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Nice pics and glad the heat method worked for you. There are many threads on cladding restoration and some have used heat with various results.
Since 2002 AV owners have tried almost everything from floor wax, peanut butter and of course various store products. Many owners use a product called Refinish Restorer and can be purchased from a site member at a discount.
http://www.therightcarstuff.com/
 
I second the use of Refinish Restorer....in fact, you will see that a majority of members on here will tell you that you cannot get any better than that product.

Unfortunately, you will see that the heat gun trick is still only temporary, and is actually a bad idea.  It will begin to fade unevenly (staying a little darker in the areas the gun got a little closer to the plastic, or a spot where you may have spend a second or 2 more).
It will eventually dry out the plastic more and also ruins the "textured" look on the plastic as well.

I suggest next time you get a can of RR.  You will need about 2 coats for your first go, but will only need to touch it up with one coat about once per year.  Just my 2 pennies.  (y)  
 
But wasn't it already faded unevenly? I find this to be way more time efficient in my case, and it being winter the shorter im outside the better!  :D
Thanks for the suggestions btw
 
Refinish Restorer.

'Nuff said.
 
I'd like to add that from the threads I have now read... the refinisher restorer is the beez kneez and should be put as the preferred method but the heat gun method is free!
This is a different type of "fix" and should be considered as temporary and the other is more long term. Story now straight, didn't mean to come off as "salty".  :laugh:
 
I did that to my bed panels.  It fades after a while, and looks worse than what it did before I did it.  I put some bed liner from Road Armor on before winter.  I'll see what it looks like after.  :)
 
One hazard of the heat gun, just what if you get a little to close, or stay just a little to long in one area, you ain't buyin another panel, easily anyways.  RR rub all you want all day long, the more the better, lol

Didit
 
I've been using the Carworx RR the last couple years and it definitely works well. I get about 6 months out of an application before some part of the bed begins fading and I feel like I have to do it again.

That said I used a heat gun on an ATV and a motorcycle and it worked great. It must be pretty tough to burn into the plastic because I didn't do it.
 
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