Most of the small projects I’m presently working on are detailing parts of my Lotus Esprit that likely haven’t seen any love for 25 years. The car was stored covered indoors but the different types of materials tend to dry out over time. At least this Lotus was situated in the mild climate of Vancouver Island, not some crazy hot storage cabinet in Phoenix or Las Vegas. Overall both the interior and exterior are in fantastic shape.
The rubber trim on the exterior looks great and is pretty much blemish free but definitely has lost some of it sheen. I expect the oils have slowly dried out but fortunately not so much that the trim parts have become chalky or have started to crack.
Looking through my selection of car detailing products I found I had a bottle of Armor All Tire Shine and although I’m not a huge fan of many Armor All products I decided to give it a try. I saturated the front bumper with the liquid and used a clean towel to massage the product in. After soaking for a few minutes I buffed off the remaining liquid that hadn’t been absorbed.
This produced and immediate improvement so I continued to finish the front bumper and let it sit. On viewing the bumper the following day while the rubber looked better it was still quite a bit splotchy. I decided to apply a second coat, once again letting the product sit on the rubber for a while and then buffing it out. As you can see in the photo below this second application made a huge improvement. Whether this product will last I’m not sure but once the Lotus is back on the road the experiment can begin.
Never been a fan of Armor all products. I suggest In&Out Spray and/or VRT from Adamspolishes.com for the black trims