2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid, 1993 BMW 325i convertible
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6,077 Posts
I just finished up with doing the rubber on the car, and wanted to put this out there for anyone contemplating the same thing.
I've used Back To Black, and it works, no question. My issue with it was that it doesn't work for long. After a few washes, it has to be reapplied, or your rubber goes back to gray. I had recently treated the front and back bumper, but the side molding was light gray. I've seen people writing about something called Forever Black, and figured I'd give it a shot. First, I had to find it.
The only place it's sold in my area is a Karmann Ghia restoration place in Ventura. No problem, I drove up and they had it in stock. But, odds are, most of you will have to order it from someplace online if you want to try it. It certainly isn't as common as Back To Black.
It comes as a kit, with a cleaner/preparation stuff, and the dye. And it is a dye. Mix one quart of water with the bottle of cleaner stuff and scrub the rubber, then rinse it off and let everything dry. The dye bottle says to tape off around the rubber, so you don't get it on the paint, which sounded a little hysterical to me, but since I had to wait while the rubber dried completely, and I happened to have a roll of paint masking tape handy, I taped things off. Not as carefully as I should have, as I found out.
Once I had everything dry, I started putting it on. It comes in a container like cheap shoe polish used to use: a foam tipped applicator that you press to get the liquid out. I went all around the car and put one coat on. The bottle recommends two coats. Ultimately, I wound up putting on three coats. Follow the directions and apply it evenly, don't let it pool. That will leave odd marks on the rubber, but if you get that you can scrub it out with a subsequent coat. When I had it all on, and it had dried reasonably (about 10 minutes after the third coat) I pulled the tape off, and found that the dye had squeezed up under the tape and left big black streaks down the side of the car. It had also uniformly coated the chrome strip on the side molding. I figured that was no problem, and went into the house to let it dry completely. I had about half the bottle of dye left when I was finished.
After about two hours, I went back out and wipe down the side molding and get rid of the extra. It wasn't that easy. Half a bottle of detail spray, and six microfiber cloths later, I had finally scrubbed all the black off the chrome and paint down the sides. Scrubbing, not wiping. And I'm probably going to have to get another coat of wax put on the car. It's a good thing my paint isn't at all oxidized and has a good clearcoat with plenty of wax, or it probably wouldn't have come off. Definitely, definitely tape well. And don't spill it on anything, like the driveway, unless you want it to be black, too.
Results: Very good, deep black color on all my molding. It looks brand new, all the way around the car. Overall, I'm glad I used it, and if it lasts for a while (one person reported using it three years ago, and it's still black), I'll be even happier than I am now. If it lasts through the summer, it'll be better than the Back To Black stuff. I'll update this after the summer driving season.
I've used Back To Black, and it works, no question. My issue with it was that it doesn't work for long. After a few washes, it has to be reapplied, or your rubber goes back to gray. I had recently treated the front and back bumper, but the side molding was light gray. I've seen people writing about something called Forever Black, and figured I'd give it a shot. First, I had to find it.
The only place it's sold in my area is a Karmann Ghia restoration place in Ventura. No problem, I drove up and they had it in stock. But, odds are, most of you will have to order it from someplace online if you want to try it. It certainly isn't as common as Back To Black.
It comes as a kit, with a cleaner/preparation stuff, and the dye. And it is a dye. Mix one quart of water with the bottle of cleaner stuff and scrub the rubber, then rinse it off and let everything dry. The dye bottle says to tape off around the rubber, so you don't get it on the paint, which sounded a little hysterical to me, but since I had to wait while the rubber dried completely, and I happened to have a roll of paint masking tape handy, I taped things off. Not as carefully as I should have, as I found out.
Once I had everything dry, I started putting it on. It comes in a container like cheap shoe polish used to use: a foam tipped applicator that you press to get the liquid out. I went all around the car and put one coat on. The bottle recommends two coats. Ultimately, I wound up putting on three coats. Follow the directions and apply it evenly, don't let it pool. That will leave odd marks on the rubber, but if you get that you can scrub it out with a subsequent coat. When I had it all on, and it had dried reasonably (about 10 minutes after the third coat) I pulled the tape off, and found that the dye had squeezed up under the tape and left big black streaks down the side of the car. It had also uniformly coated the chrome strip on the side molding. I figured that was no problem, and went into the house to let it dry completely. I had about half the bottle of dye left when I was finished.
After about two hours, I went back out and wipe down the side molding and get rid of the extra. It wasn't that easy. Half a bottle of detail spray, and six microfiber cloths later, I had finally scrubbed all the black off the chrome and paint down the sides. Scrubbing, not wiping. And I'm probably going to have to get another coat of wax put on the car. It's a good thing my paint isn't at all oxidized and has a good clearcoat with plenty of wax, or it probably wouldn't have come off. Definitely, definitely tape well. And don't spill it on anything, like the driveway, unless you want it to be black, too.
Results: Very good, deep black color on all my molding. It looks brand new, all the way around the car. Overall, I'm glad I used it, and if it lasts for a while (one person reported using it three years ago, and it's still black), I'll be even happier than I am now. If it lasts through the summer, it'll be better than the Back To Black stuff. I'll update this after the summer driving season.