"Showroom New" Trim Restorer- info & experience

[stangri]

Well, I don't know what the temperature in CO is like at the moment, but I've done my cladding a few days ago at the underground parking where it was like +5C/+10C and it worked quite well. Took more than an hour to cure, but worked nonetheless.

I opted for the grey SRN dye in hopes it would match my Kaiser VX. It's not the exact match of course, but I do like the look. I'll snap a few photos when I take it out on a snow.

Thanks again Kat! My cladding looked simply horrible with faded spots all over before.

[VX KAT]

Well, I don't know what the temperature in CO is like at the moment, but I've done my cladding a few days ago at the underground parking where it was like +5C/+10C and it worked quite well. Took more than an hour to cure, but worked nonetheless.

I opted for the grey SRN dye in hopes it would match my Kaiser VX. It's not the exact match of course, but I do like the look. I'll snap a few photos when I take it out on a snow.

Thanks again Kat! My cladding looked simply horrible with faded spots all over before.

I mixed the gray and black until I got the color I wanted....maybe buy some and do another coat? My first 3 coats were 2:1 black:gray, then I added a little more black to darken it up a bit for my 4th coat...but don't do 4 coats! Stop at 3 max.

Are you going to use the sprayer like several have done? It makes a better finish.

[stangri]

No, I've cheaped out and used a small roller and a tray. Thankfully VX is small enough so I could finish the whole cladding before the dye started drying up in the tray.

I'll see how it looks in the sun before deciding what the next coat is going to be. For now I'm pretty happy with the dull grey I've got.

[PA-99]

Are you referring to Line-X? If so, Line-X is a professional application that isn't DIY like other spray on bed liners. IMO Line-X the best stuff around but you pay a lot for it and it will change the cladding texture to "rough." The local Line-X shop in CO will spray all the cladding for about $500. I had my hood insert sprayed with Line-X after I installed a reverse hood scoop...luv it!

This is my favorite Line-X'd VX (actually my all time favorite- way to go Patrick Cooper)

That Line-x exterior is about as cool as you can get. Won't have to worry about parking at the end of the row with that. I did know that Line-X was not a DIY project, but did not know about the pricing. That is quite expensive just for the cladding. I'm going to try the dye in spring and hopefully see the same results as others!

[VXorado]

Let me know when you're going to do this...I'll come and "help"...

Been thinking about doing this as well.

Sounds good, I'll let ya know. I don't have a planned day yet but I'll keep an eye on the weather forecast for an approximate date.

[AdiosRich]

I have had a silver 2001 for 6 years. I bought it on Ebay with 53,000 miles. Now it has 164,000 miles, thousands on dirt roads in the Mojave Desert and surrounding regions. The cladding slowly turned grey and I resisted Armor-All type short term fixes because of the long term damage. But because of the great discussion here, I decided to try Showroom New.

The first coat was black, about 1/3 thinned with mineral spirits. I put it on with a small cotton rag. It was pretty streaky - I thought it would average out more, like spray paint does, but it dried streaky. It looked incredibly much better though, just needed more than 1 coat.

For the second coat, I used black unthinned, applied with a 2" foam brush. This worked very well and make for great coverage with the streaking pretty much gone. It will probably be gone by tomorrow afternoon, at the rate it was curing.

It looks, so far, like a good solution. It's certainly not an oil-based product, which is good. I've noticed that with just the first coat It was turning heads again. I would post before and after pics but I can't figure that out, so take my wordfor it. It looks great. Thanks for contributing so much info about this everyone.

[AdiosRich]

It has been 2 months since I put the Showroom New on and it looks the same as the day I put it on. It doesn't evaporate away like oil-based products. Now I'm going to help a friend put some on his Jeep.

[yellowgizmo99]

put mine on the last of November and still looks good as new.

[VX KAT]

great idea yellowgiz and Adios ..... it's been a little over a year since I applied mine, so I'll plan to do update pics real soon.....

[disasterlady]

I didn't realize that you had changed the cladding cover... I like that SN much better! Nice job, I think I will get into that unless YOU HAVE HEARD OF SOMETHING BETTER NOW?
sure miss AZ! glad to see you still on the forum.

[VX KAT]

I didn't realize that you had changed the cladding cover... I like that SN much better! Nice job, I think I will get into that unless YOU HAVE HEARD OF SOMETHING BETTER NOW?
sure miss AZ! glad to see you still on the forum.

