Restoring Rubber Paintjob on Higher End ThinkPads

Message

#1 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 10:09 pm

Earlier this week when I recieved a second hand ThinkPad 760E, it was slow, dirty and deteriorated. Well, after several hours, a new (and bigger) hard drive, and a RAM upgrade, this thing was running like new. Now, onto my next challenge, now the ThinkPad runs like new, I need to make it look like new. I found after experimenting with various products that Clorox brand disinfecting surface wipes work absolute wonders if used well at restoring a very scuffed up rubber ThinkPad surface. These same wipes also work great for 3 series ThinkPads as well as others with the flat black paintjob for cleaning without scratching the paint. So to anyone out there with a ThinkPad with the rubber paintjob that is tired of there laptop looking like crap, here's the answer to your prayers.

MadeInJapan · #2 Post by **MadeInJapan** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 2:59 am

....sounds good, but then what do you do about your Thinkpad's rubber coating pealing off, like mine is doing now?

#3 Post by **BillMorrow** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 4:48 am

MadeInJapan wrote:....sounds good, but then what do you do about your Thinkpad's rubber coating pealing off, like mine is doing now?

which thinkpad model..??

peeling paint was a problem on some 770 series..

and, lets face it.. it IS paint.. and if badly applied it will eventually peel..
and this is whast happened to those 770's...

as far as restoring what you have left, meguires has a product for dash panels..
i'm told that it works wonders..

MadeInJapan · #4 Post by **MadeInJapan** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:28 am

Okay...my bad...I have a 600E that I gave my son...not a 770 series. The 600 series has the rubberized palmrest and rubberized coating over the outside of the LCD and really all aound (except for the under-belly). The rubber surfaces are prone to scratching and peeling. Since it is my son's, the first instance of peeling on the palmrest was covered with a skateboard sticker (lol), but the peeling on other parts of the palmrest area is beginning. Was considering just getting a new bezel and replacing that area, but very soon, I suspect other areas of this machine will also start peeling. Is there not some type of paint to just cover the the spots that are down to the aluminum, or maybe even the whole thing? Other than the peeling issue, the computer is a work horse and still runs great!

#5 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 11:53 am

Forgot to mention, the strategy I mentioned work on ThinkPads without the peeling paint. As for a ThinkPad with peeling rubber, I'd just get some alcohol and some other stuff and remove the paint altogether, and if it looks like crap afterwards, dissasemble the ThinkPad and repaint the panels myself. I think it'd look pretty nice if I can get some car paint and do one of those paintjobs to my ThinkPad where it's shiny and from one angle, it's black but from another, it's gold or blue.

MadeInJapan · #6 Post by **MadeInJapan** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 5:17 pm

Now that mod sounds really good! I know what you mean about the sort of rainbow paint jobs I've seen on some cars. You could then sell the TP's like hot cakes if you could do that because they would look so cool! But...you would have to have the equipment and time. I'd say, to do a really good job, take off the bezels and sand blast them to begin with to remove everything and then spray paint them (like a good body shop) with the paint you mention.

ian · #7 Post by **ian** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 5:38 pm

One of the forum members (lilserenity) painted hers green - and then very wisely decided NOT to show us a picture of it...talking of whom, where has she gone?

#8 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 9:12 pm

They would sell like hot cakes if you could buy a ThinkPad with rainbow jobs off the shelf. I would go for darker colors, like red and grey, or black and gold. Woulddn't go for green, as one member made hers, if I wanted a laptop that looks like a toy, I'd buy an iBook.

#9 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 1:28 am

you mean:

http://www.lilserenity.com

i suppose she sold her thinkpad and no longer needs us or, perhaps, just has no time to spare..

#10 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 6:29 pm

Well, I covered restoring a non peeling rubber paintjob, now if only I could get rid of those cracks in the pastic that resulted from crashing to the floor today after the handle on the (old) laptop bag gave way and let go of the bag. Thing still works and looks ok, but on the back, there's a small crack.

MadeInJapan · #11 Post by **MadeInJapan** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 9:13 pm

Um....at least you didn't spill coffee onto your thinkpad and sizzle sizzle it (did you read the post of that unfortunate guy?)....Doh...

#12 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:04 am

Yeah, I read about that, that's gotta stink, it tops my two accident stories. One involves a 350c keyboard (best laptop keyboard ever) and some water, which after leaving unused for a week worked again and a 760ED display and some spilt water, which resulted in half the screen being white and the other half being barely legible, but surprisingly enough, it was back to normal by morning.

farmer kev · #13 Post by **farmer kev** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:55 am

Has anybody found a paint that looks and feels like whats on the 600?
I really like my little 240 but the surface has very little grip, might explane why so many broken 240's on ebay?

