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Use WD-40 on Plastic Furniture to Make it Look New!
This may be a post where everyone thinks I’m crazy. That’s ok, I might be. I tend to absorb weird information and somewhere along the way I read that there are like a million uses for WD-40. Click here to explore all the ways you can use WD-40 for yourself. Did you know you can Use WD-40 on plastic furniture to make it look new? I’ve never had plastic outdoor furniture but for whatever reason this stuck in my brain. So last week I was thrifting and I came across a set of 4 plastic Adirondack chairs. I like to post stuff I come across at thrift stores to my Instagram stories for anyone in the KC area (also it makes thrifting more fun for me, it’s like shopping with a friend).
So I posted this to my Instagram story:
One of the most fun parts of posting my thrift finds is that so many of you are responding to them and sending me messages asking about the items. (Thank you! I love hearing from you guys!) Pretty quickly I got a few messages asking if WD-40 really did work on plastic furniture. I had read that it did, and it made sense to me that it would act as a conditioner, but I had never tried it. After a little thought I decided that for $4 (yes, those chairs were just $1 each) I should try it out myself. Let’s see how it works!
To use WD-40 on plastic furniture and make it look new again you’ll need:
I felt confident that you could use WD-40 on plastic furniture but I was still a little nervous. Luckily the chairs weren’t in good condition. That was pretty comforting because I couldn’t really make them worse. They had nicks, dings, dirt, and some staining. The first thing my handy assistant and I did was to give them a simple wash and scrub. Let me emphasize ‘simple’. Yes we did use the scrub brush but my son really did do most of the scrubbing. My goal here wasn’t to get them sparkling clean, it was to get off any standing dirt, cobwebs, or just general gunk off the top. I did use dish soap on one chair that had been, ahem, ‘sprinkled’ by a bird at some point. Other than that though we used the hose and scrub brush. After we’d rinsed them off we let them dry in the sun for about 15 minutes. They dried quickly and about the time we were finished washing the last chair the first one was ready.
The process went so quickly and easily that I hope I got enough in process shots to show you. First of all use your WD-40 and liberally spray your plastic furniture. After doing a few sprays I realized it was actually better to spray the entire chair all at once the same way as if you were using spray paint. You’ll immediately see a difference as the plastic is conditioned with the product so it’s easy to see the spots you missed. Step two, use your rag and rub the WD-40 into the plastic and make sure that it gets in all of the grooves and crevices. Make sure to wipe off any excess so there isn’t any standing product on the chair. Let chairs air dry for several hours until they are not ‘oily’ to the touch. Ours dried quickly and we were sitting on them that very night!
And that’s it guys, that’s how you can use WD-40 on plastic furniture to make it look new again! So simple, right?! This project start to finish took less than 1 hour. We already had a full can of WD-40 on hand so my cost for this project was just $4! I think if you were to buy full size can at the store it would cost around $8-$10 – not bad for making your furniture look brand new! I mean JUST LOOK AT THOSE AFTER PICTURES!
So now that you’ve seen the results are you going to give it a try?
And if you’re working outside these posts may be interesting to you too:
- DIY All Natural Weed Killer (That really works!)
- Summer Yard Tour 2018
- DIY Fire Pit Round Up
- Trash to Treasure Potting Bench Make Over
Don’t forget to pin!
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33 responses to “Use WD-40 on Plastic Furniture to Make it Look New!”
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What a simple trick! Excuse me while I go thrifting for some chairs! Thanks for sharing.
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HAHAHA! Love it, hope you find some!
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This is amazing!!! I never would have thought of that. I have a couple chairs like that and will definitely be trying this.
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The cost vs benefit of this is amazing! You should definitely try it on your chairs!
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I am going out to get more wd40. Didn’t know about this at all
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It’s a good tip to know!
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What a difference!! I’ve got a patio chair that I’m going to do this on! I only use WD40 on my garage door hinges. Who knew?!
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I know, right?! The immediate difference is so crazy!
