So, I have had my '03 MCS since March and it came with Rubber Floor matts. Over time my driverside floor matt has lost its shine entirely, it now has a white dusty look that will not go away, I have tried soap & water, tire dressing, engine degreaser/dressing. Nothing will bring it back to the shine that my other 3 matts still have, any thoughts/ ideas on how to make them shiny again?

Thanks in advance

Austin

 

wd40?

 

Well that helped quite abit, thanks

 

sounds like you wore the top layer of shiny rubber off. you can armor all them or tire shine them but they will be slippery and gather dust faster. My suggestion would be to either buy new ones or deal with them.

 

concur

you can apply goose grease but they will slip and gather dust

might try back to black

black wow

or my fav' Zymol Vinyl
http://www.zymol.com/zymolvinyl85oz.aspx
kept the top on my Miata good for 12 years . . .

all I use on my vin' and rubber now . . .

*********
in the days it was new I applied Armour All to my motorcycle seat

forgot to warn the Mrs

at out first red light I took off and she slid right off - left sitting in the intersection . . . .

 

Black WOW has a pre-conditioner designed to remove the white opaque color black plastic gets.....wonder if that would do it.

Not sure I would want WD4O on there. Liable to get the soles of your driving shoes slippery and your foot would slip right off the brake !

 

At one time, there was a MINI dealer who advertised in eBay. The rubber mats for just the fronts were $53.00 and that included shipping. .......if you wanted the "S" mats they were a bit more.

 

Do not use black-wow inside the car...
It will evaporate and then condense on the windows, fogging them if I remember right (the residue will be like that foggy stuff on a smokers car...don't remember where I saw/read the warning, but know I did).
Back to black should work...by it might become a loosing battle, or have unintented concquences...not sure if it might get slick in a hot car when summer comes....

 

Tim was that the Black WOW which caused that phenomina or the the pre-Black WOW.

The first step BW only removes the discoloration.

 

Try this, DocBaileysLeatherBlack , non-slippery, you can use it inside the car and it should do the trick much better than Back to Black. We've been using it for years on motorcycle leather (jackets, seats, saddlebags, etc) and I use it on all the vinyl trim on the Mini, once it dries it won't come off on your hands or clothing. You can order from them, but I found it cheaper on ebay.

 

Do you have supporting facts for this? Black Wow will not evaporate, lol.
I think you are confusing BW with armorall.

But to the OP, I would not use any type of tire dressing or rubber dressing on the floor mats. The potential to step on it, and make the controls slippery is too great. I find that restoring the blackness and uniformity of the floor mat goes a long way towards making it look new again...you don't need the shine. =)

 

I bow down to the seller/maker/developer!!

I use, and I recommend Black WOW!! Great stuff!!

I could have sworn I saw a Q&A that said not to use it on interior surfaces...said that it was for exterior only, since it would cause the windows to fog. Maybe evoperate is not the right word...off-gas/re-condense?!

 

Lol.

Whoever wrote that Q/A has some misinformation then. I have never said that about Black Wow. I have said not to use it on the interior because usually a matte finish is desirable and on the exterior the shine naturally wears away thanks to exposure to the environment but inside the car, that doesn't happen as readily and will retain the shine. That could make it easier to accidentally transfer product from surfaces to shoes to clothes, etc...there is no harm to using BW inside..but I would caution against using it on the floormats because the potential to slip is too great...or transfer the BW to the brake or accelerator pedals which would be very bad.

Richard

 

A dumb detailer used a degreaser on my mats and turned them all white. He tried to say it wasn't his fault but he didn't do the rear driver side mat and it was still black.

I am going to try the 303 Aerospace Cleaner which works wonders on the exterior and engine compartment rubber and vinyl.

 

I'd give them a good cleaning first with 50/50 Simple Green and Water, then a wipe down with 50/50 Prima Nero and Water...see if that works!!