Sudevan · #14 Post by **Sudevan** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:22 pm

I just received my recently purchased used T40 which I had been expecting, and everything seems to be in fine shape, very well-kept. I really love this machine, my first Thinkpad. So now I'm part of the club, I suppose!

I was wondering if Alphakilo's suggestion about using Clorox disinfectant wipe to remove scuff marks off the black cover would work for the T40 as well. There are a few marks on this one. If anyone else knows of any other product please let me know. I will also see if I can locate the meguires product that Bill Morrow mentions.

I also have a question about the slot at the bottom left side of the machine -- This must be for the PC Card, right? How can I make use of this? Anyone else use this slot?

Thanks heaps,

Sudevan
__________________________________________
T40/1.5GHZ Pentium M/512MB/40GB 5400 HD/14.1 XGA/32MB ATI Radeon 7500/DVD-ROM/a/b/g wireless/6cell Li-Ion/WinXP Pro

#15 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:32 pm

first off, be careful with the product you use. Clorox is only the brand name. The disinfecting wipes I used have no bleach or chlorine in them at all. Make sure you get the wipes. Do NOT get anything that says it has bleach or chlorine as those things will kill the paintjob.

Though I think I may have found something better. I tried dusting the cover of my 760ED off with a swiffer pad then I took a small about of Bissel foaming bathroom cleaner, sprayed it on top of the lid then rubed in circles all over the lid with my palm until the stuff wet away. That left my ThinkPad looking pretty good but with that stuff, some cleaner stays on and thus it's easier to attract dust and get fingerprints.

As for the PC card slots, I use mine for my Xircom Realport network card and modem and I have a wireless card that plugs in there too.

Sudevan · #16 Post by **Sudevan** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:14 pm

Thanks, Alphakilo. I used disinfecting wipes with no bleach and no chlorine per se, although it does say it has ammonium chloride ( which is a salt ). The paintjob is fine and it does help with some of the scuffs. I will try the swiffer/Bliss approach and see if it gets me better results.

As for the cards in the port, I am wondering if an Audigy card might help with the sound quality. I already have an a/b/g built in wireless.

Best,

#17 Post by **GomJabbar** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:46 am

Sudevan wrote:As for the cards in the port, I am wondering if an Audigy card might help with the sound quality. I already have an a/b/g built in wireless.

IMHO the Audigy card should make no difference in sound quality with the built-in speakers. For better sound quality, you first need to get a good pair of external speakers. This will help alot. Using the Audigy card with the external speakers may be better, but I think it really depends primarily on the output wattage of the card.

The PC card slot is good for many accessories. I use mine for a Cingular PC card modem that gives me internet access anywhere Cingular has good coverage. On my daughter's 600E ThinkPad, the PC card slot came in handy to add Wireless 802.1g, ethernet, and high-speed USB 2.0.

You can add serial ports, memory card readers, firewire ports, USB ports audio cards, tv tuners, and other accessories that do not come built-in with the laptop. It allows you to add technologies that were not available when you bought your laptop.

Sudevan · #18 Post by **Sudevan** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:26 pm

Thank you GomJabbar. This is very useful information.

May I also say how much I have learned about Thinkpads in general and the T4x series in particular, simply by reading various threads and posts in this forum during the last nine days. I have truly never seen anything so informative and so useful on the Net! And everyone's remarkably cordial too. My congratulations to Bill and the other senior members who run this forum so splendidly -- and of course the great contributions by all members.

I like the T40 so much I am thinking of getting an older 600 or 300, perhaps on eBay, to run some tasks that my older '96 Dell desktop ( Dimension Pentium 166MHz ) is now running under Win 95. Would take up much less space, for one thing! I will be posting on that series for advice.

aaaaaakash · #19 Post by **aaaaaakash** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:05 pm

hello,

i just wanted to add here that I went and bought the clorox wipes for my new t60, and it works surprisingly well. thanks for the tip!

aakash

Robbyrobot · #20 Post by **Robbyrobot** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:01 am

peeling paint was a problem on some 770 series..

and, lets face it.. it IS paint.. and if badly applied it will eventually peel.. and this is whast happened to those 770's...

Interesting comment... I just bought a 770E where a large patch of paint on the right palmrest part of the keyboard bezel has flaked off, and some of the other paint on the other parts of the palmrest is blistered or flaking. And just a few minutes ago on Ebay, I saw another 770E with nearly the same appearance. From what I have here, it looked like someone had tried to clean the paint with acetone or some other aggressive solvent, but possibly this was just a factory defect.

Restoring Rubber Paintjob on Higher End ThinkPads

Restoring Rubber Paintjob on Higher End ThinkPads

Question about cleaning T40

Restoring Rubber Paintjob

Re: Restoring Rubber Paintjob

I've got my T40

Who is online