Forever Black Bumper Dye

For all you 80's fans with black molding, this stuff is really good. My Crx black trim was looking dull so I ordered some off of Amazon for $10. The sponge applicator tip stinks, but just pour some on a clean rag and go from there. I only used half a bottle, so $5 later it looked alot better. Just thought I would share.

Can you keep us updated as to how long it lasts?

Mothers or Meguirs whatever it is "Back to Black" looks great after i use it.

For about 3 days.

Friend put it on his Jeeps fender flairs. Mmm, been about a year now, and they still look good. Not as good as when he first did it, but pretty durn close.

And differently, I've tried Flood on some of the trim on the Volvo. Did not turn it the black that Forever Black achieves, not by any means. But it darkened it quite a bit, and it's stayed that way for a good 3 months now.

In reply to 93celicaGT2:

It started raining today, that's the first test. I used Mother's too, not worth it.

Screw that! Two things that work better and cost less:

1. Propane torch. LIGHTLY hit all explosed black plastic with a propane torch. Takes a gentle hand, so you might wanna practice on a scrap piece or junk car first. It will make your bumper and plastic trim blacker than black in short order.

2. Kiwi shoe polish. Black, liquid, with the foam applicator. I would bet dollars to donuts you just bought this, but it was $10 from Amazon, not $3 from Wal-Mart. Put on a heavy coat, let it stand, put on a light coat, buff it off for an even finish. Did this to my GTI circa 2000 and it held up for at least 6 years of neglect from my dad after I sold it.

In reply to 93gsxturbo:

1. I really wouldn't want to take a chance of melting the plastic.

2. I actually tried that with the paste kind, didn't work. You might be on to something here in point #2 though with the liquid version.

Unfortunately, Honda uses a "special" kind of plastic for it's black bumpers and trim. A few of the commercially available products turn the black trim pieces on Hondas a grey or off-white.

I've tried black shoe polish on my old '89 Civic....how well it works depends as much on the brand as how well and how often it's first applied. But for the price....you can't really argue about Kiwi.

integraguy wrote: Unfortunately, Honda uses a "special" kind of plastic for it's black bumpers and trim. A few of the commercially available products turn the black trim pieces on Hondas a grey or off-white. I've tried black shoe polish on my old '89 Civic....how well it works depends as much on the brand as how well and how often it's first applied. But for the price....you can't really argue about Kiwi.

Don't cheap-out with the OTC products and go directly to something like Duplicolor's Adhesion Promoter and their appropriate spray paint. I used these products on my '90 Civic's rub strips three years ago and the finish is still great - on a car that sits in direct sunlight from dawn to dusk.

The front/rear bumpers were left untreated only because their untreated color has started to match the faded paint.

I agree with oldsaw, the duplicolor black trim paint plus adhesion promoter works great. But prep the areas, take time to mask off really well, and follow the directions on the can to the letter.

I'm picky about black trim, tried every product on the market, was an amateur detailer out of my garage for a long time. I've spent a ton of time masking and spraying, and trust me, follow the directions -exactly-. If you don't, it's very likely the trim paint will not survive a power washer or auto car wash. For me that isn't an issue because it'll be a cold day in hell before anything but my own hands washes my cars.

For customer cars it was Kiwi all the way.

I used SEM Trim Black once about 6 years ago and haven't had a problem since on my integra. Pretty easy to use as well.

Gotta try the propane torch trick some time, it works great. I did it on my Beretta and the results were spectacular.

I'm with the Kiwi crowd - 1 year of sun, rain, snow and ice and it still looks good

In reply to 93gsxturbo:Use a heat gun instead of a tourch, a lot safer and more controlable,

I should have known the GRM guys would find a cheaper way than $5.00 to redo black molding.

Used the Kiwi today and it works great!

Be aware that if your 80s sled has as much faded-to-white trim as mine that you're going to need more than one package.

GUNDY wrote: In reply to 93gsxturbo:Use a heat gun instead of a tourch, a lot safer and more controlable,

Yes yes a million times yes! I tried the heat method because of this thread and was SHOCKED! Turns black bumper trim the same color black it was when it rolled off the assembly line. Turned the blue/grey Voyager bumper a rich dark gray. Buy an $8 Harbor Freight heat gun and give it a shot, you will be surprised.

I just used Forever Black on my 93 E36 bumpers. The car is black, but being an earlier car, the lower part of the front and back bumpers as well as the rockers are grey. I did a bit of minor rust repair on the rockers and sprayed them black, and did the bumpers with the Forever Black. After 4-5 coats the plastic is very black and looks really good. The car looks so much better all black. For $12.95 Forever Black is a great investment.

Forever Black is a dye, and will probably work better on more porous plastics.

Pre-dye:

Post-dye (sorry for poor quality, taken with phone):

In a similar vein, I recently read about using Mr. Clean Magic Erasers on plastic. Haven't tried it yet, but I did try it on a rubber bumper. Works really well to gently remove the oxidation. Cover up with yer favorite rubber detail potion.

You don't want the Kiwi polish, you want the Kiwi dye. Had the front plastic looking pretty good, before I shattered it hitting a truck retread on the interstate.

I never got to the other trim before the debris strike. You can really see it in the rear flares.

Bumping an old topic here. I was using Seafoam in one of the cars and set the half-empty can on the GTX bumper. A few days later, I noticed that the ring where the Seafoam had been was a clean, deep black, so I whipped it back out and cleaned off the GTX spoilers. They were a gorgeous deep black for almost two years of sitting outside before starting to fade again.

I haven't refreshed it yet; I'll take before and after pix when I clean up the $2010 GTX.

dollraves wrote: Bumping an old topic here. I was using Seafoam in one of the cars and set the half-empty can on the GTX bumper. A few days later, I noticed that the ring where the Seafoam had been was a clean, deep black, so I whipped it back out and cleaned off the GTX spoilers. They were a gorgeous deep black for almost two years of sitting outside before starting to fade again. I haven't refreshed it yet; I'll take before and after pix when I clean up the $2010 GTX.

Seafoam? Nice tip! Thanks.