Hi guys, I have ivory door sills that don't look pristine ivory anymore (there's a black/dirty tinge to it) and the end pieces of the door sills have black scuff marks. Detergent/microfibre/elbow grease does nothing. Any tips on what might get it back to clean?
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Clean ivory door sill
- Thread starter Ace3
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If its a greasy residue or truly just surface contamination, I have found that a mixture of about 10-20 % acetone in water is a very good surface degrease / cleaner. Don't go stronger than that because acetone will soften / dissolve some plastics. However, depending on the age of the material you may have discoloration of the pigment or actual loss of the surface material. Surface cleaning / degreasing will not fix that. In such case, you might want to consider painting or dyeing the vinyl and plastic with a fabric / vinyl paint or dye. I am not exactly sure what the distinction is between a dye and a paint when applied to vinyl.
I have used Colorbond paint on vinyl and hard plastic surface with very good results when used with their adhesion promoter. SEM and some others make similar products. Your choice on product may be made for you on the basis of who provides the best color match.
I have used Colorbond paint on vinyl and hard plastic surface with very good results when used with their adhesion promoter. SEM and some others make similar products. Your choice on product may be made for you on the basis of who provides the best color match.
I have to respectfully disagree with Old Guy on this one.
DO NOT use acetone for this, there are much better products that don't risk damaging the plastic. Sure, you might be able to get away with it a few times before you start noticing ill effects, but on very old, expensive plastic parts that's not a risk I'd want to take.
Something like a 10:1 dilution of optimum power clean would be perfect for this, it is an excellent cleaner/degreaser. Then follow it up with 303 aerospace protectant.
DO NOT use acetone for this, there are much better products that don't risk damaging the plastic. Sure, you might be able to get away with it a few times before you start noticing ill effects, but on very old, expensive plastic parts that's not a risk I'd want to take.
Something like a 10:1 dilution of optimum power clean would be perfect for this, it is an excellent cleaner/degreaser. Then follow it up with 303 aerospace protectant.
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door sill
i use dawn dish soap and follow up with leather treatment products even thought they're vinyl and plastic
i use dawn dish soap and follow up with leather treatment products even thought they're vinyl and plastic
Are you talking about the plastic pieces that go along the sills between (on the driver's side) the hood release and the gas filler door release? If so, mine had deep gouges where the previous owner scuffed them getting in and out. I removed them, and sanded them down starting with around 150 grit sandpaper, then went finer until they were smooth again. I think I ended up with 400 grit; don't remember. I just kept going finer until they looked good. When I was done they looked brand new. Use this technique at your own risk.
I suffered through this issue on my first NSX. The problem is all of the cleaners just push dirt into the gouges and scuffs in the plastic. So you end up with a clean white surface full of black lines and scuffs. It's like doing a panel wash on a plastic model. The only way to really "clean" the surface is to sand it. It's just like paint- start with a coarse grit that is large enough to remove the deepest scratches. Then work through finer and finer grits until you are at something like 1,200. I never got to do this before I sold the car, but given the level of effort and time involved, I resolved to either just buy new sills next time, or get a black interior. 317 has a black interior.
I suffered through this issue on my first NSX. The problem is all of the cleaners just push dirt into the gouges and scuffs in the plastic. So you end up with a clean white surface full of black lines and scuffs. It's like doing a panel wash on a plastic model. The only way to really "clean" the surface is to sand it. It's just like paint- start with a coarse grit that is large enough to remove the deepest scratches. Then work through finer and finer grits until you are at something like 1,200. I never got to do this before I sold the car, but given the level of effort and time involved, I resolved to either just buy new sills next time, or get a black interior. 317 has a black interior.
Been wondering the same thing. Now that I know what to do, I'll see what I can do with them.
My covers are black; but, I had the same issue with scuffs. Cleaned them up pretty much as described by [MENTION=18194]Honcho[/MENTION] and then covered them with some 3M PPF that I had laying around. The 3M PPF is high gloss so it doesn't look correct; but, is easy to remove if I feel the need to look correct and I no longer fret about scraping the sills with my shoes. You could probably find satin or matt black wrap if the high gloss bothers you.
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