Alternate Solution for Peeling Interior Plastics
 

Had not seen this posted on the forum anywhere so I thought I would share my recent experience regarding peeling interior plastics in my 93 VR Base.

While removing some old window tint from the windows in a car, the soln I used (ammonia and water) dripped on to the door handle plastic. When I tried to wipe it off, the handle got sticky/tacky. As I continued to wipe off the soln, I noticed what appeared to be the handle coating coming off, and a smooth surface underneath.

Since the plastic appeared trashed anyway, I continued to wet the plastic handle with the ammonia/water solution. I was able to remove all of the coating on the handle. Underneath, I found a smooth surface that looked like a fiberglass gel coat. Almost as if I had painted the handle gloss black.

Attached is a pic of the PS door handle after I cleaned off all of the tacky material.

Wow that looks really sharp in the picture.

Is this the 93 finish? I kinda doubt the 94 would do anything like that.

Dave

Yes. The original panel had a 93 finish on it. I agree that a 94 finish, which is dimpled, and I believe actually part of the plastic mold would not turn out the same.

I also tested a corner of the meter surround and it came off in a similar fashion. Did not try the meter hood or the AC panel.

Tried it also on the center console shifter panel, but it appears to have been painted black -- a very poor paint job.

Awesome "accidental" find - thanks for sharing! Now, from your quote above...did you mean the previous owner tried to paint it black thus this cool technique didn't work...or this particular console piece was factory painted differently from the door handle? i assume all the scratches prone to occur on these '93 parts (biggest problem) is removed during the process since practically removing 1st layer.

This could be the "poor-mans" '93 interior console part revitalization...for cheap! :D Those '94-95 parts are crazy expensive. Lets wait for someone to do their entire interior and check out the results... I never seen a brand new '93 interior but I believe it's almost this similar fashion as well...deep/smooth black minus the gloss though. :icon_tup: I wonder if scratches will occur just as easy or none with the new gloss finish?

The shifter panel was definitely painted black by previous owner, probably to address the peeling problem. All of the scratches on the PS door handle were completely removed during this process. I would bet that if you had deep scratches, say like those caused by car keys, or your girlfriends big diamond ring, that the finished product would not be as smooth.

Since I am prepping the car for sale, I did not plan to test the process on the rest of the panels. I really don't enjoy getting the meter surround and hood out, but in the interest of breaking new ground for the FD community, I may have to see how the rest of the non-painted panels turn out.

wow looks good......i stripped off all the coating, sanded, and painted the interior with gloss black......prep took HELLA long tho

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/6/16621514331.jpg

Cool find, but I'm sorry you had to endure smelling the amonia while removing the tint/adhesive. A couple razor blades and glass cleaner would of done it in about 5 minutes. :)

Excellent info. I'll be trying this process this weekend. Was it a 50/50 mix of water and ammonia?

spandy: Using ammonia soln on the window was not a problem. Once I sprayed it on, I placed a trimmed plastic trash bag over the soln and allowed it to do its' thing. To warm the glass, I pointed my dual light halogen work light at the window. I was then able to peel the tint off as a sheet and only had to use a razor blade when the protective coating of the film separated from the tint itself.

sbnrx7: Not a 50/50 mix. I put about 1-1.5 inches of ammonia in the bottom of a large spray bottle and filled the rest of it up with water. More ammonia might require less rubbing to remove the coating. As with all cleaners, be careful what else you drip on to, so you don't discolor anything.

If you try this, please post how it works for you. I have wondered if there was something different about my interior plastics that allowed this to work for me.

409 works great to with the trash bag, I use it when I'm tinting a car that needs old film removed first. Then I park it in the sun for an hour.


Better than most people that stab at the tint for a while trying to get it off and then bring it in to me all chopped to shit and I have to clean up their half-assed job. :rlaugh:

Google search taught me what to do to remove the tinting. Don't know how we ever got along with out it.

Works so well I kept complaining at work that our Intranet search engine sucked and we should just buy a google server. (Recognize that I work for one of the largest chemical companies in the world.) Two years later there was a big announcement...use google to search the Intranet :)

I'll take some before and after pics.
FYI: mine is a '93. I was cleaning the door panels with scrubbing bubbles and some got on the plastic handle. I about shit when I went to wipe it off with a paper towel and it stuck to the plastic.

I did this as well on several of my cars... I use goof off but it takes a little more time. I'll have to try this... and as far as my old car technometer... I am PMing you.

The lousy 92-93 interior black rubber finish has been corrected by many owners over the years. I repainted mine back in 2003.

The color is medium gray with a light tint of blue, but the flash increased the blue.

http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z178/cewrx7r1/