VW T4 front bumper advice needed

Hi All 
 I am having a problem with the front bumper on my Trophy a vw T4 it is badly faded/blotchy I have tried all the usual remedies 
i.e. back to black, peanut butter, a hot air gun etc but all thes remedies while they initially do the job , they do not last very long .

I am thinking the only long term solution is to either paint it or replace it with one from VW Heritage  which seem very reasonably priced .
BUT are they any good ? has anyone fitted one of these heritage bumpers if so what do you think of it .

OR am I fighting a lost cause and that even a new bumper will not stay Black ??
 I would appreciate opinions on this 
Regards to all 
 Mike

Linseed oil, did mine last summer still looking good after the winter weather up to now.

Thanks for that Daisy Mae , I have not tried that one .
Mike

I used linseed oil on the (similar) black bumpers on my Flair and it worked well. If the weather is not warm be prepared for them to be slightly tacky for a couple of days, but they eventually dry out Ok - smell nice too!

MRW wrote:Hi All 
 I am having a problem with the front bumper on my Trophy a vw T4 it is badly faded/blotchy I have tried all the usual remedies 
i.e. back to black, peanut butter, a hot air gun etc but all thes remedies while they initially do the job , they do not last very long .

I am thinking the only long term solution is to either paint it or replace it with one from VW Heritage  which seem very reasonably priced .
BUT are they any good ? has anyone fitted one of these heritage bumpers if so what do you think of it .

OR am I fighting a lost cause and that even a new bumper will not stay Black ??
 I would appreciate opinions on this 
Regards to all 
 Mike

Hi Mike

I had the same problem and resulted in spraying my bumper in the end, I have posted a thread on here with the costs and breakdown of what i did which may help you if you are able to remove the bumper and it is all black.

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Cheers

Hi thanks for your reply .
 from the photo,s you have done a nice job very impressed .
 mine is the front bumper and as such does get allot more weather related abuse ie driving at 60mph in wet weather equals a 60 mph rain blast . I am a little concerned that paint will not be up to the abuse the weather through s at it and a few weeks down the road will look chipped and even worse .
 How long ago did you do your rear bumper and how has it stood upto the weather conditions ?

again thanks for taking the trouble to reply and send the photo,s and links 
cheers 
 Mike

Hi Mike

You have a valid point and I have to admit this was only done around 1 month ago, so not had a lot of abuse as yet.

I now have the front to do and as such will try the same approach but cant tell you the affects of the abuse it will receive for a while, but will add that as an update to my original post.

The only thing I would say is that if you find the bumper easy to remove as mine have been and the fact that the paint is so cheap to buy, then it is always worth a re-coat at the end of the main season which should help it stay nice, but understand this is not the easiest way to look after the bumper.

Keep us posted on how you do it and how it turns out, good luck.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Mike, check this thread which calls out 'Polytrol' as a miracle cure for bumpers. I have not used it myself but it sounds worth a try:
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Regards
Chris

Hi Chris 
Polytrol certainly looks interesting .
I will look out for it . Two days ago I bit the bullit and ordered a new front bumper from VW heritage .
Your idea sounds good Your timing is just a bit off 
Thanks for replying though 
Take Care 
 Mike

Try  a hot air gun. Carefully 'dance' it over the surface until the black comes back in the area you're working on, then move on to the next bits. Don't stay too long in the same spot. Be careful around the lights and the edges by the paint. It looks good for a year or two but will fade back and need doing again.

Rich

Oops just re read the original post and saw you'd already tried the hot air gun.

Hi Rich 
 thanks for replying anyway .
 I received my new Bumper from VW Heritage the other day the quality looks very good Hope to fit it sometime next week  when I have time and figured out how to get the old one off !!!.
Regards Mike

Hi Folks 
just a quick update I got around to fitting the VW heritage front bumper a few days ago and Must say what a great job it was very easy to fit and looks great £66 very well spent 
Take Care Mike