I have a long list of car cleaning products to keep my MINI detailed in the summer, but there is one thing that I can’t seem to keep looking good: the plastic fender trim. After about a year, the trim starts looking worse and worse, holding dirt and wax residue in its texture. I have tried a number of products to keep it looking good but they never seem to last more than a few days. The forums have even had long discussions such as this one on NAM on products to use but don’t really come to a great conclusion.
So I decided to take things into my own hands and rounded up all my trim cleaning products, including some new ones I picked up over the winter, and applied them next to each other. The goal of this test is not to see how they look immediately after applying, but how long they last, and their resistance to rain. So after a wash, I taped off eight sections of a fender, and applied each product. (click photos for larger)
The products applied, in order, are:
Sonus Trim & Motor Kote
Vinylex
Aerospace 303 Protectant
Sonus Tire & Bumper Dressing Gel
AutoGlym Bumper Care
Planters Peanut Oil
Armor-All Protectant
Zaino Z16 Perfect Tire Gloss
Then after a few days (mostly sunny, with one short drizzle), I took this photo:
The Motor Kote and Armor-All were nonexistant. The AutoGlym did not look so good, some areas seemed even whiter than normal. The peanut oil was covered in dust and dirt that stuck to its oily surface. Vinylex ran a little in the drizzle but looked pretty good. The 303 looked almost as good as the best two, the Sonus and Zaino.
But then the true test: We had two days with plenty of rain. Though it never rained hard, nor did I drive in much more than a drizzle, clearly it was enough:
Except for the vertical edge, all products were almost completely washed off, except for the peanut oil. Clearly, everything else is water based.
But I don’t want to say the peanut oil is the winner. It is a mess to apply. The plastic looks way too oily. And it attracts dirt. So, sadly I’m going to have to try even more products. If you know of others, especially any that can survive the rain, please mention them and I may try them in the future.