[OhSix]

Good buddy over at California Wraps turned me onto a small supply of a product he sources from an automotive chemical distributor. I'm waiting for his reply about who makes this stuff, in the meantime, I'm impressed with what it's done for plastic and rubber exterior parts. It was purely accidental some spilled onto the well used tailgate surface. As I wiped it away and felt the surface - which was not slippery or slimey - I went ahead and pulled the tail gate inner panel off, gave is a bath in denatured alcohol then a quick spray with water, this is what happened...

Before the spill:


After:


Application was a 1.5" foam paint brush. Couldn't be easier. The stuff is a milky white viscous/gel like substance that spreads easily. As an extra added bonus, it smells pretty good when the scent get airborne too.

To compare the gate to the rest of the untreated surfaces, check this out:


Note the difference between treated/untreated portions of the driver side bed panel:


Rubber and plastic parts treated/untreated:

 

[OhSix]

One of the things that makes this stuff nice is it doesn't "run" like "Back to Black" and other plastic treatments I've used. Nothing worse than glass and paint with residue left by a surface treatment running down after exposure to water, leaving streaks and other crap to clean up. For rubber & plastic, this stuff is supposed to last "up to" 6 months. I have no idea how long or what the bed surfaces will look like in a week or a month or two from now but will share what happens.

DOH! I'll get the name of the product and post it here too.

 

[OhSix]

This is the stuff mentioned in this thread. Look around the site, looks like they have pretty cool car products. $30 for a gallon superior vinyl and rubber dressing seems like a screaming deal to me. We'll see how it holds up on the bed panels, but I like the first pass - looks promising. And it seems to be less controversial than the Bondo product mentioned in other threads.

http://www.chemicalguys.com/New_Car_Shine_Premium_Dressing_1_Gal_p/tvd_102.htm

 

[Carsmak]

Looks good, I'll be interested in your follow up

 

[Heli ATP]

Looks good, but after reading the reviews about it washing off in the rain...
I would consider this for interior surfaces and stick with the Bondo Restore Black for the exterior.
Maybe you could do a water hose check on the tailgate?

 

[OhSix]

Looks good, but after reading the reviews about it washing off in the rain...
I would consider this for interior surfaces and stick with the Bondo Restore Black for the exterior.
Maybe you could do a water hose check on the tailgate?

HEY MAN, we have drought going on over here. The water cops are out in force and tailgate watering is only allowed @ 2AM every 5th Sunday of the month! :act024:

There's a regular overnight/morning mist/light rain thing happening right now, followed by warm days and sometimes intense sun shine so I'm letting nature take its course as an environmental experiment. I removed and treated the rubber trim pieces on the R & L bottom of the windshield - don't know what they are called i but they connect at the bottom of the windshield trim, wrap around the hood hinge, tuck under the fender lip and terminate at the cowl trim. Did the same with splash guards. And treated (in place) the black trim on the door R & L side view mirrors. did this stuff on Sunday so it hasn't been long, but I can say this: "Back To Black" would be streaking by now as ambient moisture collects and runs down painted and glass surfaces. Not happening yet with this stuff. I'll keep a close eye on the bed panels too because I need a solution back there - even if it means treating several times/annual.

What turned me off about the Bondo product is the confusion over if it's paint or some derivation of paint. I realize some owners may not have prepped the surface properly, so that may be the reason for reports of "peeling" - but I really don't like that potential outcome. Especially because the manufacturer (to best of my knowledge) offers no removal instruction.

If this stuff sticks around for a decent amount of time, I'd prefer to have the option to let Mother Nature remove it over time rather than end up with sketchy/patchy remnants reported with the Bondo product.

 

[Heli ATP]

I did think about the drought at the time of my previous post. I also guessed there was no way you would run a hose on your clean tailgate based on your obsessive cleaning practice
No harm in asking right...

 

[OhSix]

I did think about the drought at the time of my previous post. I also guessed there was no way you would run a hose on your clean tailgate based on your obsessive cleaning practice
No harm in asking right...

Obsessive cleaning habits? Has someone been spewing about my OCD again? LOL. No harm what so ever. But, ya know... a REAL obsessive compulsive would never, ever drive around with ghost badges on their tail gate. I mean REALLY.

 

[OhSix]

OK, southern California finally had rain. It was a good storm too, apparently the remnants of a tropical thingy happening down south. Looks like we got an inch or more of much needed H2O on this parched region, most of which seemed to be delivered in dime sized rain drops.

Just so happened to be on a road trip up north when it hit, and it didn't let up for most of the overnight stay either. Here's a couple of images showing how the Chemical Guys product mentioned in this thread held up.



On the tail gate inner skin, the product is showing signs of "running" as was reported of the Chemical guys site.

Unlike the image above, where the entire tail gate skin was treated, the image below is passenger side bed panel that was treated on the top edge, above one of the mounting bolts. The streaks seen here are from the product running down from the treated horizontal surface across untreated vertical surface below.



Given the climate in this area, I don't consider use of this product a failure for external surfaces. For example, the splash guards continue to look as though they were treated yesterday. Although I can't explain why, I've yet to see evidence on the paint of the product running from the mirror mount cosmetic covers either.



So... next time an opportunity presents itself, the idea is to treat the bed panels and give it a longer term go. I suppose the worst thing that could happen is streaks might end up looking worse than the aged appearance of the bed. Or not.

 

[Carsmak]

Thanks for the follow up I may be looking into that stuff soon

 

[Smokey619]

Great post, I have not shined mine in a while, but I might get this one.

Found it even cheaper on Amazon

 

[Carsmak]

Great post, I have not shined mine in a while, but I might get this one.

Found it even cheaper on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Guys...tvd102+new+car+shine+premium+dressing+-+1+gal

Not sure how long it will last, but Amazon has a coupon taking another $4 off the price, with Prime, shipped it's $15.14 + tax

 

[OhSix]

Not sure how long it will last, but Amazon has a coupon taking another $4 off the price, with Prime, shipped it's $15.14 + tax

Quick update. Images of splash guards taken this AM. This is after a couple weeks plus last weekends 300+ miles trip through a healthy rain. Not bad at all...

 

[Parsec]

Chemical Guys makes some great products. I've been using them on my Audi and BMW, but I haven't gotten around to detailing the truck and probably never will due to time constraints.