Summary for black color restoration Discussion
Black color restoration for faded black stereo components is the core question here: Anna Jones asks how to make the solid black metal top of an older CD changer look blacker again after it has become clouded and dusty-looking from age and repeated cleaning with Windex. The only answer in the thread is a brief suggestion from consumer, who recommends simply using black spray paint. No other methods, cautions, or product-specific restoration techniques are discussed, so the thread offers a very limited practical answer rather than a detailed repair process. The exchange implies that repainting may be the straightforward way to restore the appearance, but it does not address prep work, finish matching, or whether painting is appropriate for the component.
Hi, I have a great 5-disk CD changer from before 1993, which has a solid black metal top (no vents). The top has clouded, looks dusty, probably from time, and having been cleaned a few times with Windex Commercial Line
⇦ on
or
Amazon [affil link]
. Is there any way to make it look blacker, more like its old self?
Thanks so much!
Anna Jones
consumer – Salem, Virginia
2006
? Why not black spray paint, Anna?

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
If you don’t like spray paint for any reason, you can also pick up a small pint bottle of Dykem Black Staining Liquid (basically an ink) from any Grainger store or equivalent – it would get you nice and black also.
You’d probably get better shine out of the spray paint though.
Jim Gorsich
Compton, California, USA