i did a similar thing to mine, but instead of painting the black part again, i just buffed it up with Mothers Paint Cleaner, works awesome on the window surrounds too. heres how mine came up..... http://calaisturbo.com.au/showthread.php?t=102576

Lol, pics are too dark man...but yeah, I agree, some of them can be brought back to life with a good cutting/polishing compound and some solid elbow grease but most these days are just too weathered....

i did a similar thing to mine, but instead of painting the black part again, i just buffed it up with Mothers Paint Cleaner, works awesome on the window surrounds too. heres how mine came up..... http://calaisturbo.com.au/showthread.php?t=102576

good article darren! can u do mine for me?

Yep, no worries Robbo, pop it round and i'll fix that fukn head of yours up while im at it?...ya smug cunt... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

haha awesome mate. book me in! and how much will it cost?

Garnish ive done for about $100-$120 if it needs everything you see in the pics...i'll do your head for nothing though coz im a nice guy. Now take your sarcastic sh1t elsewhere or PM me, ok? Ya tool.... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

ok ill get in contact with you about bringing the garnish down soon. cheers bud.

Gave this a go over the weekend and had trouble with masking up to paint those 2 silver lines! When I went to pull the tape off some of the silver paint came with it. Also need to use thick tape when masking up so the paint does not seep through. Got any tips? Ill go with a paint texta this time.

Remove the masking tape ASAP (as in as soon as you paint it) otherwise it forms a film onto the masking tape and will do what it did for you....

Just used a paint texta with mine (couldnt be stuffed masking up again). Worked a treat, so there is another option. Very good write up helped me a lot.

Maybe if you use the texta you could clear coat it just so's it dont wash off as I wouldnt have thought that paint in the texta would be very 'durable'....

ive done what u did with the bottom half of the garnish with the top boot mould on my calais and it always comes u bumpy! seriously ive dont it three times now and its always coming up the same, bumpy!!!! btw, is there a big difference between mignight black and gloss black?

Just for anyone who cares, I've been playing around with the sticker bit that comes with the rare spares kit...I stuck it to a spare black garnish and started trying to polish it. This is very much like the stickers on what I think may be the earlier calais garnishes (the ones that tend to fade to a more yellow than green with age and are less common) as the locating holes are further in and it is harder to polish up (they come with a very flat finish ) which is how I've found previous ones of this type I've restored. They are also more brittle than the other type of stickers, which doesn't matter...yet. Give it 20 years of sun. Having said that, I'm fairly convinced these might actually be an exact copy of the originals... at least in the type of material although unfortunately not the of the better version. This is the new sticker as included in the rare spares kit. The only fault I see is the sharp angle where the bottom of the S goes..It's normally smoother.Note also the duller finish (I'm convinced it will polish up good with a heavier polish than my trusty meguiers plastix) and the position of the locating holes. The following 2 are an old one with the same locating holes (lets call it the type 1). They too are harder to polish, go more yellow than green and look like this when they get old... Here is a shot of the 2 types of ORIGINAL badges with their different spacings And this is the more common "Type 2" sticker. Goes pale green, (you can see the difference between the two sides where I've started to clean it up vs how it was) seems more flexible and easy to polish and has the wider spacing for the badge holes Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

With the RareSpares sticker maybe once youve applied it to the Garnish you could 2pak clear that section to give it some gloss and protection?

Yeah good point, although I'm not a fan of spraying when polishing is an option...I always have trouble getting a satisfactory finish. What do you recommend? Would some kind of spray can paint do a good enough job?

No, cans are acrylic and wont shine with out rubbing back and polishing...you'd need a painter to do it...

dono if this is the right thread to be posting this in but meh my sticker has started to peel off on my calais garnish what should i use to stick it back down without fcuckin it up or is it just easier to buy a new 1?

Nah man stick it back down. I'll find out what the stuff I used is called. It's similar to the original stuff so it won't ruin it

Great write up, I should be using in the next few weeks or so, picking up a Calais today and the garnish could use a touch up. Will have to be when I can afford to replace the faded tail lights. Which brand is best as far as aftermarket goes? I don't think these originals are salvagable, the tail lights are a nice pink colour at the moment.