Forever Black Trim Conditioner

Has anybody here ever used this stuff? Does it work real good? I'm asking this because my door handles and most of my exterior trim is faded and it looks like crap. I am going to order a bottle if I hear that it really works.

Thanks in advance


Jean

It will work pretty well on hard plastics such as the door handles, but works poorly (streaks and hardens them) on soft vinyl and rubber FWIW.

Here's a kit that they use on the dealership level (4,000 uses by Mazda with no comebacks!) It's very good but probably more $$$ than you want to spend for such a limited task. Good luck.

http://www.autoint.com/autostore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=53


P.S. One other option (for the door handles) for you is a shaker can of Krylon Fusion black paint. It self-etches (no sanding necessary and has a great bond) and comes in gloss and satin blacks. Just degrease and spray.

The reason I am mostly looking for a way to fix this is because the trim around the doors is faded and looks like crap. That vertical strip of trim on the side of the window is what is making me mad cause it looks horrible faded like it is. Would Forever Black work good on that? I might look into ETR II stuff. It's expensive though, but if it works well, why not.

The Forever Black *will* work on the rubber door glass trim, but again, my past experience, and some others at Autopia.com that say similarly, is that it goes on rubber somewhat streaky. It will help to darken it though if you can deal with the streaks.

The ETR-II kit is a professional product marketed to pro detailers and dealerships, but I agree it's difficult to justify that initial price unless you're going to be doing multiple cars on a regular basis.

If you decide on the Forever Black, let us know how it goes for you. It's not a bad product ar all, but it varies in effectiveness depending on type of material.

Here's another kit similar to the ETR-II , I have no experience with it but it's considerably cheaper than the ETR, and claims to do the same thing.

http://www.topoftheline.com/trimmolreski.html

So you have used the ETR-II kit on your SC?

No, haven't used it on the SC, because my trim is in great shape (always garaged, rarely sits out in the sun for long periods) but have used it on customers' cars and liked it a lot. Automotive International sent me a sample kit of a variety of their products to test, and the ETR-II was one of them (smaller containers than the $93 kit). I'm one of their "trusted detailers" in their U.S. database on that site so they wanted me to try their stuff to get me to buy it. I did buy some of it, just not the ETR, but here's why;

I used the small samples on a few cars with success and ran out. I do my own paint and spray work, from airbrushing / refinishing leather seats with dye to trim and bumper work to painting whole cars, so I can duplicate new trim by spraying a dedicated black satin rubber paint and have no real need for such a kit. SEM and DuPont make excellent elastomeric vinyl/rubber dyes that work just as well, but you need a compressor and spray gun or airbrush for that, of which i have both, and the ETR-II kit is easier for the mobile detailer since no specialized tools are needed. Make sense?

You can see others' reviews of the ETR-II here ;

http://autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=45884&highlight=ETR

And here;

http://autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=46552&highlight=ETR

It's a great product if you can't do it the way I do it. If you do a search at Autopia, you may even find some info on that other product I linked to, and also Forever black. Good luck.

P.S. Autoint sells some very good quality products, they're made for use on the pro level, so they had better stand up and work well. Most of them are far superior to anything you can get at Pep Boys etc. from compounds to rail dust removers and buffing pads etc.,but they sell in bulk containers so it's not for everyone (you have to use a lot of product to justify the expense). That's why they only generally market their stuff to shops and freelance detailers and dealerships.

As far as the strips on your door, there's a part # for it. i'm not sure what it is but search for "stripe kit" and you should find it. I've used Mothers Back to Black before and it works great and looks good even on black powdercoated metal. It doesn't last long though. you need to keep up on it.