yellowing plastic trim
The plastic trim around the door window, awning motors, and stove vent cover have yellowed over time. Is there a way to bleach these back to white or do I just paint them.
Forum Discussion
blueglide wrote:
Check out this thread I posted a year ago about the same problem. Be prepared for a few naysayers who have not tried it to tell you that it won't work or is bad because its bleaching the plastic (its not)...blah blah blah. My plastic still looks brand new.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29016049.cfm
It IS "bleaching" as in whitening a surface and the surfaces I frequently use hydrogen peroxide on are natural textiles.
Hydrogen peroxide is an acetic acid and lemon juice, a milder one.
However "Hydro p" should not be confused with chlorine bleach commonly called Clorox in the US market place or oxygen bleaches such as OxiClean and powdered bleaches in general.
I would not be surprised to hear that it works to remove yellowing from plastic if the item soaks in a solution long enough. Probably adding washing soda or powdered bleach to the solution would help as well.
Big problem with any liquid whitening agent is to keep it from dripping off before the chemical reaction is completed on vertical(?) surfaces. For them, you buy a lot of Pampers, soak them in the whitening solution then tape them to the surface.
I suspect the original thread's disconnect came into play regarding the 2 different meanings of bleach: scientific and everyday usage. Both defines are right just if different ways;).
HTH
