Water marks in clear finish over wood trim?

thefitter

New member
Have been out of the amateur detailing game for years now. I need some help with some water marks in the clear finish over wood trim.



Car is a 2011 BMW 335d. It has interior wood trim that has a thick plastic (?) coating. A couple of months ago I slopped some coffee on the center console. I finally got around to cleaning up the interior and I assumed that the marks could be rubbed out with a plastic polish. Did not work so I tried some Menzerna Final Finish Polish that I have had for years. It worked a little but I can still see the water marks in the plastic coating. I'm pretty surprised that these did not rub out easily.



Any other new products I could try? I do have heavier compounds but I'm a little reluctant to try them on plastic.



Thanks
 
This is a toughy, due to the use of "enviormental" friendly coating used today.

While they provide a great gloss finish, they do not "cross-link" or cure like high VOC coatings.

That means that they are not as "dense-compacted", so they "aborb" more moisture.

BMW announced a few years back how they were going "green", everything possible on or in the vehicle could be re-cycled, etc.

Normal actions with a clearcoat finish on the body of the vehicle is to use IPA and some heat to relieve the moisture from the substrate of the vehicle's paint finish.

Regarding your concern, not sure if that would work, but better than attempting to "polish/abrade" the concern away.

Try using a hair dryer, not creating excessive heat on the surface and see it may draw out the moisture, which is creating your concern.(if too hot to touch, it's too hot and it takes some time and patience)

Worth a try, not sure if it will do it, but cheap and you will not damage the surface as long as you don't create too much heat on it.

 
Ron Ketcham said:
This is a toughy, due to the use of "enviormental" friendly coating used today.

While they provide a great gloss finish, they do not "cross-link" or cure like high VOC coatings.

That means that they are not as "dense-compacted", so they "aborb" more moisture.

BMW announced a few years back how they were going "green", everything possible on or in the vehicle could be re-cycled, etc.

Normal actions with a clearcoat finish on the body of the vehicle is to use IPA and some heat to relieve the moisture from the substrate of the vehicle's paint finish.

Regarding your concern, not sure if that would work, but better than attempting to "polish/abrade" the concern away.

Try using a hair dryer, not creating excessive heat on the surface and see it may draw out the moisture, which is creating your concern.(if too hot to touch, it's too hot and it takes some time and patience)

Worth a try, not sure if it will do it, but cheap and you will not damage the surface as long as you don't create too much heat on it.




Interesting theory, but since these marks are months old wouldn't the hot car interior day after day have removed any moisture in the coating by now?

I will give it a whirl though, got nothing to lose.

thanks
 
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