Plasticare - Before And After

[Anthony 1,003]

My '89 205 GTi has been a little neglected of late and has spent much of the past 18 months or so parked up round the back of the house, untouched and unloved.

 

With spring upon us and summer fast approaching, it was time to give the old girl some much needed TLC as those 18 months had taken their toll cosmetically and the car looked dreadful frankly. The paintwork was pretty much matt with no shine or depth whatsoever, had the texture of sandpaper, and had moss growing in various places. Thankfully the paintwork came back up very well indeed following a good wash, cut and polish, and reminded me just how good the car polishes up when I can be bothered.

 

The trim on the otherhand still looked very sorry for itself in places, particularly the front bumper that was badly faded by the sun and there was no way that bumper snot (Autoglym Bumper Care) was going to sort this one out as it was just too far gone. A few people on here had recommended Plasticare as sold on eBay for a tenner, so I thought I'd give it a go - and here are the results...

 

Take one slightly neglected looking 205 GTi

 

Whilst it doesn't look too bad in the photo, both the rear bumper and boot panel were faded and botchy

 

Front bumper very badly faded

 

Part way through the first coat, you can see the difference - it's not significantly darker, but it has got rid of the blotchy patches and made the colour uniform

 

Part way through the first coat on the front, and the difference is night and day! Shows just how faded the bumper was

 

Finished. After two coats, it's back to a uniform dark grey (shame I didn't replace the cracked panel first though!)

 

Front bumper looks like new

 

Looking much better I reckon - a big thumbs up for Plasticare from me!

 

As you can probably tell, I've used the grey Plasticare since the car is a Phase 1.5, but I've also used the black version they sell on my Phase 2 Sorrento, and it works equally well. I gave the bumpers and rear panel two coats and the rest of the trim just a single coat, but in truth the second coat wasn't really needed - it was 95% there with just a single coat, and the second coat just covered up any areas that I hadn't quite covered properly the first time. I used less than half a bottle doing the whole car, which isn't too bad at all I'd say.

 

I must admit that I was a bit sceptical of the pictures used in the eBay auction and whether those sorts of results were realistically achievable, but I guess I've gone and answered that as shown above. Certainly judging from my results, I'd happily recommend it

[Baz 421]

Nice, just the kind of comparison i've needed to give me the motivation to get some!

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Looks really good mate, its amazing how well the old 205s scrub up

 

Did you know if you lay your red trim face down on a flat surface you can push the dents back out of it using a blunt instrument

[CosKev 16]

Looks good stuff

 

Is it a permanent sort of dye????

[rubyna 4 1 Cars]

What did you use to apply it Ant?? as ive had a bottle ready to put on since the end of last summer, was supposed to be 1 of those winter jobs that never get done!!! I sent you a pm yesterday aswell..

Luke..

[Anthony 1,003]

Is it a permanent sort of dye????

It's supposed to be, yes, although I guess that time will show how well it lasts - maybe some of those that have been using it for a while would care to comment? What I can say though is even after a few hours of rain, rubbing over the trim didn't result in any residue or dye on my fingers like you'd get with something like bumper snot, so it looks promising.

 

What did you use to apply it Ant?? as ive had a bottle ready to put on since the end of last summer, was supposed to be 1 of those winter jobs that never get done!!

I dabbed it on using a sponge, which seems to have worked well and given an even coverage. As a bonus, it's also made a couple of scratches on the rear bumper from catching it loading things in and out of the boot much less noticeable, as they're now identical colour to the rest of the bumper

[Baz 421]

I dabbed it on using a sponge, which seems to have worked well and given an even coverage.

 

As advised by me!

 

A little section of sponge cut into a square or triangle is pretty good, and can get into all the little nooks and crannies!

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

It's supposed to be, yes, although I guess that time will show how well it lasts - maybe some of those that have been using it for a while would care to comment?

 

 

Lasts really well, done my very faded grey trim over a year ago and it still looks as good as the day I applied it -

 

 

[rubyna 4 1 Cars]

As advised by me!

