There seems to be more plastic and vinyl added to the exterior styling of cars each year. More often it is produced with a texture that wax and dirt deeply get into then refuses to wash out... and once dried after a car washing, looks just horrible. It has been and continues to be the bane of my automobile detail work.

Looking at the many over the counter vinyl/plastic cleaning and protectant products (Armoral, etc.) they all say they clean and preserve automotive plastic and vinyl... but they never say whether they mean interior or exterior? Which is it guys? Armoral, for example (and believe me, I refuse to use it and have not used it in years) itself is gone off the exterior at the first hint of moisture.

On my '03 MC, the lower back body molding has dirt and probably some UV sun bleaching going on which I just cannot clean and renew using any of it. The front wheel moldings have some wax overwipes that I cannot get out or off, and reading the thread above ("Wax residue on wheel sidemoldings"), the only way to get it out is a toothbrush, isopropal-alcohol, and elbow-grease several times over? Come-on, there's got to be a better trick in the detailing world for this problem for all of this type of textured exterior vinyl there is out there now.

Finally, when waxing the paint on the car is there a trick to shielding the textured vinyl from the wax while trying to get the wax right up to that molding without staining it? And... Vise-versa, when using a vinyl cleaner preserver on the vinyl moldings, is there a good way to shield the waxed paint from it?

Thanks,

Lowell, BRG/Wht '03MC w/sport pkg, "left coast go-cart on highway 1".

 

This will remove any wax without much work, finish up with VinylX.

 

all plastic/vinyl protectant will work to some extent on both exterior and interior.. so there's not too much worry using either

the 3m is a good product, but try peanut butter (not chunky please), use a fine soft toothbrush you don't use and just start brushing the wax stains, it actually takes out the wax in the black plastic... just follow up with a good plastic protectant

the best i think would be maguire's #40 plastic and vinyl protectant, autoglym has a plastic cleaner that works great on my car, and you might want the 303 aerospace protectant for that as well, all of them will do the job


just stay away from the armorall wipes!

 

Peanut oil removes wax residue cheaply and easily.

ArmorAll contains petroleum products, and that suppsedly means it will reduce the life expectancy of your vinyl. Not sure how one confirms that. 303 Aerospace Protectant can be hard to find if you don't want to buy it online, but it does a good job taking care of vinyl.

 

Kyriian,

Appreciate your's and everyone else's comments here.

I am no professional detailer but my experiences with Armoral years ago has left me leary about purchasing the rest of the over the counter stuff unless I can find a recomendation that a particular cleaner/preserver will last when applied. I realize they all will look good just after they have been applied, but then how long does that showroom look last. So when looking at them I try to eliminate the Armoral's from the potential "real" performers by looking for "exterior" performance results. I guess that is what I'm not finding when reading their instructions, claims, and the small print on the backside of those products.

Hey thanks for the heads up on the peanut butter, I'll try it. I've also got some peanut cooking oil, will that work just as well?

Can you find the 3M and Maguire's products some place on the net at a good price?

Lowell, BRG/Wht '03MC w/sport pkg, "left coast go-cart on highway 1".

 

I prefer just rubbing alcohol and a microfiber towel for removing wax residue off the plastic. To keep it black and matte, I use Meguiar's Trim Detailer either in bottle or spray form

http://www.meguiars.com/estore/produ...ectionID=16101

http://www.meguiars.com/estore/produ...ectionID=16101

I use this applicator I found at a 99 cent store for applying to trim pieces


More details here:
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...&threadid=7373

 

Peanut oil should work better than peanut butter. Peanut butter is easier to find in any cupboard.