The cowl, rear glass handle & antenna base are all black plastic that I have tried to keep black. Used Back to Black, Zaino, Wax & STP type spray stuff. If it worked it didnt last.
I found some Rustolium Satin Black spray paint.
Took off the wipers and removed the cowl, glass handle & antenna base. Cleaned them with TSP to remove any wax and wiped with alchohol to remove any Zaino and painted them.
They look like new. When, not if, they fade again they will get another coat of paint. Its almost easier than waxing the cowl nd the "satin" finish is just right.
Just thought I would let you all know.....

Works great doesn't it...did my bumpers, window pillars and all with the stuff about a year ago and still looks good..

Bill, thanks for the input. I have a 96 and I think I am going to try painting mine as well. It is great to have people share their experiences, especially when they are positive like yours.

does the glass and door latch on the back look ok in all black with no writing?

I'm going to be painting all the black trim on mine later this week. I have two cans of Trim Black and a can of clearcoat. Good to hear that the liftgate handle looks good all black. I was wondering how I was going to do that. I'll let you all know how it goes.

peace

Mike

Did any of you paint the black that surrounds the back glass, the back corners especially? Did it look good or like new b/c every explorer I see the black around the back glass is always faded?

Mar Hyde has an excellent lacquer based Trim Black product to paint the black trim. I did mine 2 years a go and it looks great(just dont wax it) I did door handles, mirror housings all of the black panels on my doors, pillars, rear corners, and tailgate, and have used it on the wiper arms, blade holders etc. Little 400 sand paper and some lacquer thinner to wipe everything down, and oh yea plenty of masking material ( another trick is to put on some wax but dont remove it- then mask and paint the trim- any overspray will come off with the wax)

do a search there was another thread on this a while back

I repainted mine with a black metallic paint. It looks pretty good but I guess my painting techniques got kinda rusted b/c I can see runs on some places. I painted it a month or two ago and it looks pretty good.