Your vehicle’s exterior vinyl, plastic, and rubber trim will eventually fade and lose its sheen due to outside conditions, especially UV light from the sun. Can GX-3 Plastic Restorer really bring all of them back to like-new condition? Find out!
No matter how much you wash and wax your vehicle, the plastic, vinyl, or rubber trim and body parts will start to lose their sheen, flexibility, and deep coloration. The main culprit is the relentless ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun.
We recently had our truck in the shop with our long-term mechanic friends. They’ve taken care of our vehicles over the last 15 years or so. The truck needed some major work on the engine, and when my friend Pat returned the vehicle to me and we popped the hood to take a look at the work that had been done, the entire engine compartment and engine components looked like they were new.
That’s when Pat told me about Cristal Products GX-3 Plastic Restorer. He’s a big fan of the stuff and uses it himself on his vehicles, including keeping a nice sheen and protectant on tire sidewalls.
We’ve found this really works well. It’s sold in a spray can, the same size as better-quality spray paint. You can apply the restorer either directly from the can or by spraying it on an applicator pad and then applying it more precisely without overspray.
Pat said I could buy it online, but he’s found it at Walmart in the auto supply section for about $5 a can - slightly less than the online price. He keeps several on hand. I went to a local Walmart and picked up a couple of cans too!
Although the can states you can visit Cristal Products at cristalproducts.com, that website is no longer active. The correct website is:
The product description on the can says that it is good for plastic, vinyl, and rubber and has compounds in it that allow it to stay on the surface for many washings. It can also be used on the vehicle’s interior leather. We found it to work well, have a pleasant scent, and not make the leather overly slippery.
You’ll find that the company has a variety of detailing products at reasonable prices. The company is located in Puerto Rico - a U.S. Territory. The can states that the product is made in the United States.
Our initial impressions are very favorable. It’s easy to apply, and if there is overspray on glass, it’s easy to get off. If you want a deeper color or higher sheen, apply two coats, waiting about 15 minutes between applications. You can see an immediate difference, and when used on step rails, it isn’t overly slippery, so your grip on the step is still steady.
In a year, we’ll return and let you know what the long-term results are and how durable this product has turned out to be. The initial results are great, but we’ll let you know how well this works through a set of seasons!
Sure, you can pay a detailer to restore your vehicle to like-new condition, but with Cristal Products GX-9 Plastic Restorer, you can JUST DO IT YOURSELF!
Hey, Dirt Farmer Jay here from DirtFarmerJay.com.
If your car sits out in the weather, and don't they all,
then the vinyl's really gonna take a beating,
the rubber surfaces and the plastic.
Have we found the best darn plastic restorer yet?
Stay tuned and I'll tell you about it.
Hey, Dirt Farmer Jay here from DirtFarmerJay.com.
If you're like us, you really enjoy your vehicle,
but whether you keep it garaged or outside,
sooner or later, the sun's rays,
the UV and the UV and the sun rays
is really gonna take a toll on your vehicle's trim parts,
whether it is rubber, vinyl, or plastic.
And those surfaces will start to lose their luster,
the deep coloration, they'll gray out.
Well, recently, my mechanic friend, Patrick,
who did a major engine rework in our truck
and did a beautiful job detailing.
You can see the engine compartment here,
just beautiful, clean, like new.
When I asked him what the secret was,
he pointed me to this product,
Crystal Products GX3 Plastic Restorer.
Now, I thought, come on, a spray on,
he says, this stuff is magic.
And not only that, it's widely available.
I found out that you could get it
for around five or $6 a can
of at all places at the local Walmart,
but you can also go to BuyCrystalProducts,
and crystal is spelled C-R-I-S-T-A-L.
There's no Y in it.
BuyCrystalProducts.com,
and you can buy kit packs of this.
Well, let's take a look and see if it really works well.
We'll restore some trim on this truck right here,
and let's see what you think as a result.
All right, let's go ahead and restore
this trim around the window.
Now, one of the things we really like
about this product, we found out,
is that even when you spray it next to glass,
it cleans off really well and buffs out.
And you can actually see a test area right here,
which is darker.
The sheen is restored here,
but we'll let you see it happen as we go along here.
Some other products,
and you may have used Armor All products,
great product, but it tends to leave a film
that's very hard to get off of glass surfaces.
This doesn't.
And it's also got aloe vera in it
to actually help moisturize these.
The formulation on the can says
that it's made in such a way
that this'll last through several car washings as well
before you need to treat again.
Well, let's go ahead and see how it works here.
We're gonna go ahead and shake it up,
and we're gonna go ahead and put it on.
Now, I'm gonna do it two different ways.
One, I'm gonna use a standard foam applicator like this.
It's a foam inside with terry on the outside,
or we'll just do a direct spray and then wipe it down.
Let's see what we get.
All right, let's do this section right along here.
We're just gonna spray this on, just like that.
Let it set for a few minutes.
And then I'm just gonna use this terry applicator,
and we'll start rubbing it to see what we get here.
Well, as you can see, it's darkened up significantly,
and there is a nice sheen on it.
Now, one of the things we found out
is if you want just a moderate sheen like this,
you do it once.
But if you want a deeper color
and you wanna have a higher sheen,
we'll wait about 15 minutes.
We'll come back and spray it again.
As you can see, it's taking off
a lot of the old gray items on there.
So this is really starting to shine up nicely.
And there is no, I'm just gonna take a regular terry.
I don't see any film on the glass here.
When I do that, there is nothing that I'm looking at here
where all of a sudden I see a smear line.
So this is really fast.
Let's go ahead and continue up here.
I'm gonna try an indirect method on this time.
I'm gonna go ahead and spray it right there
into the applicator.
I'm gonna wipe it on.
Again, you can see more of the material coming off,
and I'm gonna buff the glass.
Wow, look at that.
And it feels nice.
There's a nice kind of feel to this.
So to see the difference between the two,
let's take a look right up there.
You can see where it goes around.
That's where I stopped,
and you can see where it's grayer.
One of the areas that we would like to show you,
however, the lighting won't allow us to do so,
is the deck that's right outside the windshield,
where the windshield wipers post come through.
That gets a lot of sun beat,
and by applying this on there,
you can really protect that,
darken it down and restore it
to its original dark and shiny luster.
Well, you can buy this product
at your local retailer, Walmart,
or you can go online again, as what we said earlier,
buycrystalproducts.com and order packs right there.
We think you're gonna like it.
Give it a shot.
According to Patrick, my friend,
he says it's great and it lasts a long time.
Since you take care of your own car,
there's probably another thing
that from time to time bugs you,
and that is when you get a low tire pressure light
from your TPMS, your tire pressure monitoring system.
Check out this video where we tell you how to solve that
and how to walk through and getting that reset.
You'll find that to be very, very useful.
And while you're at it, check out this other video
that we've created just for you
and that YouTube thinks is your interest.
Hey, until the next time,
this is Dirt Farmer Jay from Dirt Farmer Jay,
enjoying a shiny new truck.
