Fixing up faded plastics

[Pruittx2]

working on a Deere La135 and the plastics are all faded. Some use chemicals,, some just paint them,,, but have you tried a heat gun?

Check this out.

 

[Old Man Roger]

What kind of magic is this? lol

 

[kelpaso1]

Yep done this many times on atv fenders. Just melting the very top layer. Gotta be carefull on thin plastics though so you dont melt or warp them.

 

[CTyankee]

I used a heat gun to smooth out scratches my kayak with great success. I used a heat gun on some plastic trim pieces on my Jeep to bring back their luster, with very poor, uneven results. On a tractor?...I'd paint them..JMO.

 

[PassnThru]

I've tried it on some faded door panels in my Explorer with mixed results. Ended up splotchy and the areas that looked good didn't last very long. I have a plastic mailbox and it had a plastic, faded flag. I brought it back to red with a heat gun and it probably only lasted a few months.

 

[4xdog]

Those trim pieces on a car, and probably the tractor, are often made from talc-filled polypropylene. (It should be marked on the back for recent production to aid eventual recycling.)

Weathering of the polymer lets talc become exposed on the surface, giving the part that characteristic white look, I believe. Getting the polypropylene (PP) close to its melting point allows reflow to cover some of the talc. The freshly-reflowed surface is smooth and glossy, also helping the blackening.

PP is a fairly low-melting thermoplastic, so it lends itself to this kind of thing. The ABS of a thermoformed canoe would probably respond similary -- especially since the scratches likely involve "moving" material more than "removing" material, and the heat reflow will allow some of the moved material to go back where it was.

Blackening talc-filled PP with heat won't be a permanent effect -- it'll weather again, and probably faster than it did the first time.

 

[Pruittx2]

It's a 12 yr old lawn tractor that will get used,,, This fix took less than 5 mins on 1 panel,,, with a rattle can paint job,, it'll look 90% better that it did, rusty and faded.

 

[ambenz]

The show car industry has this one covered.
This stuff works great.....

 

[rburke65]

Wow...learn something every day on this site.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

The show car industry has this one covered.aD
This stuff works great.....

Can’t remember the name. But this forum had a thread in the past about some product with one of those self-evident names. New Plastic? Plastic Renew?
Highly praised by other posters. (Wish to heck i could recall right name.)

 

[kaymccampbell]

I've used a combination of the heat gun and WipeNew restorer to bring back the Tupperware on the Burgman, when I chopped it. It looks pretty good. Not brand new, but good enough for me.