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October 03, 2022 3 min read

How To Restore and Protect Your Vehicle's Plastic Exterior Trim

The plastic exterior trim on cars, trucks, SUVs, RVs, and even on some motorcycles tends to get faded over time looking grey or hazed with a white look. Many plastic trim areas tend to get hit with road debris, UV rays from the sunlight, snow, acid rain, light scuffs, scratches, and many other elements that may diminish their look. Bringing back the luster and proper color of plastic trim on vehicles can be done in many ways but there are only a few sure methods of restoring the plastic trim so it will be properly protected and have a long-lasting restored look.

There are countless products on the current detailing market that make claims of restoring plastic trim. Unfortunately, many of them don’t provide protection for your plastic trim allowing the trim to return to its unsightly state looking worn, faded, and dull. On the flip side, there are products that claim to protect your plastic trim but many of these don’t offer the proper look for restoring your trim. You’ll simply be protecting a faded, dull, worn-out look. 

How To Safely Restore Plastic Trim on a Car, Truck, SUV, Motorcycle, RV, etc?

When it comes to restoring and protecting plastic exterior trim on vehicles, you’ll need a sealant that restores and protects but is void of any harsh harmful chemicals and abrasives. Because plastic trim pieces on vehicles can become worn and brittle over time, it is in your best interest to utilize a sealant that doesn’t cause additional damage to the surface of the aged plastic.

Don’t be fooled by inferior products on the market that are sold by companies that didn’t make the product and make claims to retore plastic trim or ones that claim to protect plastic trim. Many of these resellers have no idea of the chemicals in the products that they sell. You’ll want to find a sealant sold by the company that formulates and makes its own product. Additionally, you will want to ensure that the product is environmentally safe and void of harsh chemicals, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), and abrasives. TopCoat® F11® is the recommended environmentally safe choice!

TopCoat® F11®, through over 20 years of research and development, is one of the most versatile sealants on the market that can be used in virtually any surface. Exterior plastic trim is among the many surfaces that TopCoat® F11® can restore and protect without the worry of causing any damage from harsh chemicals, VOCs, or abrasives. In fact, TopCoat® F11® is a water-based formulation with several breakthrough technologies that help restore the surface of plastics, such as self-healing technology that fills in micro-scratches when the surface is placed in the sunlight, self-leveling technology that fills in micropores to seal out elements, and H2O-SIO2 technology combined with hydrophobic technology that helps resist water, dust, dirt, grime, etc.

You don’t need some oily substance, wax, or even a product that claims to bring your plastic back to a black color that’s more suited for being a tire shine. You may not want to use a tire shine product on your plastics because it could cause an oily mess that ends up wearing off in a matter of days. Many of those products don’t last long by only restoring the look temporarily without a proper sealant to protect it for a longer period of time. TopCoat® F11® is able to bond to the surface to restore the proper look of your plastics while leaving behind a protective layer to resist elements that may cause them to fade or dull. There’s no unsightly residue to remove or white hazing like you would get when applying wax or other inferior products.

How To Restore and Protect Plastic Trim Using TopCoat F11

The process for applying TopCoat® F11® to restore and protect your plastic trim is simple and only takes a few seconds. You will want to first wash the plastic trim surfaces using TopCoat PolyWash. Then, dry the surfaces with a clean TopCoat® Mycro 16 Premium Detail Microfiber Towel. Next, apply TopCoat® F11® directly to the plastic surface and buff it in using a clean TopCoat® Mycro 16 Premium Detail Microfiber Towel. Lastly, an extra buffing process may be required to work the product into the plastic by flipping over your TopCoat® Mycro 16 Premium Detail Microfiber Towel. You’ll immediately notice the restoration of the plastic, which will have a lasting layer of protection to keep it looking new again.

Pro Tip: Applying additional coats of TopCoat® F11® will allow layering to add life to the protection of your plastic trim. Utilizing TopCoat® F11PRO®, which is a functional ceramic, will further enhance the protection to last 12+ months.  



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