bengaltiger14

For those of you that have heard about the method of applying a heat gun to badly faded fendor flares, I tried it this weekend and it works great. Below is a sample of how mine turned out. The hardest part is getting the color even but it beats the heck out of painting them.

mavrik2747

I used Wipe New, it puts new oils in rather than just bringing oils out to the surface. $10 for a small bottle was more than enough, and it will also work on interior plastics as well.

connorfx4

There was a pretty long thread on here a while ago on this. IIRM most of the pictures it did look pretty blotchy. I would rather paint or apply some sort of chemical.

techrep

iTrader: (1)

or you can wipe on some Black Restore made by Bondo ... makes mine look brand new.

berty

This is the first time I've seen this method, although I think I'll stick with whats worked well for me.

Used this for my old Volvo, my Mazda 3, and my sisters Xterra and it works great!

screamineagle

Yeah, it will look good for a few days then it will be worse than ever. The heat gun pulls what little bit of oil is left to the surface. Painting is a better and permanent fix

techrep

iTrader: (1)

Wrong answer...been using it for 8 years and it last along time 4-6 months...depends how much I wash it. I agree paint is the best though.

elricfate

Well, yes and no. There's pyrolysis, but using a heat gun isn't really the same. You're not drawing oil out of the plastic, per se, but you are melting and reflowing it around.

It's easier if you sand off what little oxidation you have and then hit it, the heating will be more uniform then and you won't get as many spots or streaks.

The Meguair's Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer creates a layer of polymer over the plastics giving it a wet look. It lasts awhile and it uniformly fills in all the microscopic valleys in the plastic, which is why it doesn't look streaky.

It's good for a short term fix, and easy to apply. It's also better for your plastics than heating and cooling them constantly.

screamineagle

Your truck must have special plastic, or maybe it doesn't get much sun?

650NutKase

Don't you know? 08's got upgraded plastics. They are less likely to fade. It's a top secret Ford polymer.