I need help removing these hideous stains from my interior trim!

D

deucetres

New member
<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:#0000cd;">Hey guys/gals, i have a 13 mustang with these PITA spots on my passenger side airbag trim piece panel as you can CLEARLY see in the pic below...
<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:#0000cd;">The spotting obviously came from using cheap interior cleaning and protecting product over time (i believe it was Armor-All if I can remember)? I need any and everyone's suggestions on how to get these greasy/oily-like stains out! I have already done my homework by searching around and have tried things like, peanut butter, dawn soap, mineral spirits, and even disinfectant cleaning wipes and none of these methods have even TOUCHED THEM! Thanks in advance for your help!!

 
It might be stained? The only way to tell is to deep clean and see if they are still there after. Spray some All Purpose Cleaner (APC) onto  a toothbrush (not on the panel) and carefully scrub it. If that doesn't correct this then the next step would be to even the spotting out by using an interior dressing. Let us know how it works for you. 
 
I assume you did NOT spray the Armor-All directly on the panel and let it sit for a while, and then wipe it off. If you did, the protectant may have dissolved some of the plastic polymers in the panel and caused a bluming/spot problem you are experiencing. The fact that you have used different cleaners, both water-based (Dawn) and organic solvent (mineral spirits) to no avail, leads me to believe you have a more "permanent" problem.


You could try alcohol (solvent) or Oxy-clean (water-based non-bleach oxygination), but I doubt you'll succeed in removing them.


I would not use a straight undiluted degreaser on it, like Super Clean (the Purple Stuff) as it's pretty potent (read destructive) on vinyl. You could invest a dollar and use L.A. Totally Awesome cleaner from Dollar General or Family Dollar and try that. Last ditch effort is to use Optimum's Power Clean, an expensive All-Purpose Clean for hard surfaces (not fabrics though: the fabric-absorbed fragrance is unpleasant), but effective, and if it doesn't come clean with that, well, then, it's permanently stained.


 


I doubt that trying to cover and blend them with a different protectant, like Aerospace 303, will help either.


 


That said, if you DO find something that works, I, and a thousand other Autopian followers, would love to know. Take pictures and post.
 
just a quick update guys. First of all thank you for your replies/suggestions! I have some Optimum Power Clean APC coming in the mail any day now so I'll keep you updated on results and product/method used. Thanks
 
Lonnie said:
I assume you did NOT spray the Armor-All directly on the panel and let it sit for a while, and then wipe it off. If you did, the protectant may have dissolved some of the plastic polymers in the panel and caused a bluming/spot problem you are experiencing. The fact that you have used different cleaners, both water-based (Dawn) and organic solvent (mineral spirits) to no avail, leads me to believe you have a more "permanent" problem.


You could try alcohol (solvent) or Oxy-clean (water-based non-bleach oxygination), but I doubt you'll succeed in removing them.


I would not use a straight undiluted degreaser on it, like Super Clean (the Purple Stuff) as it's pretty potent (read destructive) on vinyl. You could invest a dollar and use L.A. Totally Awesome cleaner from Dollar General or Family Dollar and try that. Last ditch effort is to use Optimum's Power Clean, an expensive All-Purpose Clean for hard surfaces (not fabrics though: the fabric-absorbed fragrance is unpleasant), but effective, and if it doesn't come clean with that, well, then, it's permanently stained.


 


I doubt that trying to cover and blend them with a different protectant, like Aerospace 303, will help either.


 


That said, if you DO find something that works, I, and a thousand other Autopian followers, would love to know. Take pictures and post.
Click to expand...


You really need to study chemical composistion. ArmorAll is no different than any other water borne dressing. It is a percentage of a PDMS resin mixed into water. All that can be added is either a dye or a fragrance. 303, Mequiars, Mothers, on and on are made with a PDMS resin and it "will not attack the plastizers" in the vinyl or rubber. You are living in the past, thinking that all dressings are still made using a dimethal silicone fluid, which goes back 30+ years when ArmorAll was, but not so for the past couple of decades. It is this sort of "old wives tales", "I heard from a buddy", etc information spread about the internet that creates serious concerns for serious detailing people.
 
Since I have been schooled and corrected by the highly-respected Master, Ron Ketcham, (and rightly so: anyone can say anything on the Internet without verification or validity to their true knowledge of the subject) about the current chemical composition of Armor-All and its affect on plastics and vinyl, I will ask the question about the spotting looking like a silicone bloom as a result of using either a lubricant spray near this area and having the overspray get on the panel with the photographed results OR using an (very) old formula of protectant. I say this because well-meaning individuals have given me old car-care chemicals that they will never use because they have no interest in car detailing and it's been sitting there on a garage or basement shelf since the disco era (pop music of the late 70's if you are too lazy to Google it). Sometimes people use car-care chemicals because its there. Just wondering if the above mentioned scenarios MAY have happened. 
 
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