Mk IV Golf - Interior plastic showing signs of age

[Preen59]

The Kitchen scourer you guys are speaking of is called a "Scotch Brite" scouring pad. I wouldn't advise using them on plastics. We use them at work (the industrial version in a few different grades) to finish off alluminium vacuum form moulds... They'll take the surface off most plastics pretty quickly.

PS: They work great for giving alloy a brushed finish.

[Augy]

What I did was, basically take all the little bits of plastic that was coated in rubber, sand it using 80, then 120 grit paper.

Then wet sanded from 320, 800, 1200, then 2000. Then, I used a plastic polish, like Mcguires (sp?) to really polish everything. Then, you can take some minieral oil, and polish it futher. Makes it really shine.

So, if you don't mind the polished looked, then go for it. Then that's what I would suggest. Doesn't cost much, but requires times.

I'm still working on mine. About to take the glove box out to get at the center console.

[Yevvy]

can you guys show the result?

[MultiplexMan]

Cheers for the tips.

My mate's Mk4 GTI has the same issue on his interior plastic trim. Centre console, glove box lid - all going sticky

Pretty disappointing considering that car is kept immaculate and garaged all its life.

Same story on his sister's Bora of around the same age.


In contrast, my brother's POS Nissan is left in the outdoors, has not seen a cleaning agent in over 10 years and the damn interior is like new - though a bit dusty

[RedMk2Gti]

Cheers for the tips.

My mate's Mk4 GTI has the same issue on his interior plastic trim. Centre console, glove box lid - all going sticky

Pretty disappointing considering that car is kept immaculate and garaged all its life.

Same story on his sister's Bora of around the same age.


In contrast, my brother's POS Nissan is left in the outdoors, has not seen a cleaning agent in over 10 years and the damn interior is like new - though a bit dusty

Same issue in my Mk4, can the myth of German built quality still hold ? several plastic parts start to crack as well(e.g. interior door handle).
Jap car interior quality is much better.

[dodge]

Sorry, had to dig this up as i've been trying to tidy up my interior lately and have something to add about removing that black rubbery crap.
I've found that windex is useful. Spray heaps on and rub with a green scotchbrite pad for the harder plastic trim pieces or a blue pad one if you're cleaning the non-textured bits as the plastic will scratch with a green. I tried all the other solvents I could find at home and most do nothing while things like acetone obviously melt the lot. When you get a good whiff of windex it smells likes ammonia so if anyone's keen to give a higher concentration of that a go... go for it, I'm not It may even be the alcohol in windex that's doing the job, but I didn't have any isopropyl around.

Pieces like the steering column covers and the dash end plates (fuse panel cover) seem to have a thicker coating and if you can avoid it, don't even start with these bits, it will take you forever! Downside is that the steering column covers, especially around the ign barrel are usually the worst off with scratches all over.

After cleaning them and fixing a few cracks around the shifter with some resin, I gave everything a coat with black vinyl dye. I also did the 'wood' trim pieces. I dunno about everyone else but I always thought that stuff looked terrible and I'm too cheap to buy the ali set. You can see in one of the pics that I haven't done the rear centre console trim, only the bit around the shifter. A bit of a difference between the new black and the old black!

[Driven Threads]

Looking forward to seeing the pics dodge. My centre console has only recently started to peel. Looking to do something similar sometime this year.

[JVLR32]

What I did was, basically take all the little bits of plastic that was coated in rubber, sand it using 80, then 120 grit paper.

Then wet sanded from 320, 800, 1200, then 2000. Then, I used a plastic polish, like Mcguires (sp?) to really polish everything. Then, you can take some minieral oil, and polish it futher. Makes it really shine.

So, if you don't mind the polished looked, then go for it. Then that's what I would suggest. Doesn't cost much, but requires times.

I'm still working on mine. About to take the glove box out to get at the center console.

NICE THINKIN! thinkin outside the square well done