Acrylic Bath Panel Help Please

Anoneemoose

Hi,

We have a p shaped bath with an acrylic panel that has yellowed. The company we bought the bathroom from doesn’t exist now so we can’t ask them if they have one to buy. 

I’ve been looking online at different ones but they all vary in the dimensions so I’m not 100% sure whether or which to order. 

Are there any solutions I’m missing does anyone know? I keep wondering about some kind of wrapping on it but I when I search, I only get things like what I would call sticky backed plastic, which doesn’t seem durable. Or are there any companies that can make them to order? The rest of the bathroom is still immaculate so this is really noticeable! 

Any ideas will be very much appreciated. Thank you. 

Bendy_House

A photo would help.

The panel is 'meant' to be white?

In theory, there's all sorts of ways to sort this, from repainting, to 'wrapping' (as you mentioned) to bleaching.

I have no experience of bleaching plastics, tho' there seems to be plenty of info on t'web. Unless someone on here has done this, there you may be on your own in terms of trialling this!

Then there's painting. I think this would have to be done very well if it's to be effective. If you are after a white, high-gloss finish (which I presume is what it's meant to be?), then it'll be tricky. I guess it'll either need spraying (which in itself isn't straight-forward) or rolled using a foam roller. I doubt you'll get an orange peel-free finish, tho'.

If, however, you fancy going for a contrast colour, and would be happy with a 'satin' finish, I think that would be a lot easier.

And then there's bleaching... Possibly it could be restored using a paint-'cutting' compound, which is a very fine polish that'll remove the very top layer, but I can see that being hard work.

And there's wrapping. This, I think, will be durable enough, but will require some skill and care to apply, especially if there are compound curves, which I presume there are, especially along the top and the bottom 'skirting' section?

Can the panel be removed easily?

knightstyle

Any car wrapping companies near you?

Anoneemoose

Bendy_House said:

A photo would help.

The panel is 'meant' to be white?

In theory, there's all sorts of ways to sort this, from repainting, to 'wrapping' (as you mentioned) to bleaching.

I have no experience of bleaching plastics, tho' there seems to be plenty of info on t'web. Unless someone on here has done this, there you may be on your own in terms of trialling this!

Then there's painting. I think this would have to be done very well if it's to be effective. If you are after a white, high-gloss finish (which I presume is what it's meant to be?), then it'll be tricky. I guess it'll either need spraying (which in itself isn't straight-forward) or rolled using a foam roller. I doubt you'll get an orange peel-free finish, tho'.

If, however, you fancy going for a contrast colour, and would be happy with a 'satin' finish, I think that would be a lot easier.

And then there's bleaching... Possibly it could be restored using a paint-'cutting' compound, which is a very fine polish that'll remove the very top layer, but I can see that being hard work.

And there's wrapping. This, I think, will be durable enough, but will require some skill and care to apply, especially if there are compound curves, which I presume there are, especially along the top and the bottom 'skirting' section?

Can the panel be removed easily?

Thank you for such a detailed response. I didn’t occur to me to add a photo - that would definitely help. I’ve put some here though as it’s a small bathroom, they’re quite dark. It is very easily removable. It also has a couple of cracks along the top ‘skirting’ from when it was new and himself was heavy handed. Excuse the dingy looking floor…that’s being replaced on Wednesday, hence me wanting to freshen this up too. 

Anoneemoose

I thought I’d added pictures but they don’t seem visible so I'll put them here and hope they upload.

Anoneemoose

knightstyle said:

Any car wrapping companies near you?

My sister in law and her husband have a garage where they do wheels in different colours and I think they must know someone who does actual car wrapping as they’ve had some of theirs done. Do you think that would work? 

Bendy_House

That panel is ideal for wrapping! No real compound curves, and neat top and bottom edges.

Strengthen/reinforce any cracks beforehand.

And even give some thought to it being a feature panel! Try some surfing for examples   You always have 'white' to fall back on...

rob7475

Try a flash magic eraser (test on a small area first as they are slightly abrasive!). 

The underside of our toilet seat yellows over time. As the toilet is not a standard shape, a replacement seat is £120 from Ideal Standard. A magic eraser brought it up like new.

Anoneemoose

Bendy_House said:

That panel is ideal for wrapping! No real compound curves, and neat top and bottom edges.

Strengthen/reinforce any cracks beforehand.

And even give some thought to it being a feature panel! Try some surfing for examples   You always have 'white' to fall back on...

Thanks again. Someone above suggested car wrapping places..is that the sort of place I’d go to? I mentioned my sister in law and her husband do wheels but they must know someone who can do bigger due to them having their cars done. The feature panel idea sounds good too. The bathroom is rather grey! 😬😁

Anoneemoose

rob7475 said:

Try a flash magic eraser (test on a small area first as they are slightly abrasive!). 

The underside of our toilet seat yellows over time. As the toilet is not a standard shape, a replacement seat is £120 from Ideal Standard. A magic eraser brought it up like new.

Thank you. That’s actually a good idea. I’ll try on the side bit that you can’t see. We have the same issue with our toilet but only really on those rubber bits so I’ll have a go on those too. 

BUFF

Don't suppose that  you know the make/model of bath?