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best black paint for trim?

14986 Views 18 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  hondafanatic17
I am going to paint all the black trim on my 900 as it is heavily faded to light gray and even white in some areas. I was planning on just using aerosal paint, as this does not need to be a professional job (it is just plastic and I have a bit of experience doing it already). I was just wondering what you guys think would look best, and what paint you guys swear by or clearly avoid.

Which matches the stock plastic better, flat black or semi black? I painted my mirrors flat black already, and it looks good but is a little lighter than what I had hoped for. I believe it was Krylon flat black.

I will not be using glossy black for anyone who may suggest that however, I used it on my other 900 (because it was the only paint I had and figured why the hell not), and I dislike how it came out.
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I like SEM 39143 Trim Black. I've used it on the lower windshield valence and the rear trim between the lights on my c900 vert. I've also used it on under-hood parts. It has just the right sheen.
Dont paint it. It'll chip off over time and look hidious. Go to your local auto parts store (autozone) and look for Mothers® Back-to-Black. Its a trim dye to restore your faded trim. Its about 5-7$ for a bottle. I've heard good reviews about this, some here on TSL have re-dyed their trim peices and it came out just like new. I'll do a little research on here for ya and see if i can pull up the thread that has some pictures of people that have done this.
Dont paint it. It'll chip off over time and look hidious. Go to your local auto parts store (autozone) and look for Mothers® Back-to-Black. Its a trim dye to restore your faded trim. Its about 5-7$ for a bottle. I've heard good reviews about this, some here on TSL have re-dyed their trim peices and it came out just like new. I'll do a little research on here for ya and see if i can pull up the thread that has some pictures of people that have done this.
People also say mother back to black fades after a month or two.

Get something called Forever Black.
People also say mother back to black fades after a month or two.
right on, i use mothers on my mirrors and it looks great for about 2/3months.

Its extreamly easy to use i just wipe on with a clean rag. id recomend it if you dont mind re-doing it every so often.
People also say mother back to black fades after a month or two.

Get something called Forever Black.
You're right, i forgot about Forever Black, everyone seems to rave about that product, i may have to try that instead of Mothers. Either way, its going to do the job for ya, Mothers seems to not last as long tho. Heres a link from when palmer did his 9-3....

http://saablink.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39317&highlight=black+trim+dye
I will be trying Forever Black then. My only concern is some of my window trim is faded to WHITE, not even gray. We will see how forever black handles that. I will post before/after when I do this.
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I can say that Forever Black has been very disappointing in everyway in my experience. It is only able to be applied to a limited number of surfaces as anything other than a fully texture plastic trim will cause Forever Black to streak like hell.

I used Duplicolor Bumper Coating on all my exterior trim and it has lasted over 3 years. A couple coats of adhesion promoter followed by 3 coats of Bumper coating and it looks absolutely mint. Only hitch is that it is an aerosol paint so you will want to remove everything you can and thoroughly mask off the areas around any trim you can't remove. Check out my trim for reference:


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If you are looking for a permanent solution to faded trim, any dressings you apply will never make the cut. I have tried almost every single kind of trim dressing from Mother's Back to Black to $30 Ultima Trim Guard Plus (sealant). They will offer temporary relief but will never compare to a permanent coating.
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Here is a Picture of my 900 convertible V6

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Christian, I was thinking the same thing. I feel as though a promotor like forever black will just restore the trim, but wont provide long lasting results. I still want to paint the trim, and since what you used is an aerosol, I will probably go that route as I have experience with that.

Keep the opinions coming, any opinion helps. Also, blacksaabath, what did you use? that convertible looks very nice, v6 too.
Idk about Forever Black not lasting. I did the mirrors and door moldings on my 9000 five years ago and they're stil jet black. The 900 I did in spring 08....yep, still black.
i guess it all depends on the enviroment the car is in and what its exposed to.....or how many times you wash/wax it (2wice a week for me).
the dyes are a waste of money, ive done multiple pieces with duplicolor trim paint, which is different from the bumper coating i believe.

turns out very good and replaces a little of the lost texture.
i thought that the trim pieces were supposed to be gray...
Somebody suggested transmission fluid to me, so I tried it on my 98 Cherokee first and I have to say that stuff worked! I simply applied it with a rag and let it soak in to all my trim, door handles, roof rack, everything that was black and faded. They said to wipe it clean to avoid dust, but I let it sit and dry on it's own and 3 mos later it looks like I just treated it. I even did the wipers. Everything looks new. I haven't done it to my Saab yet, so just try it in a spot not too noticeable at first, like the rear trim by the exhaust.
the dyes are a waste of money, ive done multiple pieces with duplicolor trim paint, which is different from the bumper coating i believe.

turns out very good and replaces a little of the lost texture.
Exactly, that is what the Bumper Coating did for me as well. It went on and looked slightly wet at first but as it dried, it matted down and brought back the OEM texture albeit dark and satin looking.

i thought that the trim pieces were supposed to be gray...
Nope, there are certain cars that have different colored plastic trim by design, but these cars are not. They are supposed to be near black as new.
I purchased Duplicolor Trim Paint, I saw the Bumper Coating there as well, but there was only 1 can of that, so I went with two cans of Trim Paint.

I will let you guys know how it turns out, and will post pictures.
This thread is old but I thought I'd just post on here that the SEM spray works excellent in my opinion. If you don't want to spray and another dye is Armorillo(might not have that spelled right) but it's a wipe and I work at a chevy dealer and we use it on all the older body style Chevy Avalanches and Cavaliers cause their plastic fades really bad and it's usually last about 2-3 years. Only reason I know it last that long is because we had a 03 Avalanche sit on the lot for 2 and half years and the plastics looked good the whole time.
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