HDPE Tub Color restoration with paint thinner and boiled linseed oil

[arieck]

Hi everybody, so I was looking for a way to spruce up my badly faded/oxidized/uv damaged Hustler 950 tub and wasn't having any luck with the heat gun method. I went online looking for a solution and found where someone was using a 60/40 mix of paint thinner and linseed oil to bring back some life to their four wheeler body. I was more than a bit suspicious due to its homebrew nature, and the person didn't even state that it was HDPE, but I tried it and it worked a lot better than I thought it would. I thought it would just sort of flash off and not retain the color, but so far so good and we are at day three. Additionally, the mixture is a hell of a general cleaner. I had some pretty tough residual grease that the pressure washer didn't get up, and when rubbing the interior of the tub down it was not only restoring color, but also taking up a lot of grease.

In any case, if you are like me and haven't had any luck with heat or anything else, you might give this a shot. Just don't blame me if it damages something; as all the chemical cans say "test in an inconspicuous area" before going whole hog.

Video

Before

At 72 hours.

[Surfer Dude]

Hi everybody, so I was looking for a way to spruce up my badly faded/oxidized/uv damaged Hustler 950 tub and wasn't having any luck with the heat gun method. I went online looking for a solution and found where someone was using a 60/40 mix of paint thinner and linseed oil to bring back some life to their four wheeler body. I was more than a bit suspicious due to its homebrew nature, and the person didn't even state that it was HDPE, but I tried it and it worked a lot better than I thought it would. I thought it would just sort of flash off and not retain the color, but so far so good and we are at day three. Additionally, the mixture is a hell of a general cleaner. I had some pretty tough residual grease that the pressure washer didn't get up, and when rubbing the interior of the tub down it was not only restoring color, but also taking up a lot of grease.

In any case, if you are like me and haven't had any luck with heat or anything else, you might give this a shot. Just don't blame me if it damages something; as all the chemical cans say "test in an inconspicuous area" before going whole hog.

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpIO...ature=youtu.be

Before

At 72 hours.

Wow that seems like it worked really well for you. I may have to try that on my old faded BIG MAX upper body. hmmmmmmmmmm

[hydromike]

Very nice Adam. Any oil seems to do a great job at shining up poly that doesn't have a ton of damage. You had a pretty good starting point with this one. Polyethylene is resilient to just about any common chemical you can come across. Paint thinner is pretty benign in and of itself, so mixed with the linseed oil I can't imagine any problems. (We get HF, H2S, HN03 acids shipped in polyethylene bottles....) After hosing down my 980 after a ride, I try to spray it down with WD-40 which is a very light oil and seems to evaporate or easily wash off in the short-term. I bet that after the thinner evaporates quickly, that finish in the pictures should last much longer.

[Normable1973]

It's amazing how nice it looks now...... Norm..

[leelord337]

nice, looks great. how many days has it been now? still look shiny and new after the restoration?

[Andyman]

Nice job

[arieck]

Thanks guys, going on day 5 now with no change at all... still looking good.

[leelord337]

i'm pretty sure its mainly the linseed oil. that stuffs basically wood stain, it might flake off from use though, but does look good

[jpswift1]

The best way to fix an oxidized HDPE body permanently is to use a heat gun.

http://www.6x6world.com/forums/content/252-remove-oxidation-hdpe-body.html

http://www.6x6world.com/forums/content/266-heatgun-body-repair-oxidation.html