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  Plastic End Caps  

Your car, like mine, is almost 20 years old. What you are in fact seeing is the "leaching" of the paint into the plastic substrate. Hence, the "darker" appearance. The flex additive really has nothing to do with the "discoloration".

Also, at the time of production, all paint manufacturers were wrestling with having to comply with stricter regulations regarding VOC's(volatile organic compounds) and other issues related to air quality. Germany has as strict, if not stricter, air quality standards than California. This is why you don't see too many "Pearl-Effect" paint jobs from the factory and, if you look through the manuals, you'll find some colors listed with two separate codes; one for solvent based, one for water based. Bottom line? A repaint of said pieces. The key is to use a good sealer between the primer and the new topcoats. The up side, a GOOD shop should be able to match the paint even allowing for "fading". To do it right, I would strongly recommend having the parts stripped AT LEAST to the original primer. This can be done with "media-blast"(usually plastic or walnut shell), or chemical, they make a special stripper for this application. I have done many of these plastic parts and it's no big deal.

Of course, you've got to have the proper tools and supplies as for any job. Hope this helped.

Dave Shaeffer

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