Merlin

Retr0bright reverses the yellowing process, it's not a permanent cure. If the surface of the plastic is still open to the air, it will yellow again, as the bromine free radical reaction is reversible (otherwise, we wouldn't be able to reverse it... ) The permanent fix it is to coat it with clear satin carylic lacquer to seal the surface off from the air. No oxygen, no oxidation; simple, really......

I would be reaching for the Krylon Fusion Paint at this point... A Magic Eraser is abrasive and will remove the textured finish on the drive.

Yes, that's it.

Hi to all the Retr0brighters out there! In keeping with the best spirits of product development, I think it's about time that we started work on Retr0bright Mk.2. There are probably quite a few ideas that we could add to the basic recipe, and this is where all of you come in. I've started a discussion topic on the Retr0bright Wiki. Please feel free to add your ideas to this topic and we'll see what is possible - remember, we've already sort of proved the impossible with Retr0bright in the first place, so don't stifle your creativity. Ultimately, we could end up with a whole range of open-source Retr0bright products. Thinking caps on, people!!

Yeah, start with about the same and see how you get on. Just remember to allow the gel to cool before you add the Oxy and apply it.

There is a video on Youtube, although I didn't make it. I will eventually get around to doing a video demonstration.

You can't ask for more than that. 95% restoration is excellent.

Look up Sureguard on Amazon for a suitable UV protective lacquer - it's in the photographic section.

Matheus, Could you give me an idea of your location? It may be that the product you need is available in your country, but I don't know where you are!

Clear acrylic lacquer will solve the problem, you can even get them with UV absorbers formulated into them. These absorbers perform something that's called "up-shifting" in the colour industry, which is where a chemical converts UV to another wavelength and emits it. The lacquer also has the effect of sealing off the surface, preventing oxygen from reaching the surface and causing yellowing, so it's a double-whammy. I work for a UK company that is a sister company to DayGlo, so I have learned a lot about colour and UV radiation along with wavelength shifting chemicals in the 4 years I've worked there.

This is the problem you encounter if you use the thickened peroxide hair preparations instead of using straight H2O2 solution and a thickener. The hair preparation contains items such as terpenes and other aliphatic solvents that remove the paint; there is also the risk that these products attack the plastic, therefore I wouldn't recommend that you use these products. We mentioned this in the Problems and Pitfalls section of the Wiki, as Lorne had tried these originally and saw this effect. The H2O2 will also attack aluminium badges, as you have found. This is why we say that if you deviate from what has been tried, you are out on your own, as I can't predict what's in these concoctions. Do you have a list of ingredients that are in this hair preparation, that I could decipher?

@ wood_jl I am glad that you were able to get ingredients in Redneckville, TX that worked for you. I am still knocked out by people's reactions when they try this. It usually starts Bill-&-Ted style with a "No way!" then ends up in a "Whoh!" That's exactly the reaction I had when I tried the proof of concept experiments that are shown in the Wiki. We've had a lot of trolling posts on forums all over the place saying that the photos were faked, but the people that worked on this couldn't fake this on such a scale as we have now. Old Lego bricks, vintage telephones and radios, Transformer toys, plastic bathrooms and trim inside Airstream trailers, the uses that people have found for Retr0bright grows daily and the Wiki has had over 134,000 hits to date. I'm sure that hits figure is low as the counter has broken loads of times with the overload! I am shocked and humbled at how a bit of kitchen sink chemistry has captured people's imaginations and enabled them to restore treasured items. This was originally a concept experiment to prove that the mechanism of yellowing was linked to brominated flame retardents and that a bit of customised chemistry could fix it; we never expected it to go as ballistic as it has. Thanks to all on here who are still working on this. If you would like your photos added to the Wiki, please send them to me at merlin@amibay.com

Yes, there's definitely some pictures of a cleaned up Super Nintendo in The Gallery on the Wiki.

Well, I'm glad you found the glycerin; the source is somewhat interesting though.... *cough* LOL I'm just really pleased that so many people have taken to this World-wide; people are out there cleaning Transformer toys, old telephones, Lego bricks, Airstream caravan trims, vintage radios, classic car parts, the list goes on and on....people have finally gone from being skeptical about this to actually using it and proving it to themselves. Our hard work has finally paid off. I usually Google Retr0bright once a week or so, just to see what's going on. I am amazed that the Wiki still gets over 500 hits a day and has logged nearly 124,000 hits!! Retr0bright also made it into Retro Action magazine Issue 2, which was released today. Cool!! http://www.retroactionmagazine.com/magazine

@ mellis That is a textbook case of how to do it. OK, it took longer than my tests, but remember I used 35% H2O2 which you can't get over the counter and I wouldn't advocate anyone using that strength. You have proved that some quite severe yellowing can be treated and reversed without causing blooming. Well done!!