I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

This is incredibly minor, but it still bothers me. On the seat belt; the red part you press to releases the lap belt, is all faded to pink with with white marks from years of the metal banging into it. It makes the interior look old. I was wondering if the same polishing technique that is used on the headlamps might make it look better? Or maybe just putting a coat of paint on them?

Anyone else ever "restored" that little bit of plastic?

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

Sean,
Short answer is no, and replacement of the part would be a fix. It does occur to me though that you might try something like nail polish and a clearcoat over it if it bothers you that much. Lots of color choices!!
I would clean it REAL well prior to applying the polish, as years of human skin oils have permeated the plastic. ;)

Glenn

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

On closer inspection if you scratch your nail on it, the scratched area turns a darker red, leading me to believe that some sort of polishing would clean it up. I'll do some experimenting, if I find something that works I'll post it.

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

"I promise this is my last stupid question of the night..."

Does that mean you will raise other stupid questions at other nights? :p

J/K lol

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

Of course! But I promise not to post questions like "is the SVX an Italian car". :barf:

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

I think the material is to soft and porous to polish
But I think a good enamel or acrylic paint would work.

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

Plastic fades with age. The dyes that colour that piece red will actually sublimate out of the material (basically evaporate out of it). When you scratch it and the colour comes back, what you've done is compress that first micro layer of plastic, making it more opaque. Polish won't do it, because you'll just end up with a shiney, light red piece, instead of a good deep red. Some very hard paint, laid on fairly thick, would be the best cure.

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

Paint it is then. Any suggestions on "hard paint"? Funny that ones on the backseat are perfect looking while the 2 up front look like crap.

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

You will need to sand it to paint it anyway, try some 600 grit or some of the fine scotch-brite type stuff, I've had success brightening up plastics this way, if they are sun faded, see if it will brighten it up, if not, get some plastic paint (bonds better than regular spray paint) and re-paint them.

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

Try a little vasoline on it.....as it'll bring back th ecolor on many plastic parts

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

before you paint it try hitting it with some 000 steel wool. Remove it from the car if you can, or put something down to catch the crap.
If the steel wool doesn't make it a nice red again, you've at least prepped it to paint. Clean it off with alcohol after the steel wool and before the paint.
If you have to paint it I recommend Testor's water based model paint. I used that to touch up some faded HVAC controls in the M and it's held up fantastically.

Re: I promise this is my last stupid question of the night.
 

Naaaaaaa, Vaseline should be used for other applications... Organic I mean :D;)