CarSystem Refinish Restorer

[VX KAT]

My cladding was pretty faded and required contant Mother's BTB applications.

I would say it restores your cladding to the same darkness as new. The key is going very little bits at a time and letting it "soak" into the cladding. It took me nearly 2 hours to put mine on I went so slowly and put two coats. The first coat I went around piece by piece with a saturated rag and really rubbed it in.

I also washed mine VERY thoroughly before hand and took windex to some of the parts of cladding where I new that things like armor-all or eagle products had slung from my tires.

I THINK the consensus about KATs (correct me if I'm wrong KAT) was that she either had some type of application before she owned it that was blocking the RR from penetrating the ABS very well or there was some type of residue she couldn't get completely off in her initial prep.

I agree techno.
I'd let it go at least 3 months with zero products applied and no automatic car washes, then did a windex heavy duty wipe down a few times, a few hrs of 409 soaked paper towel stuck on the cladding by the filler door.....but even then, mine never seemed "chalky" or parched...just lighter bluish/gray in color...so maybe PO did apply something???

Funny thing is, I'm having a heck of a time blasting it off some parts of my pass side (I overestimated that 95% off estimate in an earlier post...didn't realize there was still some there, not nearly as shiny as when applied)....so I do have some that's adhering really good.

[circmand]

I agree techno.
I'd let it go at least 3 months with zero products applied and no automatic car washes, then did a windex heavy duty wipe down a few times, a few hrs of 409 soaked paper towel stuck on the cladding by the filler door.....but even then, mine never seemed "chalky" or parched...just lighter bluish/gray in color...so maybe PO did apply something???

Funny thing is, I'm having a heck of a time blasting it off some parts of my pass side (I overestimated that 95% off estimate in an earlier post...didn't realize there was still some there, not nearly as shiny as when applied)....so I do have some that's adhering really good.

The better a product adheres to a surface the harder it is too remove it.

[technocoy]

I'll make a separate post about the lights too, but just wanted to keep this thread updated...

It's been about a year and 3 months since I did the RR, and I washed her real good today since I had the time for once.

Here's how she's still looking with NOTHING but washing.







Sorry a few are really bright on the paint... I wanted to expose the cladding so you could really tell how dark it still is.

My cladding was very faded when I originally put the RR on as well.

There are a few places in back where it's started to fade just a LITTLE and a couple little bits here and there where rocks have hit, but it really looks no different than if it were naked and the same thing happened.

I figure an a cooler day in the shade I'm going to try a "touch up" coat to see if it helps add to the coating. I'll post another update after that.

This is good stuff as long as you get it applied right and/or your cladding isn't cursed like KATs! I could imagine easily going the rest of the year before needing to really touch it up. I haven't put any other product on it since I put the RR on.

[workmeistr]

I applied one coat last year, and just did another coat recently. It looks great. I'm reluctant to do multiple coats at the same time, as I don't want it to build up and level off the cladding texture, or be more prone to chipping. I apply with a quality 2" paint brush in sections and buff nearly dry with a good microfiber towel 10-15 minutes later. This destroys both the brush and towel, as in the morning they'll both be hard. Best applied in, and left to fully dry overnight in a cooler garage. I've also used RR on the plastic bits of the factory roof rack and on corner pieces of the Thule 696 rack with equally impressive results.

[VX KAT]

I applied the R/R to my wing and it's still perfect. That's about 25 months ago.