Tips for keeping inside/outside trim protectant ON TRIM and not on surroundings?

R

Ry518

New member
Hey all.. I'd like some tips on keeping inside and outside trim protectant on the trim only and not having it get on the things around the trim. I get so mad when it ends up on the stuff right around the trim! I use ultima trim and tire guard on the outside trim, so tips on keeping it on the trim only and not having it get on the body and windows. I use 303 on the inside, so tips on keeping it off the windows and off of certain things like the in-dash stuff and other accessories. The only thing I know to do when it gets on the windows is re-clean the windows (I use newspaper and warm water, sometimes a little cleaner in the warm water), but when i re-clean the windows, the newspaper picks up some of the newly placed protectants and drags even more of it up on the windows and sperads it out never gets clean again. I use small different shaped sponges accordingly to the shape of what i'm protecting, but still never fails to happen. Even if I wait a few days, the protectant still gets picked up and dragged to the surroundings. Thanks!
 
I used to have the same problem, now i just apply it to the applicator. Also, the newspaper trick used to work back in the day because of the kerosene (I think it was kerosense?) that was used in the ink. The "trick" no longer "works" because the ink no longer has that chemical in it. But if the newspaper works well for you, that is great. MF has always worked well for me on windows though.
 
K cool i'll try note cards next time. And I do always spray on applicator only.



Idk, newspaper always works better for me than MF.
 
Scottwax said:
Foam paint brushes work very well. Apply to the foam and paint on.
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I'm with Scott on this, have been using these for awhile now and I think they work great. A nice steady hand and rarely any mis-application.



foambrush.jpg




I normaly pick up these from cheep $2 shops and or art and craft supply stores, I would imagine it is the same as the states?



Cheers

Daniel
 
I use the foam paint brushes for exterior trim. Love the $ store. For interior I use round cotton make-up applicators. 100 pack at the drug store for about $2. They give me great control around dash controls and corners at the windshield. I saturate it with 303 and lay it on pretty thick and let it dwell. Then I hit it again a little thinner to prevent streaky/uneven coverage. After another short dwell I give a quick wipe with a MF to remove any excess product.
 
Besides the "barrier" approach and using the proper thing to apply, I simply try to minimize my use of such products. I hardly ever use ERV dressings, and when I do I try to get by with "clean" ones like Wurth's Rubber Care.
 
Definately gonna pick up some foam brushes and use the note card method. I did the final hand wash before winter today, and noticed how much I got all around the trim. What a mess.



As for the UTTG, how many washes/how long does it stay on for? And when you wash your car a week or so after applying it, does it get picked up and spread around or does it stay put?
 
Ry518 said:
As for the UTTG, how many washes/how long does it stay on for? And when you wash your car a week or so after applying it, does it get picked up and spread around or does it stay put?
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It lasts a long time for me, kinda like a two-coat application of KSG. It sure doesn't need redone a week/month after doing IME. I do give it a little spritz of leaves-stuff-behind QD just to boost it a bit though (or give it another application, which doesn't need doing all that often).



But if there's a lot of trim that's adjacent to paint, I'd think about just LSPing it (along with the rest of the vehicle) with something that doesn't stain (e.g., 845, KSG).
 
For the interior, I stick with products that really don't leave a residue to speak of (i.e. 1Z Cockpit Premium or Meguairs Quik Interior Detailer).



For the exterior, I really prefer just using LSP's where possible on trim, Gummi Plfege on seals (soft rubber) and in rare cases where I do use dressing/protectant, I use an applicator appropriate to the task. ....although I will say I used and didn't particularly like the foam brushes mentioned earlier (at least in my application(s)). IIRC, the ones I bought turned out to be a bit too dense/firm for my liking. Honestly though, I really didn't spend a lot of time playing around with them.



On tires, I apply the dressing to the applicator first and then the tire (buffing down to the desired finish). Lately, I resorted to using pieces of a grout sponge for this (since I ran out of my other applicators) and it seems to be working surprisingly well.
 
Using today's newspapers for cleaning glass just doesn't work because the inks are water-based inks that no long act like a polish as did the old solvent-based inks of years ago. (Yes, they are victims of EPA's Volatile Organic Coumpound (VOC) reductions/eliminations, just like care-car chemical manufacture have been) I used to use the stock-price listings from the Wall Street Journal because of the density of the print-type, and hence, ink-to-paper ration was almost ideal for "polishing" glass. This is no longer true and in fact, the water-based inks smear alot on glass windows.



I still like using Q-Tips (cotton swabs) for getting rubber protectants on narrow or recessed trim around glass. I highly suggest that you CLEAN your trim first with some type of All-Purpose Cleaner before you even wash your car if you haven't protected before. It's that black residue that stains your good carwash media (sponge, wool mit, micro-fiber noodle pad) when you wipe or scrub over that trim. THEN apply your protectant to the trim before you wax.



Seems to me someone did an experiment on trim protectants and found that Collinite 845 Insulator Wax worked pretty good on the hard vinyl trim around his side mirrors.
 
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