RESTO What will work on this?

[94pattyspride]

1994 XP. Does anyone know how to clean this grab-bar or paint, restore?? Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks,

 

[JeremyD615]

I’ve used Bleche-White to clean mine in the past, but my trim and grab handle are black. I’ve never tried to use it on a colored surface like that... I’d probably try to paint it with some Krylon Fusion or something similar that’s designed for plastic...

 

[mikidymac]

Those old ones are actually rubber if I remember correctly and nothing really cleans them up too good. Softscrub with bleach might be worth trying but that rubber usually becomes a gooey mess.

 

[AKnarrowback]

I tried a whole series of cleaners to get mine clean. In the end I resorted to my guaranteed to take the stain out super cleaner..... crc brake clean.....

It got the stains out and melted the top 1/16th inch of the rubberish material. I smeared, formed, squished things back straight and let it sit for a day until things set up again. Not my best moment, but my XP is a 20/20 machine anyhow. It runs perfect, looks old and always will.

I would suggest not using harsh chemicals, do your best with regular cleaners and leave it at that.

 

[etemplet]

Perhaps some tennis racket wrap might make it look reasonably better. Someone did that to the control yoke on my airplane and it looked pretty good. Of course... I made it 5 times better looking when I got it. LOL

 

[R-u-n2it]

This works, as the same chem that works in brake clean, old tee shirt cut in small squares and acetone, get tee square saturated and wipe one direction and the moment it starts to stick pull away, get use to the elapsed time to stick and preemptively "stop and toss" the square, get new 1 and saturate and repeat. If you keep wiping and your square sticks it will have all the loose fibers stuck to the bar and it's re-do time. I've made the whiteish, been in the sun too long purple rub rails look new, the vinyl trim on motorhomes go from crusty white with brown spots to new shiney white, then paint over as UV will attack again and get discolored quick. Black plastic like mud fenders on 4WD quads that are dull and whiteish film go to total black new look. You can't fool around in one spot, you want to stop as soon as you get through the crud, as soon as you do the cloth will stick real quick, lift it up and you'll see the cloth texture transferred to the plastic so keep moving and lift at the 1st hint of sticking. Only thing that would work better is a magic wand or annuities from your deceased rich parents. Lee