has anyone painted the plastic cover below the windshield wipers? mine is starting to fade. was thinking of painting it but didn't want the paint to peel and look like crap. any ideas? thanks

 

i painted the plastic on my oem nerf bars and it looks like the same plastic as the piece at the bottom of the windshield. i lightly sanded the plastic with 600 grit (i sanded the plastic just to get rid of some light scratches, not to get rid of the textured finish) then applied krylon fusion black satin paint. it has been about a month and still looks like the day that i painted it. even with stepping on it with dirty shoes when i get in my truck. you could probably get away without sanding it at all , just clean it real well. that fusion paint sticks like glue.. i say go for it and let us know how it comes out

 

thanks man, and sweet lookin truck. I think i'll give it a try and see how it comes out. i had tried painting my plastic steps on the nerf bars with dupont plastic bumper paint, but it didn't work so well. the paints started to peel off. i haven't used the fusion paint before but everyone seem to like it. how long should i let it dry before driving the truck?

 

Yea, I've painted my dad's.


I should have more pictures, if you want them.

Here's the post I made a couple weeks ago.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...29&postcount=3

 

Nice job. The window cowl came out great. Did you just remove the screws and pull it off or were there clips also.

 

I was only able to get the driver side one off. The passenger side one, I just taped everything up, and painted it on the truck.

Basically, removes the clip on each side, unhook the cowls from themselves in the middle (they are divided in two pieces), disconnect the wiper fluid hoses from the heads, and play around getting the hook looking things off (you'll see what I mean when you start taking it off.)

To get the driver side one off, I had to stop the wipers when they were at a 90 degree angle on the windshield (picture in second thread I posted) and even then you have to play around with it.

This would have been so much easier had I known how to take the wiper arms off.

I'm going. to see if I have some more pictures of the "removal."

 

More pics please!

Mine is starting look like crap... this might be my weekend project.

here's what it looks like now...



- NCSU

 

just another idea, on my old truck it was faded pretty bad and then i tried mothers back to black which after a few treatments had my plastic black and looking good. I now just use my dash conditioner on it and its always glossy black, my parents prefer to use tire shine on all there plastic and it always looks good as well.

 

Yea, if you see in the thread I linked under the picture, there were some products that people reccomended instead of painting.

I'm in class right now, but I'll look for the pictures when I get back home.

 

painting faded plastics is a good route with great results

 

Painting the cowl to match the body color would look pretty good.

 

Patman, what type of paint did you use?

I've got a bottle of this stuff

but I'm looking for a more permanent solution.

- NCSU

 

I used the old style krylon fusion spray paint. You can see the bottom of the can in the first pic. (I did this about 2 years ago)
Its pretty durable paint, had a few chips since it was up front on the grill, im sure the wiper cowl would have no chips tho
You can go another step further and clear coat it, but i didnt see a need for it because the paint is made for plastics, and bonds to the surface well.

rock chip, and just an idea of how the grill looks when its dirty, had it on there for about 1 1/2 years with no fading
and most of what you are seeing is just water spots b.c its hard to dry it.

 

I clear coated (rattle can) the cowl just to matten down and give a more uniform finish. If you like a shinier finish, I'm sure the Krylon won't chip, so you can just leave it as is.

 

Give this a try http://www.autogeek.net/black-wow-trim-restorer.html

It is very good stuff. There are a few of us in the detailing section that have used it with great results. Do a search on it and read all the reviews. Its not cheap but a little goes a long way.