Great product for faded cladding

[syrjr1]

Hi. I found a product that makes faded cladding look better than new. It's called Restore Black. Made by Bondo. $10.00 at Walmart/Kmart. I imagine auto stores would have it too. Comes with it's own applicator. It says it will last up to 6 months. I did my 05 4 month ago and it still looks great. The color comes out black and it looks really sharp. I gave the horizontal areas a double coat because they fade the most in this Georgia sunshine. Ron

[jdmccright]

I remember thinking about problems with fading when those Avs came out with molded-in color back in 2001 or '02. It's worse than I expected with uneven fading and "beach marks" where the mold wasn't shot at a consistent rate and inhomogeneous mixing.

That stuff'll probably be decent if you don't mind reapplying it again and again. I'd prefer to just find an exterior paint & clearcoat and shoot all the panels once and be done. Just my opinion....

[syrjr1]

Let's see. $10.00 will last about 4 years. The exercise required to put it on every 6 months is certainly beneficial. VS $800.00 to $1000.00 for a paint job with clear coat plus removing/reinstalling the cladding. I guess it matters how long you keep the vehicle. For me it's a no brainer. Just my opinion....

Current Garage:
2005 White/black Z-71 Avalanche- 5.3 K&N air filter, enhanced stock.
1997 Geo/Chevrolet Metro 1.0- stock 40+ MPG.
1992 GMC Typhoon 4.3 turbo all wheel drive K&N air filter, enhanced stock.

[jdmccright]

I was actually talking about automotive spray paints such as DupliColor...sorry if I wasn't specific in my previous post. I've had good success in repainting smaller pieces and if you take the time to properly prep, it can turn out very nice for fairly little. I will admit that trying to paint larger pieces like body cladding is more difficult with canned spray paint, but the textured surface of the Av's pieces helps with blending the paint strokes together.

All the same, applying SOMETHING to help stave off UV degradation is better than nothing. the Av isn't the only vehicle out there that has this issue (hello Honda Element). Glad you shared your bit of success for all.

[chipchippy]

Go to O'Rileys and get 8 cans of SEM Trim Black paint part # 39143. It is a trim paint that is formulated for a trim that has a rubber content in it. I did my 02 2 years ago and it looks like a 03. When it does get skined up, just touch it up.

[Fireman7606]

Can you tell me if this stuff will work for the light gray cladding also, mine is faided too.