restoring grill plastics

[mac11]

Not uncommon my grill has been looking like trash for quite a while. I thought it was the typical fading that nearly everyone experiences. On closer inspection it has developed some sort of film, grey-ish yellow-ish. nasty. Rubbing it hard with a bare finger would start to pull it up a little bit.

Exhibit A.





So i got out the chemicals to see what they would do.

First I got out the mineral spirits. That did a decent job on the initial layer but quickly lost its effectiveness and left the whole area dull.



Tonight I hit it with some headlight restorer that I had laying around. Used a microfiber towel to apply and applied a liberal amount of elbow grease. To some fairly fantastic results, IMO. And that whole area has a nice polished sheen to it.

 

[Xterraforce]

That's what mine looked like. I think that film is actually the gray coating they came with that's just turning a greenish color almost and coming off. I thought about trying to strip mine down to see what it would look like but chickened out and just painted it.

 

[Silver dude]

Yeah its a shame the grills aren't just plastic. They are painted plastic. As a result they are harder to restore. Especially mine which is rock chipped. Yours looks good though.

 

[bigjim247365]

i sanded mine with 1500 grit sand paper and it was like new for about a year.

 

[TJTJ]

I rattle canned the 2001 with Plasticolor flat black, and it worked great.

For the 2004, I had a can of black Duplicolor Bedliner, and I rattle canned the grill with that...and it looked good.

The 2001 lasted many years w/o needing a touch up...I only sprayed the bedliner last weekend, so its bit early to say it lasts...but its bedliner. so, it should be durable.

I used three light coats for both techniques...to avoid runs, etc.