Hey good to see ya on here. I haven't taken "official" update pics, but here's a few. these are about 15 months after I applied it.
****Remember*** I mixed the black and gray 2:1 to get a dark charcoal color****

When I use flash it looks much shinier...you can see it.
Pic 1 ,3 AND 4 show some of the damage the shop did when making those tail light guards...that's how light gray my cladding was before! Basically they scratched the dyedlayer off my cladding during install....and never said a word to me...and they do NOT get my biz ever again!
I just touched these areas up and it blended perfectly.

I still haven't touched it with anything...no wax, no treatments, no back-to-black, nothing...got a few scratches from Moab this year, but I haven't even bothered to touch them up yet....maybe I should just wait until after Moab 2013...LoL

Haven't heard of anything better. Several have used the GatorBack and it's gorgeous and smooth, but it can chip a little when hit by brush or something....so I didn't want to deal with that, so SN fit my needs better...but the GB sure does look gorgeous.









DAMAGE FROM FAB SHOP....

[Leon R]

I have just applied SN on my Proton, which had terrible fading. I used just the black dye, applying with an old sock. First coat was VERY streaky! Second coat was darker and less streaky, but still streaky! For the third coat, I diluted the dye 2:1 with thinner and it has delivered even better results, but... I still can see the streaks!

Perhaps I should just let it try a bit more. I might just put on a forth coat (after thinning it a bit more). This product seems to be easier to apply when it is thinner.

BTW, I am still on my first 4oz bottle! It is almost gone, but still the same bottle! I am not sure how you guys can use up 2-3 bottles!

[VXorado]

BTW, I am still on my first 4oz bottle! It is almost gone, but still the same bottle! I am not sure how you guys can use up 2-3 bottles!

Might be why you have streaks. I thin every application with mineral spirits and could apply two full coats with one bottle. If you're streaks don't go away, I would continue adding coats until you at least use a full bottle.

Overall, I'm happy with SN. I treated the cladding twice over the year and used 2.5 bottles.

The only downside is that I can't seem to keep gas from dripping on the cladding under the fuel door and the cladding starts to fade in that area over time. Not a big deal but still annoying.

[VX KAT]

I have just applied SN on my Proton, which had terrible fading. I used just the black dye, applying with an old sock. First coat was VERY streaky! Second coat was darker and less streaky, but still streaky! For the third coat, I diluted the dye 2:1 with thinner and it has delivered even better results, but... I still can see the streaks!

Perhaps I should just let it try a bit more. I might just put on a forth coat (after thinning it a bit more). This product seems to be easier to apply when it is thinner.

BTW, I am still on my first 4oz bottle! It is almost gone, but still the same bottle! I am not sure how you guys can use up 2-3 bottles!

How long are you letting it dry? We found that it stayed streaky for even 12 hrs…I was panicked when I did mine with that first coat.
But after it dries for 12 hrs +, it gets LESS streaky. Did you read about the people that used the Preval sprayer to apply it? They had virtually no streaks. ANd yes, you dilute it to use the sprayer, and a few others commented that diluting it helped with streaking when hand applied. I didn't dilute mine, didn't know to do it.
BIGGEST TIP! DO NOT try to keep wiping it on when there's very little product on your rag….don't try to stretch it, keep rag pretty wet.
I did that and my front driver side bumper got all messed up (I described it all in my earlier posts).

I also applied 4 coats, and would not recommend that…at least stop at 3 coats.

Post some pics

[ssignature]

I applied Showroom New to our Vx "Elvira" last weekend and was not at all happy with the results. I read everyone's posts on the procedure and was very careful to clean the cladding and strip any residue off. I applied a total of three coats and used liberal amounts, but in the end the streaking was unacceptable. I'm told that it's likely that the cladding had previously been treated and therefore wouldn't absorb the Showroom New. There is a little evidence of that since in some sections it scratches with my fingernail to gray, but in other sections it doesn't.
Bottom line: It's getting Line-x'ed Monday.
I've also read that since you can't tell if an old application of Showroom New or another coating has been previously applied, only trial and error will let you know if it's going to be successful. It was worth the $30 to find out, but I do wish I had known before I started.
My local Line-X Dealer quoted us $600 for all the cladding, hood insert and hood scoop in black with UV protection. He said it would take all day. So Monday, Elvira goes in to be Line-X'ed.