[Italian Job It]

I just put vinyl white stripes on my mini a week ago, and today I noticed bird crap or tree sap, looks like bird crap, on one of my stripes...I took a wet rag and got it off, but there is a small faded yellow line where the crap was...it's hard to see with the naked eye at a glance , but I know it's there and it's going to bug the hell out of me. Do these things staing this easily. Water , a rag and even tree sap remover won't get rid of it.

Anyone else had this problem, and what do you do?

[GOGADGET]

Yeah I have the same problem, I have black stipes on my MINI. I have to travel through a long tunnel on my way to work every day and offten drops of water that drip onto the car have stained my stripes, I feel that mine is lime from the rock above the tunnel. But in answer to your question YES they do seem to stain easily, and NO I haven't found a solution to removing them.

[johnsocal]

I suggest using the stuff that people usually use on the paint when they get water and bird poop stains. I would pick up some 3m rubbing compound and some cleaner polish to get the stains out. I have used these on one of my previous cars would had white decal racing stipes and it really helped. I use to live by the ocean and the morning dew would dry up and leave stains all over the stripes and using the 3m rubbing compound really got them white again.

You can get rubbing compound at any pep-boys, autozone, or any car parts store that sells polishes and waxes.

[GOGADGET]

Thanks for the tip John

[Italian Job It]

Yes, thanks for the tip...I'll try it out and let you all know how it works. It's not even that noticable , but I know it's there and I'm obsessing about it. My wife thinks I'm a nut...I just don't think women understand men and cars. They never will I guess.

[Italian Job It]

Just a side note, the guy that works in Pep-Boys yesterday said that rubbing compound should just be used on paint and scratches, not vinyl stripes. He also said a lot of the cleaners out there will fade and or damage the vinyl stripes, as they are made for paint. Does this make any sense? I saw no less than 70 different cleaners and polish...how is one suppose to know what works?

[freedee]

I have a similar problem with a silver/black union jack, it has a kind of water stain on it, even tried T-Cut on a small area but it made no difference, there must be something out there to clean vinyl