This year the 13 year old faux carbon fibre grey soft-touch finish on my dash inserts began to smear a bit and stay really sticky. I took them to a respected shop to have a vinyl overlay applied. However, the vinyl would not permanently adhere to the inserts. The installer tried different glues but could not get satisfactory adhesion, and he couldn't get the old sticky finish off, even after trying various chemicals.



So I take'em home and try goo-gone and all kinds of other stuff. No joy.

Then the wife walks over and rubs on 99% isopropyl alcohol with a little towel. BAM. Wiped the old stickiness off no problem. Underneath was a shiny, perfect aluminum grey paint finish that matches the rest of the interior. Took about 10 minutes to clean up both inserts.

To experiment, I tried cheap vodka but it's lower alcohol content was too weak. Must use 99%.







Note: I forgot to disconnect the battery, and then started the car before I re-connected the electrical plugs to the back of the "passenger seat belt" idiot lights that are in the centre of the dash. So, the SRS light has come on and stayed on because of that. I tried the trick of disconnecting the ground and positive leads from the battery, shorting them together for 30 minutes, then reconnecting the battery. Didn't work. I'll have to get the dealer to turn the SRS light off.

 

good info Nick, mine started a few years ago with a hot pizza box leaving unsightly scars in the finish...I've since been slowly scratching it off with my fingernail while riding shotgun...

 

Nice to hear from you, Crans. If you want to grab a coffee sometime, pm me.

BTW, do you have a code reader that turns off the SRS light?

 

Yeah man...I think I still have your number and I owe you money, lol...I have some plans for the black car now that she's hard down...also, negative on the code reader...I will ask around.