Warning: Do NOT use this product on plastic

[J T]

I learned a valuable lesson this morning, and that is to always heed the advice of the label on a cleaning product. I've used this before on paint to remove sticker and badge tape residue, and it worked GREAT. It's also good for removing bugs and tar...on paint...NOT on plastic. I should have tested it out on a "small, inconspicuous area" as the label suggests. But no, I have a brain fart and don't even stop to think about what it might do to the black plastic on the front of my car.

So after spraying the front of my car and the rear view mirrors to remove all the dead bugs, and giving it a thorough wash and dry, this was the result:

(BOTH rear view mirrors look like this)

It's a pretty good stain, and at this point I feel like my only option is to paint over it with plasti dip, unless someone has a better suggestion.

 

[Eric Smit]

You could probably replace it all, albeit expensively.


-Eric Smit

 

[SSpeckerwood]

RUN IT!!!! you'd be the only guy with a sonic that looks like that....

 

[michaelracer]

on the bright side, the paint looks good.... lol

 

[CoHPhasor]

Sorry to ask bro, but, what sticker residue was on the mirrors/fogs?

 

[J T]

Sorry to ask bro, but, what sticker residue was on the mirrors/fogs?

None. There were plenty of bugs though. The sticker residue I referred to was on the side pillars after I removed that cheap black tape. The Turtlewax product worked GREAT for removing the residue that was left by that tape. I also used it to remove the residue left from pulling off the "SONIC LTZ" letters on the back. It worked so well on the paint that I didn't stop to think about what effect it would have on the plastic.

 

[illsonic]

try some black trim dressing on those areas and see what that does for you ive used it before black magic has some eagle has a trim gel that works good too

 

[SSpeckerwood]

black shoe polish???

 

[Aldakoopa]

What is in that stuff? Looks like what happens when lacquer thinner gets on plastic. Mineral spirits aren't too good on it either, but any way... some dressing will help, but it won't get rid of it completely, nor will it be permanent. I would suggest painting it, it will be far less expensive than replacing, and will probably look nearly as good as new.

 

[SUPER SONIC BOOM]

First you should try Mother's Back to Black (it's what I use to keep all my black plastic trim shiny black & protected). It works great, been using it for years, but not sure if it'll help your case since it's pretty bad. Funny cuz i've used my sticky residue/adhesive cleaner i've got on plastic stuff accidentally & that **** straight melted it (hella strong stuff, I had to learn the hard way lol)! GL, but try the stuff I mentioned earlier, it just might save ya (it's cheap at Wal-Mart too).

 

[seanp1]

Man.. that sucks... Found this review on amazon.

Live and learn May 20, 2012
By Maximus
I had applied some rubber door edge guards to my Tundra pickup. After a few hot summers most of the adhesive had melted away and I was having trouble keeping them attached. One sT out of frustration I just removed all of them and was left with a sticky adhesive strip along the edge of each door. I take really good care of my trucks finish so I went to a few auto parts stores to see what was available to safely remove the old adhesive. I came across Turtle Wax Label & Sticker remover. I figured it was made by Turtle Wax so it must be safe for the paint. I tried it and found that it is great at removing glue and adhesive but the side affect is that it leaves the paint dull wherever you apply it. I tried following up with paste wax and that helped but it is still noticeable. I would NOT use this product on paint. It is safe for glass and Chrome but it will dull paint. The warning label eludes to this but does not say unsafe for paint. My guess is the citrus used to cut the adhesive also burns clearcoat.


From the
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov site:

http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=20007051

Ingredients from MSDS/Label
Chemical CAS No / Unique ID Percent
Acetone 000067-64-1 10-15
Propane 000074-98-6 10-15
Diethylene glycol monobutyl ether 000112-34-5 20-30
d-Limonene 005989-27-5 5-8
Distillates, petroleum, hydrotreated light 064742-47-8 30-40

 

[Alan]

Black shoe polish or a product called Forever Black. I purchased the Forever Black tire kit from Amazon a while ago to use for the extremely faded trim on a Passat wagon. Worked great and lasted a very long time through wet weather, washing, etc.

 

[inm]

Unrelated to the topic at hand, can you post pics of the car without the b pillar stuff? Is it painted underneath? I might end up doing it to my own.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[SSpeckerwood]

Unrelated to the topic at hand, can you post pics of the car without the b pillar stuff? Is it painted underneath? I might end up doing it to my own.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

there's another thread on it. http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/t1179/

 

[TIEfighter]

Someone's got to take one for the team.

