Spots on Gauge cluster plastic, help?

L

LordZeal

New member
I've got what looks almost like water spots on the piece of plastic over my tac cluster. This is a new car and I've only cleaned the interior once and that was with 303 and stoners IG. I probably got both on this piece of plastic, but I didn't notice these spots until recently. They look like something has etched the plastic, that small air bubbles kinda spot. I've tried getting them off with Stoners and Plexus and neither seemed to make much of a dent. Any other suggestions? I don't know if theres a mild abrasive I could try that might take them out. If I run my fingernail across the spots I can't even really feel them. Please help these are driving me crazy!



It's only this one piece of plastic that seems to have these spots, they didn't show up in any other plastic pieces. I can't figure out what caused them. Could 303 or stoners have cuased this on plastic?
 
This is a great question. I used to cause the spots back when I used AA on the interior of my car. Since then, I've routinely avoided guage clusters for this exact reason. I've heard it said that Plexus was supposed to fix this sort of thing. If you've tried that, I would suggest you try some Megs plastic cleaner (i think it's cleaner) or try some of the methods used for cleaning headlight covers. That's what I would do anyway. If you find something that works well, let us all know.



JJ
 
Meguiars PlastX worked great on some spots etched into the plastic guage cluster cover in my sisters car.





Andrew
 
Would a mild (exterior) polish work? I love to run the buffer over tail lights (or anything plastic) quickly and gently with some polish and foam waffle pad, gets out the little scratches and shines them up like new. I had an old cluster lying around.. too bad I gave it away.....
 
M8,

make sure it ain't caused by a cough or sneeze!!! :grrr



If it is, just use a moist mf gently to clean it up...



otherwise follow up on the other suggestions mentioned so far.



:bolt
 
Try distilled water and a cotton swab first. If that fails Meg' interior detailer would help. My ex-MPV' s center cluster (ya know the one with the altimeter, clinometer and slope indicator) had a similar problem and it helped...
 
Great thanks for the replies. I've only tried stoners, plexus, and a damn MF cloth so far. I'll try some more water, alcohol, and then get into the meguairs stuff. I thought about trying a very mild abrasive, but wanted to ask here first. I'll let you know what I find and I'll try to get some pictures to show whats happening. Thanks again!
 
The solution is this. Don't freak but it works. Are you ready?



Use 1500 grit wetsand paper with glass cleaner/water (spray or wet the paper not the gauges). Wetsand the surface, then polish by hand with buffing cream, then apply a coat of carnuba paste wax then remove the wax.
 
Klasse AIO removed heavy water spots on our gps display, looks brand new now, and I have also had very good luck using it on our helmet face shields.
 
The same thing happened to me with 303. Wondering if anything ever worked. The microfiber / glass cleaner i used just seemed to add surface scratches.
 
J.J. said:
This is a great question. I used to cause the spots back when I used AA on the interior of my car. Since then, I've routinely avoided guage clusters for this exact reason. JJ
Click to expand...



Ditto! I remember ruining the cluster so bad on my '84 Accord in college that I removed and threw out the cover. I hated having the gauges unprotected like that that it was the only thing I could do.



The problem seems to chemical etching, so you will need to very carefully polish as others have suggested. This will probably induce swirls, so finish up with Plexus to hide them.
 
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