Bumpers and dashboard restoration.

I notice in your thread of April 19th LP that you were going to " back to black " your bumpers. May I reccomend to you that you give a try with Boiled Linseed Oil -- it MUST be the BOILED variety. You will be amazed how well this brings plastic up and I am told it "feeds " the plastic too.

Blowed if I would want it for breakfast though !! Unlike Back to Black the shiny finish lasts for ages. Well worth getting a bottle of it from your local hardware shop, painters merchant or plumbers. Woody.

Peanut butter works too.

I found on the mirrors, they go really white/grey and dry - if you rub them down with wire wool it removes all this dry failing plastic layer, and then they "back to black" up brilliantly.

As you keep rubbing with wire wool you can see them return to smooth and proper black plastic.

I did back to black mine.. Next time ill try the boiled oil trick.. Coz I HATE peanut butter!

Mirrors look like new after the wire wool rub down.

I have heard of the heat gun method on many forums, can't vouch for it though.
This stuff is good http://www.performancemotorcare.com/acatalog/Wurth_Plast_PT_Back_to_Black_Plastic_Bumper_and_Trim_Dye.html

I've tried the heat gun method a couple of times before on other vehicles.

It's ok on small area's, but it's hard not to make large areas look patchy because depending on how much heat you give it alters the colour change. Bump strips on car doors are easily done with heat, but I tried a front Peugeot 106 bumper and it didn't look great.

The other issue with the heat gun method is your pulling the oils out of the plastic to the surface, so you are heavily reducing its life span increasing brittleness.

Haven't heard of the wire wool trick before. Sounds like combining the two would have great results. I will try it first thing in the morning and report back the overall results. Cheers for that tip.
I love Peanut Butter -- but the Crunchy type. Don't think that will work too well somehow.

Wire wool trick is something I came up with myself just for hijet mirrors.

They seem to end up with a powdery coating where the plastic is failing.

All the back to black in the world doesn't work.

Get rid of this layer of oxidized plastic and your laughing.

I wouldn't touch the bumpers or handles with it, they don't get the same white/grey layer.

I had some old mirrors in my garage, and had a couple of experiments with nothing to lose. Found wire wool works great!

Best to take the mirror off though when your doing it other wise you'll wear the adjuster ball out, and you can't get to all the sides, and you'll get bits of wire wool on the van.