Peanut Oil !!!

[tommyfox]

Recently purchased a '92 400E in great condition. Looked around the 'Net for tips on keeping her in shape and found this site. Great place to visit, I think I'll stay!

Read in a number of places about the advantages of using peanut butter to bring exterior vinyl back to black. Apparently the theory is the same as Leatherique RO, the oils in the peanut butter go deep into the vinyl and force out all the oxidized crud therein.

Well, I keep peanut oil around for deep frying and I brushed this on the door handles, bumper black, etc. before washing and waxing. Washed off the oil after about 20 minutes and then washed the car as usual. Sure enough, the vinyl trim pieces no longer have that light hazy look about them. Put some Meguiar's vinyl dressing on it to get UV protection. We'll see how long it lasts.

[Chevota]

Interesting... Let us know how it looks in a few months.

Semi related: My friend had an old Ford Ranger with a light blue metallic paint that had seen it's day. Waxing etc was more or less a waste of time, but since it looked ok wet, he figured a rub down with WD-40 might maintain that wet look. The dry paint soaked up quite a bit of the stuff, but it worked! Not a show finish for sure, but it did make a big difference and even months later it still looked much better that before. I guess you could call it a redneck detail.

[DCM]

I put peanut oil on the black rubber parts on my 300sd bumpers several months ago and they are still black. Don't know what it does but it does it much better than any of the commercial products that I have tried over the years.

My 240d is parked next to it and they are still gray like the 300sd's were before oiling.

A bottle of peanut oil is part of my cleaning kit now. Have thought about trying it on the dash etc. but haven't had time yet.

[Lou K]

How about crackers and jelly?

[mike65]

Sounds interesting, how's it smell in hot weather?!

Mike.

[tommyfox]

One week and still black. I've done a bit of looking about for why it would work and here's what I think:

Plastic is inorganic, not perfectly smooth, and the surface picks up all kinds of stuff: smashed bugs, wax, pollen, etc. All of this detritus deteriorates, forming the gray crud look to the trim. But the underlying trim is still there, the color of it has not actually changed. This makes sense since it is a plastic and should not deteriorate from exposure to an organic substance. After all, I've got cooking oil in plastic jugs that don't seem bothered.

So coating the trim in peanut oil acts to dissolve the organic junk away. Then you wash the trim, removing everything except the original color of the trim.

That's my theory, anyway.

[Veloce300DT]

Has anybody tried canola oil? my friend used it on his w124 door handles. They look great, but im wondering if it may have been a bad thing to do..

Originally Posted by Chevota

My friend had an old Ford Ranger with a light blue metallic paint that had seen it's day. Waxing etc was more or less a waste of time, but since it looked ok wet, he figured a rub down with WD-40 might maintain that wet look. The dry paint soaked up quite a bit of the stuff, but it worked! Not a show finish for sure, but it did make a big difference and even months later it still looked much better that before. I guess you could call it a redneck detail.

Now I feel less stupid. I was peanut-oiling the trim on mine yesterday evening, and noticed that any oil that was inadvertently wiped on the paint made the paint look better (and on this paint, that's saying something). I have a bad faded spot on the hood, and thought, why not? It can't do any harm. So I rubbed some oil on that spot just to see what happened, and it actually looks a lot better. Can't imagine it will hold up to any rain or sun, though, and I was prepared to never admit to a soul that I had tried it at all. But WD-40? That's just crazy!

It's only a matter of time before he goes in for a real paint job Waxing it only makes all the tiny flecks and scratches super-visible, since the white wax collects in their edges.

[lofat]

after searching for a way to remove the byproduct of my sloppy wax job on the black trip pieces i found this thread. bought a bottle of peanut oil and dipped the tip of a rag in, applied to trim pieces and whaddayaknow it worked like a charm... so i went all out, all black got oiled and what aa difference it made.

still need to find a way to get some real luster to the actual paint - but at least i knocked out the biggest detractor to the overall look of the car.

[Southern]

Try cooking oil on a paper towel on a faded grill while the grill is warm. It will bring out the original shine of the paint.

[Rahulio1989300E]

Pictures! Post Pictures People!!!!

[ptoro01]

A lot of waxes are nothing but oil in fact. This is why you must look for carnuba for a lasting finish. The paste waxes usually have the most of this and since you let it haze over, it forms a tighter bond with the surface. Waxes that are oil based usually wash off within 2 washes.

Peter

[Since66]

I would be interested to hear how long the peanut oil treatment lasts for you guys. Seems to me that washing the car with any product would remove it, if not immediately, then eventually. But it is cheaper than than the milky white stuff in 20oz bottles.

[Holson Adi]

Yeah I still use Peanut Butter on my door handles... say once a year?

The door handles look really sharp now :-D

[TX76513]

Peanut oil is great for handles - better than peanut butter (your neigbors won't think you are nuts" BUT Put the peanut oil in the tank!........if you have the right engine!