White unpainted bumper restoration

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Pluto
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White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by Pluto »

Hi all, I have white plastic bumpers on my TGD estate (unpainted) and wondered if anyone had any magic tips on how to clean them up and bring out the white again?

I've tried a few different things (plastic conditioner, clutch cleaner, white spirit and even a steam cleaner!) to get the various ingrained stains and marks out and although it's improved things very slightly, it's not made a massive difference at all.

Any suggestions welcome!
Thanks
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Tim Leech
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by Tim Leech »

Scrubbing brush and some fairy liquid.
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ken newbold
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by ken newbold »

Tim Leech wrote:Scrubbing brush and some fairy liquid.

and LOTS of elbow grease :lol:
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jamescarruthers
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by jamescarruthers »

You can clean all you like buy they'll still be faded.

Do this instead and they come up close to new
http://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic ... 55#p241655
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by jamescarruthers »

I will try to fix the 'after' pictures in the original post, but for now you can get the idea from the embedded YouTube video.

Here are some pictures from when I sold the car to show you how good it looked:
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/jamesca ... For%20Sale
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by Kitch »

You'll need to clean them first before the heat gun trick (which does work, to get the colour back at least). Someone told me JIF works well on bumper stains.
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by jamescarruthers »

Kitch wrote:You'll need to clean them first before the heat gun trick (which does work, to get the colour back at least). Someone told me JIF works well on bumper stains.
Good point
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by Pluto »

Thanks for the replys, I'll give them a good scrub and try the heat gun trick. I've tried using the heat gun on coloured plastics before with good results. Didn't occur to me it would work with white!
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by Kitch »

Pluto wrote:Thanks for the replys, I'll give them a good scrub and try the heat gun trick. I've tried using the heat gun on coloured plastics before with good results. Didn't occur to me it would work with white!
Check they haven't been painted - a heat gun would be bad on those, and some white ones are!
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by Tinkley »

The heat gun trick works OK on PP (Polypropylene) to bring the colour back to the surface. We use it on faded Topper dinghy decks.... :wink: The problem is UV fade so keep out the sun... :wink:
Jif is an abrasive, so be careful as the scratches left may allow more dirt to become engrained!. However IF you either use much finer abrasives such as G3 and G10 afterwards and then a quick flame with a propane torch it should give a reasonably smooth surface close to the original. The flaming will subtly melt any crevices and allow the polymer to 'fill' itself slightly.
If it is painted you can repaint, but you need a special flexible additive which is added to the colour. I believe the ratio is about 10% but the additive manufacturer should give advice on this. I've also assumed 2k paint, so it won't be cheap but will give a factory finish, though metallics may require a clear lacquer (2k) over the top, not relevant in the case of plain colour on BXs' but necessary on some newer plain colours... :wink:
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by Pluto »

Thanks for all the info, I'll attack it this weekend and see how I get on! Just need to find some elbow grease!!
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by rutter123 »

Have you tried something like Mr Muscle with bleach ? or Astonish hob cleaner (tho this is quite abrasive) ? i dont know what chemicals are in them but they are good i used to fit bowling lanes and we used these to clean the laminate lane surfaces removing all scuff marks from the balls and shoes i also used it to clean the white wheels on my my old RD350 with very good results. For a few quid worth a try.
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Re: White unpainted bumper restoration

Post by Pluto »

rutter123 wrote:Have you tried something like Mr Muscle with bleach ? or Astonish hob cleaner (tho this is quite abrasive) ? i dont know what chemicals are in them but they are good i used to fit bowling lanes and we used these to clean the laminate lane surfaces removing all scuff marks from the balls and shoes i also used it to clean the white wheels on my my old RD350 with very good results. For a few quid worth a try.
Good suggestion, thanks.
Here I am hoping to come up with some weird and wonderful solution and it turns out standard household items lurking in my kitchen cupboard are the way to go. Almost takes the fun out if it! :lol:

After just 20mins scrubbing the top half of the bumper with cif, I can already see a difrerence. Quite a way to go yet though. If oven cleaner speeds up the process then happy days. Hopefully it won't damage the plastic. I'll try it on a small hidden piece first!
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