Wax Off Of Vinyl Trim

I have done three searches to no avail. I know the answer to this is here somewhere.

After a person has screwed up and gotten wax or polish well on to the black wheel well trim, is ther anything can be done to get it off, , , , or is it on there for life and I just have to live with it (shudder).

[ches]

I accidently got some wax on on my plastic wheel trim pieces. I was able to get it off using hot water, a little dish soap, and an old toothbrush. Rub the afflicted area in small circles, and wipe dry with a cloth. I was able to get at least 90% of it off the first try. There were a couple places where I could still see the wax the next day, so I repeated the process and now all traces of wax are gone.

[MGB Boy]

Your average liquid dish soap will do a dandy job stripping off wax (which is why it's a bad idea to wash your car with it unless you plan to re-wax every time you wash).

-Ricardo

I have been very careful not to use dish washing detergent to wash the car. Didn't really think of using it to remove the wax deposits on the vinyl.

Great idea, thanks again

[noahe]

Or, for the lazy at heart, wax your car with wanton disregard, and get wax all over the black arches. I did.

Then, get some Mother's California Gold "Back-to-black", and wipe it on the arches. The wax disappears. The stuff is kinda like an industrial strength Armor All for textured black plastic. Makes weathered, grey plastic go showroom black again. Kinda wet-look. Lasts easily between car washes - unless you drive a long time in hard rain. The spats looked like hell again by the time we got to the cottage. Ususally the application lasts a long time.

[gromit]

This site is really cool for those who obsess about the looks of their car.

http://autopia.ws/

Runs on same software as MINI2 so it's easy to navigate.

[zoomini]

Believe it or not, I heard that peanut butter is supposed to be good for this. But I will try a Meguiars product that is similar to the Mother's product described in an earlier post -- some of the "perma plate" material and/or wax got on the black pieces of my new mini during dealer prep.

[wynnonna]

Quote:

Originally posted by noahe
...get some Mother's California Gold "Back-to-black", and wipe it on the arches. The wax disappears.

I second that emotion! I felt like a bad mother, all that white mess on the arches - and nothing I tried helped, nay Armour All, nay Meguiars (spray on stuff in red bottle). THEN I got the "Back-to-black" and... voila! Messy white wax marks GONE! Unbelievable! And even with the rain we've had in Florida those wax marks haven't returned (as they did with the other stuff I tried).

OK enough of the raving fan bit.

I did have a rough-edged Harley type tell me nose grease worked. I won't even go into the description of his demo...

Cathy

[MGB Boy]

Armor All is evil! Pure evil! Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. Seriously though, Armor All isn't particularly good for plastics and vinyls over the long term. There are some products which clean and polish vinyl and plastic without having the negative side effects of Armor All. I've never used "back-to-black" so I can't comment on whether it's a "good" or "bad" thing in my purist ontology. As for Armor All, it's loaded with silicone to give things a shiny gloss look, but it also tends to make things feel really greasy and slick, and all that silicone eventually forms a permanent coating on the surface. Over the long run, the "valleys" of the textured grain of whatever you are treating will fill in with silicone, creating a white "veiny" look. The only stuff that will really get it off are harsh solvents like DuPont Prep-Sol, which don't leave the surface looking so hot either. Plus vinyls and plastics dry out (despite the greasy feel) after repeated use, all sorts of chemical mumbo jumbo about plasticizers and so on.

I have a particular beef about this because the people who owned my '77 MGB for the ten years before I got it were regular Armor All users, and by the time I got the car the dash, interior door pulls, etc. were slicker than a greased pig and had a fine white filling in the grain. After several attempts to strip the Armor All off, it became clear that replacing the parts was the only viable solution. I was pretty suprised that, despite the super-slick greasy feel, the vinyl of the dash was actually quite flaky and brittle when I started to pull it off. People also tend to Armor All the rubber bumpers on late MGs, which it awful for the rubber. I had mine painted with flexible nylon-based semi-gloss paint, now I just wax the bumpers with the rest of the car. A bit extreme perhaps at $200 per bumper, but it's a more permanent fix. But I digress...

My point is, if you are looking for a better long term solution, then remove the excess wax, don't cover it up.

Just my two cents...

And for the "obscure, difficult solutions" department, I've heard that good old fashioned spit, navy spit-polish style, does a decent job. Just drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated...

-Ricardo

[MoMini]

Isopropanol on a cotton cloth gets wax off textured plastic. I have been using Lexol (sp?) to treat the plastic bits and find, with regualr use, wax now refuses to stick to the plastic.

[chiph]

Quote:

Originally posted by MGB Boy
Armor All is evil! Pure evil! Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. Seriously though, Armor All isn't particularly good for plastics and vinyls over the long term. ....

I agree with you, MGB Boy. I'll never go back to ArmorAll after it cracked the dash on a car I used to have. It makes the plastic brittle, and in the summer heat we get here, the plastic just tears instead of giving when it gets hot.

I've had good experience so far with the Lexol product (comes in a blue bottle, forgot it's name).

Chip H.

[noahe]

Quote:

Originally posted by wynnonna
THEN I got the "Back-to-black" and... voila! Messy white wax marks GONE! Unbelievable!

Yup, just as I thought. Magic stuff.

[noahe]

Quote:

Originally posted by MGB Boy
I've never used "back-to-black" so I can't comment on whether it's a "good" or "bad" thing in my purist ontology.

The "Back-to-Black" stuff is GOOD, at least compared to the Armor All. It has UV blockers, conditioners, and other good stuff according to the site. It is specifically for EXTERIOR surfaces, and is moderately slippery. Good for flexible black plastic, dense rubber, and most textured plastic unfinished plastic trim. Read the bottle to avoid disappointment.

[noahe]

Quote:

Originally posted by MoMini
Isopropanol on a cotton cloth gets wax off textured plastic. I have been using Lexol (sp?) to treat the plastic bits and find, with regualr use, wax now refuses to stick to the plastic.

The Mother's product must be similar... I've found the same thing.

[MGB Boy]

Quote:

Originally posted by noahe

The "Back-to-Black" stuff is GOOD, at least compared to the Armor All. It has UV blockers, conditioners, and other good stuff according to the site. It is specifically for EXTERIOR surfaces, and is moderately slippery. Good for flexible black plastic, dense rubber, and most textured plastic unfinished plastic trim. Read the bottle to avoid disappointment.

Sounds interesting. I'll have to give the stuff a look...

-Ricardo