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Wow! That’s really great, and who knew! I’ll be on the lookout for some things that could use a spruce-up from WD-40!
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That’s how I felt when I found these chairs for just $1!
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It might be a cheap fix, but it’s a lot of hard work…I did a refurbish on my plastic Adirondacks with another oily type product and the results were short lived so, while they looked great for the party (granddaughter’s graduation), it didn’t last long enough to warrant the amount of work it took to get there! Let us know how long it lasts with WD-40, please! These chairs are relatively cheap at retail, so replacing or even repainting might make more sense!
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I am curious about the long term results as well. I got these chairs for just $1 each so my investment in the project is pretty minimal, lol. I will counter your comment tho about this being hard work, to scrub, rinse, dry, and oil 4 chairs it took me less than an hour so it went fast!
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This hopefully keeps them out of s landfill if you’re buying new just because they’re faded. Doesn’t sound like that much work really. I cleaned mine, just didn’t know what to use. I had read all the things you can do with WD40, and found your blog! Gonna do it! thanks
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This is so genius!! Thank you for sharing, I have some plastic chairs like this that are starting to show some wear. I can’t wait to try.
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I can’t recommend this enough, it was SO easy and an IMMEDIATE difference! Most satisfying DIY I’ve done recently! HA!
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Wow! I never knew WD40 could do this. Thanks for the tip! I have a few plastic chairs that are looking pretty dingy in my back yard. Definitely going to give this a try.
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Good luck! If you do let me know! I’d love to see the before and afters!
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Wonderful idea, thanks for sharing, now I can restore chairs that have been stacked under a tree for 4yrs, now I don’t have to paint them. Thanks for sharing
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You’re welcome! Good luck with your chairs!
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How is the finish after refurbishing – dry, oily, etc.? Will it leave any residue on clothing or pillows/blankets? Also will be interested to know how well this finish stands up over time. Thanks for the tip!
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Once it’s dry it’s a very matte finish. If you don’t get it 100% rubbed in then it will be a little oily. So far my chairs still look good, but I’m also interested to see how they do after the summer is over. The up side, in my opinion, is that it is such an easy and fast thing to do that if I needed to do it again it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.
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What type of finish will this method leave – oily, dry, etc.? Also will it affect clothing while sitting or pillows/blankets used over chairs? Also interested in how it holds up over time as others mentioned. Guess another coat after a season would not be too bad. Thanks for the tip; I had not seen this method before.
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Once mine were dry it was like a velvety matte finish, not oily at all. Now if you don’t get it completely rubbed in then it will be oily, so just make sure to really wipe it down! I sat on mine that night without it leaving any traces of anything on my clothes and we haven’t had any residue issues. I’m curious to see how it holds up after the summer is over too, but the investment of money and time is so minimal that if I have to do another coat on the chairs later on I don’t really care.
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Oh, my gosh! I’ve totally got to try that! Thx for the tip! (and love the photos – handsome models!)
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I wasn’t going to have him in there but he INSISTED! I’m never without help around here!
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DOES THE OIL FROM THE WD 40 COME OFF ON CLOTHES
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Not once it dries. After you spray and wipe down the chairs let them ‘cure’ in the sun until they are no longer oily to the touch. For me that was just a few hours! But after that you can sit on them without getting it on your clothing.
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Do you think this will work on white chairs and tables?
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Yes I do.
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how about a few month update? thinking out doing this tonight to 4 of the exact chairs you have. thanks 😄
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I’m going to try this on a plastic wagon. I was sure there would be something that should work!
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My saw another post and spray painted them and they looked pretty nice for a few years. Now they are chipped. I thought of spraying them again, then maybe putting WD40 on. I was wondering if the WD 40 oil gets on your clothes?0
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Once it’s dry it doesn’t rub off, but when you are applying it you need to let it soak in and dry. I gave it a final wipe down before I sat on it, but we never had any residue come off. I tried this instead of the spray paint because I was afraid of chipping. You do need to reapply this every few years, but it really extends the life and is easy enough to do.
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