B190 Enthusiasts

I've always wanted the gray, fiberglass running boards on my rig to look nice. I've washed them, I've use some fiberglass restorer, Fiberglass "armor all" on them but they always looked mottled and faded.
I'm just back from 2.5 months in Baja and was doing an extensive cleaning on my rig when I started wonder if Isopropyl alcohol might clean them up. I did a test and let it dry and sure enough, they are a nice solid, dark color again! It took only a little bit of rubbing but they look great!

Thanks for the info I wasted mine yesterday its looking like saving the paint isn't going to be possible do to lack of attention from previous owner just on the driver side. The skirting on that side is sun-baked pretty well I'll give that a try.

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190-b-651 wrote:Thanks for the info I washed mine yesterday its looking like saving the paint isn't going to be possible do to lack of attention from previous owner just on the driver side. The skirting on that side is sun-baked pretty well I'll give that a try.

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That is a neat find! I would quickly coat them with a sealer. Armor-all or something like it.

I do know from past experience that alcohol can "craze" polymer surfaces and cause them to age quickly.

My running boards were in pretty bad shape as well. Lots of spider cracks and greyed to the point of almost white.
I took them off, sanded them down, used some bondo to fill in the spider cracks, and hit them with the Rustoleum Bumper and Trim paint. Looks great!

Mine were in good shape when I got the rig, but one side was weathered down to white fiberglass on 1 side. It really diminished the appearance of the outside. Once I saw how easy it was to take off the skirts, I decided a quick and dirty cosmetic cover was worth a try. I found a good match in "Rustoleum Universal Advanced Formula Metallic Paint and Primer in One". Flat finish, "Soft Iron" color. I wish i had before pics. I'll post the results in a minute. I was able to peel the treads off and re-attach them with 3M permanent mounting tape. Looks a lot better and the color is darn close to the original based on what I uncovered when I took them off. We'll see how long it lasts. My long term plan is to coat them with roll-on bedliner in a dark grey. I also plan to do the top of the dome in light grey. I have done this bedliner treatment to the roof of my sprinter and it looks great and protects the roof marvelously.

ZachS wrote:Mine were in good shape when I got the rig, but one side was weathered down to white fiberglass on 1 side. It really diminished the appearance of the outside. Once I saw how easy it was to take off the skirts, I decided a quick and dirty cosmetic cover was worth a try. I found a good match in "Rustoleum Universal Advanced Formula Metallic Paint and Primer in One". Flat finish, "Soft Iron" color. I wish i had before pics. I'll post the results in a minute. I was able to peel the treads off and re-attach them with 3M permanent mounting tape. Looks a lot better and the color is darn close to the original based on what I uncovered when I took them off. We'll see how long it lasts. My long term plan is to coat them with roll-on bedliner in a dark grey. I also plan to do the top of the dome in light grey. I have done this bedliner treatment to the roof of my sprinter and it looks great and protects the roof marvelously.

You can see the fiberglass is crazed and cracked, but with fresh paint, you don't notice until you are 2 feet away. Even then, they look pretty good. Time will tell how it lasts. Still, we looked a little nicer at my wife's family reunion last week.

Total time to remove, pressure wash, hit with Scotch Brite, wine with solvent, paint and re-inspection was about 3 hours work plus drying time.

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That looks good thanks for the info.

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ZachS wrote:

ZachS wrote:Mine were in good shape when I got the rig, but one side was weathered down to white fiberglass on 1 side. It really diminished the appearance of the outside. Once I saw how easy it was to take off the skirts, I decided a quick and dirty cosmetic cover was worth a try. I found a good match in "Rustoleum Universal Advanced Formula Metallic Paint and Primer in One". Flat finish, "Soft Iron" color. I wish i had before pics. I'll post the results in a minute. I was able to peel the treads off and re-attach them with 3M permanent mounting tape. Looks a lot better and the color is darn close to the original based on what I uncovered when I took them off. We'll see how long it lasts. My long term plan is to coat them with roll-on bedliner in a dark grey. I also plan to do the top of the dome in light grey. I have done this bedliner treatment to the roof of my sprinter and it looks great and protects the roof marvelously.

You can see the fiberglass is crazed and cracked, but with fresh paint, you don't notice until you are 2 feet away. Even then, they look pretty good. Time will tell how it lasts. Still, we looked a little nicer at my wife's family reunion last week.

Total time to remove, pressure wash, hit with Scotch Brite, wine with solvent, paint and re-inspection was about 3 hours work plus drying time.

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This is as close as I can find to a before pic. Unfortunately, this was the good side to begin with.

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Looks great. Thanks for the post


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Nice !!