 

A little section of sponge cut into a square or triangle is pretty good, and can get into all the little nooks and crannies!

 

Good thinking Batman, i shall raid the local £1-shop on Tuesday... Bye the way it looks real clean Ant...

[The Arch Bishop 0]

Has lasted very well for me as well, but I wish I'd prepared the surfaces better to start with as it looks a bit patchy where there must have been some wax or something on the bumpers. As always, preparation is the key.

 

I used an old cereal box as a mask to slip in between the trim and the paintwork which speeded the job up a huge amount (especially around the wheel arches).

[Pugleyrich 37 1 Cars]

Looks good. Did you mask the red strip off too, or is it ok to quickly wipe off any that goes onto it? Also, I heard that some people thin it slightly before putting it on. Did you?

[Anthony 1,003]

Looks good. Did you mask the red strip off too, or is it ok to quickly wipe off any that goes onto it? Also, I heard that some people thin it slightly before putting it on. Did you?

I just wiped it off the red strip afterwards, which is easier once it's dried than when it's still wet (or so I found). I used it neat and that worked OK for me.

[DaveW 6]

OMG Anthony cleaned a car! and even made it look decent

[rubyna 4 1 Cars]

I just wiped it off the red strip afterwards, which is easier once it's dried than when it's still wet (or so I found). I used it neat and that worked OK for me.

 

When you say you wiped it off after when it had dried did you use a thinner or just a damp rag??

[davey sprocket 14]

I just wiped it off the red strip afterwards, which is easier once it's dried than when it's still wet (or so I found). I used it neat and that worked OK for me.

 

 

Not quite sure why you wouldn't just pop the red strip out.... surely it must take longer to clean the plasticare off the strip than to take it off and refit? Good opportunity to brighten up the strip with a bit of polish too.

 

Here's mine when I did them a little while ago... again its the grey rather than black and you can see from the unfaded (and untreated) bit behind the number plate, the colour match is spot on.

 

 

I only did one coat on mine, seemed enough. I did spend quite a bit of time scrubbing the bumpers before hand though.

[marksorrento205 80]

Looks really well! Out of interest, what did you do to prepare the plastics before you applied it? Or did you just put it straight on? Also how well would it work on recently "bumper cared" trim? Cheers

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

The only preperation I did was a good clean, it seemed to be fine.

 

I'm sure if you gave it a thorough going over you could remove most of the previous bumper care residue.

[davey sprocket 14]

The only preperation I did was a good clean, it seemed to be fine.

 

I'm sure if you gave it a thorough going over you could remove most of the previous bumper care residue.

 

 

Yep, strong washing up liquid solution and a scrubbing brush. Might need something stronger if there's loads of 'snot' on them.

[marksorrento205 80]

Cheers lads! I might get some and wait a good few months untill its well washed off

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

I took mine through a carwash before I applied it and it worked fine, I have treated a piece of spare trim that I thoroughly cleaned all the in-ground crap off of using a little brass brush and it came out looking like a brand new piece of trim, was a bit long winded though

[Baz 421]

Yep, strong washing up liquid solution and a scrubbing brush. Might need something stronger if there's loads of 'snot' on them.

 

no no no... don't ever put washing up liquid near your paintwork!

 

TFR/Truckwash/APC etc will strip back surfaces ready for re-treating. Even just a good wash&wax would do IMO though.

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

no no no... don't ever put washing up liquid near your paintwork!

 

Contains very high levels of salt, not good on a 20 year old car

[davey sprocket 14]

Contains very high levels of salt, not good on a 20 year old car

 

 

Hmmm... point taken.

 

We are talking about cleaning a plastic bumper and some may have run down over the plastic valance. Thoroughly rinsed off afterwards. I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it.

 

Don't worry I don't wash the car with washing up liquid!

[Baz 421]

Ahh ok, yeah sure it'll be ok to clean the trim alone!

[ORB 227 1 Cars]

G101 is the boy for scum removal from a car. It is not cheap, but it is well worth it. It will take the crap off your engine as fast as it will remove road grime from the car. It will not damage your paint either. Made by Autosmart.