 

[Kenny]

That sucks...but try this. I have done this in the past. Make sure the area is clean, take some gloss black paint, spray it on a LINT FREE rag, and wipe the area, you may have to do the complete bumper to make it look the same. When you spray the rag, make sure you spray away from the vehicle, you don't need overspray all over the car. Rubber gloves is a good idea also.

 

[J T]

Black shoe polish or a product called Forever Black. I purchased the Forever Black tire kit from Amazon a while ago to use for the extremely faded trim on a Passat wagon. Worked great and lasted a very long time through wet weather, washing, etc.

Just read some reviews on this product. Maybe I can find it locally, but if not, I will be adding it to my cart on Amazon.

I tried a couple of products suggested in this thread to no avail. I even took it to the dealer and had one of the vehicle prep guys use his secret nuclear concoction on it that they use on faded/stained/oxidized black plastic and it didn't budge.

The odd thing is, using my finger nail I'm able to "scratch" the white on the plastic, yet no amount of heavy rubbing with any kind of solution makes a dent. I'm thinking of trying some 1200 grit or finer sand paper today in a small area to see if that works. If the Forever Black product that Alan recommended doesn't work, I'm going to have to repaint anyway.

Kenny, yours is a good suggestion that I might try as well.

If I have to resort to painting and plastidip doesn't look good, Duplicolor makes some black Bumper Coating paint that would probably work well.

 

[J T]

Man.. that sucks... Found this review on amazon.

Live and learn May 20, 2012
By Maximus
I had applied some rubber door edge guards to my Tundra pickup. After a few hot summers most of the adhesive had melted away and I was having trouble keeping them attached. One sT out of frustration I just removed all of them and was left with a sticky adhesive strip along the edge of each door. I take really good care of my trucks finish so I went to a few auto parts stores to see what was available to safely remove the old adhesive. I came across Turtle Wax Label & Sticker remover. I figured it was made by Turtle Wax so it must be safe for the paint. I tried it and found that it is great at removing glue and adhesive but the side affect is that it leaves the paint dull wherever you apply it. I tried following up with paste wax and that helped but it is still noticeable. I would NOT use this product on paint. It is safe for glass and Chrome but it will dull paint. The warning label eludes to this but does not say unsafe for paint. My guess is the citrus used to cut the adhesive also burns clearcoat.

Thanks for posting the review, Sean. Interestingly enough, there is no difference in the paint surface where I used it to remove the sticky residue left from removing the Sonic letters and the black pillar tape. I've looked at both areas from many different angles and it's as if nothing was ever there, so for me, it worked well on paint. However, I think it's best at this point for me to just discard the can and find something else to keep in my cleaning arsenal for future bug/tar/sticky residue removal.

 

[doreo]

For the errata money I think sem paint line is far better and the only paint I'm going to use on/in my car

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Aldakoopa]

Man.. that sucks... Found this review on amazon.

Live and learn May 20, 2012
By Maximus
I had applied some rubber door edge guards to my Tundra pickup. After a few hot summers most of the adhesive had melted away and I was having trouble keeping them attached. One sT out of frustration I just removed all of them and was left with a sticky adhesive strip along the edge of each door. I take really good care of my trucks finish so I went to a few auto parts stores to see what was available to safely remove the old adhesive. I came across Turtle Wax Label & Sticker remover. I figured it was made by Turtle Wax so it must be safe for the paint. I tried it and found that it is great at removing glue and adhesive but the side affect is that it leaves the paint dull wherever you apply it. I tried following up with paste wax and that helped but it is still noticeable. I would NOT use this product on paint. It is safe for glass and Chrome but it will dull paint. The warning label eludes to this but does not say unsafe for paint. My guess is the citrus used to cut the adhesive also burns clearcoat.


From the
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov site:

http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=20007051

Ingredients from MSDS/Label
Chemical CAS No / Unique ID Percent
Acetone 000067-64-1 10-15
Propane 000074-98-6 10-15
Diethylene glycol monobutyl ether 000112-34-5 20-30
d-Limonene 005989-27-5 5-8
Distillates, petroleum, hydrotreated light 064742-47-8 30-40

Ok, so it contains a lot of solvents that is in various paint thinners, which explains everything. Especially the Acetone.

Now, as for that guy's truck, I know it won't help anyone here but I'll help explain this: Toyota still uses a lot of acrylic enamel paint, especially on their trucks. When the urethane clear coat on our cars hardens, it is resistant to a lot of solvents. Only some paint strippers will affect it. Acrylic enamel on the other hand is a lot less resistant, and you can not use many solvents on it without actually dissolving into the paint, even if it's just a very thin top layer that is affected, it will dull the paint.

So, I would say this stuff is ok to use on chrome, glass, and urethane clear coat, but not acrylic enamel, or plastic.