Hey guys my front grill was painted by the previous owner and is in rough shape. The paint is now a very flat matte black. Do you think wipe new would help restore it's gloss? I know there's the obvious of either repainting it or buying a new one but I'm just looking for a less expensive alternative for now.

 

Couldn't hurt to try

 

I just wanted to check to see if anyone did it before I spend the $14. I'll post the results. ??

 

I'm going to do it this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes. Normally I just repaint mine every year but I was going to try the Wipe-New this year since I still have a ton of it. Not expecting great results though since it's not actually PLASTIC.

 

Please update this thread with pics of before and after when you do. Thank you!

 

I use plastic back to black on my painted grill, makes it look better for a week or two. Not a big difference but it takes like 30 seconds applied weekly. I'm a huge fan of the stuff, I use it on everything from plastic trim to engine bay vacuum hoses. I just wish it lasted longer especially in the winter when I'm not going to be reapplying it anytime soon. That said, your grill looks way worse than mine so results may vary.

 

If the grill was painted matte black, wipe new won't make it glossy. The grill is pretty easy to remove, I'd recommend pulling it, sanding it down a bit, and refinishing it with your paint of choice.

 

I used the Wipe New kit for headlights on my old G. Polished them a bit to remove all the oxidized clear/plastic then followed the instructions for the WN. Looked great for 2 months and now they look as bad as they did before I polished them. Waste of money for me but YMMV.

 

Thing is, I'm not sure if it was painted matte black or gloss black. Does gloss black lose its gloss?

 

Once again Wipe New exceeds expectations, winter/spring of 2017 I sprayed my grill with a satin black finish. 1.5 years later it had severe oxidation as expected as well as quite a bit of water spots that don't come out in the weekly wash. I STRONGLY recommend removing the grill since it takes about 30 seconds and I've learned from experience that you do NOT want to get Wipe New on adjacent surfaces because it's hell to remove. Also be very careful with the emblem if you have it painted black as well, I don't know how this product behaves when applied to a plastic chromed finish but it would probably just make it a little hazy if anything.

It's pretty obvious which are the before and after pictures.

Wear gloves...

Only use this stuff in a WELL VENTILATED AREA, preferrably outdoors in the shade. If you apply this indoors use a proper respirator because it's incredibly powerful ****.

As stated numerous times on the bottle/instructions, "a little goes a loooooong way".

Ignore how filthy the rest of my car is, I didn't have time to wash this weekend so it's covered in highway bugs and splatter. Also ignore all the chips in the paint on my grill, it's the price you pay for being a daily driver

I'm sure that Wipe New would turn your matte black into a satin black, probably not enough shine to be considered gloss though.

 

I did put the grill in a wash sink and scrub it with a brush to get all the bugs and other crusty crap off it, that's all the only prep I did though.

 

Wowwww! That came out great!!!! I'm definitely doing this next weekend. Thanks Cleric!

 

Yeah and it will probably last a year as well, I was initially just going to repaint the grill but then I have to go get paint, clean the gun out when I'm done, etc... this was easy and I wanted to see if it would work

 

Awesome results, I might go ahead and invest in the trim restorer based on your experience. The headlight treatment was a huge disappointment for us but this looks a lot better.....

 

So it's ultimately just a trim restore, but more aggressive?