Removing scratches from plastic???

I

imported_Clemsonjoe

New member
I seem to have run into a problem...I'm stumped on how to remove these scratches from my girl's driver's side door panel. Can these even be removed? What might I use to cover them up if they can't be removed? :think2



Help!!!





soldoor002.jpg




soldoor001.jpg
 
I'm pretty certain they can't be removed as once you damage the surface of the plastic it's just never quite the same.



The only way to try covering it would be to get the prep/dye kit from somebody like SEM and hope for the best. It *might* darken the plastic back to something more like its original appearance, but I wouldn't expect a miracle.



To tell the truth, I'd just chalk it up to wear and tear from normal use and try to think of it as "patina". I'd bet that some similar damage will happen again before too long anyhow.
 
thanks for the advice.





To tell the truth, I'd just chalk it up to wear and tear from normal use and try to think of it as "patina". I'd bet that some similar damage will happen again before too long anyhow.
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LOL, yeah...try explaining that to my girl. This is her first new car and she is having a hard time dealing with the normal wear and tear. Its a nice challenge (mostly because I enjoy detailing so much) but sometimes she's a reall PITA...haha
 
Old thread..just bumping because I picked up a Nogaro Blue S4. They no longer make blue interior door handles, and I don't really want to switch to black. There are scrapes/scratches on the handles from 10 years of use so I'm doing my best to clean them up. Any ideas?
 
WCM3 said:
Old thread..just bumping because I picked up a Nogaro Blue S4. They no longer make blue interior door handles, and I don't really want to switch to black. There are scrapes/scratches on the handles from 10 years of use so I'm doing my best to clean them up. Any ideas?
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My first thought is "wonder if that's one of the Nogaro Blue ones that came through with *REALLY* soft clear :think:



But to answer your Q, maybe you should look into the dyes/etc. made to recolor interior pieces. The hot suff to use used to be from SEM, but IIRC there's better stuff out there these days.
 
I had a similar issue with the handles on my miata, and chose to cover them in leather rather than trying to refinish them. Just a thought.



Jeff
 
never seen a s4 with body colored interior door handles. my s4 has chrome interior handles, same exterior nogaro blue. my guess is a previous own painted/dye the handles. is yours one with the alcantara interior?
 
My father has a minivan with similar wear and tear scratches on the interior which is loaded with similar plastic and one of these days I got to tackle them. I was personally thinking of trying very high grit sand papers on them, think starting with 12,000 grit and working down as needed. These just might be worth a shot before just going the SEM stuff route because they are very valuable in any detailer's arsenal.
 
I too was thinking of a heat gun. Works wonders on exterior trim and doesn't take a lot of heat. Maybe time to get some interior test panels and try!
 
Accumulator said:
I'm pretty certain they can't be removed as once you damage the surface of the plastic it's just never quite the same.



The only way to try covering it would be to get the prep/dye kit from somebody like SEM and hope for the best. It *might* darken the plastic back to something more like its original appearance, but I wouldn't expect a miracle.



To tell the truth, I'd just chalk it up to wear and tear from normal use and try to think of it as "patina". I'd bet that some similar damage will happen again before too long anyhow.
Click to expand...



yeah, i picked my car up brand new and it was a special order. someone at the manufacturing plant i guess got careless and while trying to put the key in the hole, missed and stabbed the plastic with the key and dragged it about 2 inches. left a nice "welcome" scar. but nothing is going to remove it, so i have to live with it. these things will happen eventually. if i had a dime for every perfect car on autopia...even with the anal crowd we have here...i probably would be very poor. some wear is just inevitable.
 
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