2004 expedition faded lower body panels or moldings. Paint with bed liner stuff?

[cecoen]

So I have one of the Expy's with one or 2 faded lower body cladding on the doors. It is an XLT model. My truck is blue with gray leather. I would really love to have some black or gray factory painted moldings with the wheel lip bits from a sport or bauer or whatever. However, it is really hard to find them in black or gray and they are pretty expensive. I have been advised by many people and it has been my personal experience that painting the panels I have now with a base/clear system just won't work for many different reasons. BUT what about spraying them with some of the new bedliner type materials available today. I know some of that stuff will actually stick with pretty good adhesion to almost any surface but they won't be smooth painted panels like the factory ones.

 

Has anyone done this yet?

 

Do you have pics?

 

What do you think about doing this?

 

How are yours holding up?

 

Got any factory painted pieces you want to sell?

 

Please help me out before I go off the deep end and pull the panels and shoot 'em! I can't stand looking at my pretty truck with those white panels!

 

Thanks,

Chad

Edited September 18, 2011 by cecoen

[akirby]

So I have one of the Expy's with one or 2 faded lower body cladding on the doors. It is an XLT model. My truck is blue with gray leather. I would really love to have some black or gray factory painted moldings with the wheel lip bits from a sport or bauer or whatever. However, it is really hard to find them in black or gray and they are pretty expensive. I have been advised by many people and it has been my personal experience that painting the panels I have now just won't work for many different reasons. BUT what about spraying them with some of the new bedliner type materials available today. I know some of that stuff will actually stick with pretty good adhesion but they won't be smooth painted panels like the factory ones.

 

Has anyone done this yet?

 

Do you have pics?

 

What do you think about doing this?

 

How are yours holding up?

 

Got any factory painted pieces you want to sell?

 

Please help me out before I go off the deep end and pull the panels and shoot 'em! I can't stand looking at my pretty truck with those white panels!

 

Thanks,

Chad

 

Try mother's back to black - you can probably get those panels looking brand new again with just a little bit of elbow grease.

[cecoen]

Hey, thanks but I have tried almost every product available to no avail. They turn again in a few days to weeks depending on the product. I have tried Back to Black, pure silicone, tire shine, armorall, STP, Meguires, you name it, I have tried almost all of it. I have even tried products that come from some chemical distributors that sell to the clean up shops. Once upon a time I worked in detail and still had a few cards from old contacts. I have even tried heating up the worst panel with a heat gun. Just like all the chemicals, it looked new for a short period of time then went light gray again. Although, for that panel that is almost completely white, the heat trick worked better than chemicals, but it just didn't last very long at all.

 

Thanks,

Chad

Try mother's back to black - you can probably get those panels looking brand new again with just a little bit of elbow grease.

[cecoen]

Hey, thanks but I have tried almost every product available to no avail. They turn again in a few days to weeks depending on the product. I have tried Back to Black, pure silicone, tire shine, armorall, STP, Meguires, you name it, I have tried almost all of it. I have even tried products that come from some chemical distributors that sell to the clean up shops. Once upon a time I worked in detail and still had a few cards from old contacts. I have even tried heating up the worst panel with a heat gun. Just like all the chemicals, it looked new for a short period of time then went light gray again. Although, for that panel that is almost completely white, the heat trick worked better than chemicals, but it just didn't last very long at all.

 

Thanks,

Chad

I have found a product called PermaShine by Urethane Product Company. It is supposedly some sort of clear coat that brings our gray plastic back permanently! Well, I am sure permanent is a relative term but does anyone have any experience with this stuff? It is only available from a body shop supply company.

 

Thanks,

Chad

[waloud]

If it was mine, I would clean the plastic real good.. Tape it off and use spray can paint that is meant for plastic. I did this to my fender flares on my F-150 and it turned out great.