My mirror stems are becoming very faded, I have tried all the usual blackening products and am only getting a few weeks before it's faded again. 

Is there any reason I can't spray paint it black? 

I've searched on the forum and you tube and no one seems to do this, any reason why? 

There's no reason you can't paint it black but make sure it's prepped well and good quality paint.

It's fairly common on older cars but I've seen so many where it looks awful in a few months time.  The mirrors take a lot of abuse with the strong air flow around them and bugs etc hitting them at 70mph+.

as above, make sure you prep it well, or the paint will flake off.  also, it's going to be difficult to do well if you don't remove the parts that you are going to spray.  People probably don't do it because it is too much hassle to remove the parts to do it well

Looks a bit like wax stains. Tried the usual pencil rubber / peanut butter / etc tricks? I had better luck with a rubber than black trim products. 

Try Turtle Wax tyre and bumper and trim gel

On 5/18/2018 at 9:26 PM, jbell said:

Looks a bit like wax stains. Tried the usual pencil rubber / peanut butter / etc tricks? I had better luck with a rubber than black trim products. 

Jbell you were spot on. Five mins work with a pencil rubber and hey presto 👍

Cheers bud 

Can't believe I'd not heard of the rubber trick!  I know the oil in peanut butter helps, but how does the rubber work?

Will be interesting to see how long it lasts!

 

one of the bodyshop workers uses a special spray paint for plastic panels, you cant tell its been repaired and sprayed. 

26 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Can't believe I'd not heard of the rubber trick!  I know the oil in peanut butter helps, but how does the rubber work?

Will be interesting to see how long it lasts!

 

I think it pulls the wax off the trim. Friction/heat & the stickyness of the rubber. 

Should last until the next wax job. I got some masking tape to stop it happening again. 

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Can't believe I'd not heard of the rubber trick!  I know the oil in peanut butter helps, but how does the rubber work?

Will be interesting to see how long it lasts!

 

No idea but it defiantly works 😁 

I'll keep you posted how long it stays like that. As Jbell says I'll mask it off next time I polish. 

wicked im going to try this, my mirrors are the same and the runners on the roof are white with wax stains.

The rubber trick definitely works but you do need a bit of elbow grease. Need to try it again as I have some wax residue on the rear boot handle. I just hope it removes it as I used a wax which goes hard when it dries. 

 

In terms of painting my dad funnily enough recently painted the area which the stem of the mirror is on on a VW eos. On that car that area is made of some kind of magnesium which had corroded over the years. I'll try and get some pictures of it. 

Here's pictures of my dad's work. It's the black area he sprayed. It's not perfect but is a lot better than before

On 5/17/2018 at 1:31 PM, DavyTee said:

My mirror stems are becoming very faded, I have tried all the usual blackening products and am only getting a few weeks before it's faded again. 

Is there any reason I can't spray paint it black? 

I've searched on the forum and you tube and no one seems to do this, any reason why? 

Hi 

I have painted my mirror stems. I’m no professional but it turned out ok I think. I definitely looks better than the fading plastic though.

Getting behind the mirror is going to be your biggest issue as it is quite tight. Also if your mirrors fold in then you will have to paint the bit of the base that becomes on show (I didn’t).