General Cleaner for A Pillar plastic trim.

[madlec]

Hi,
I am cleaning our converted van ready to sell, but I can't get the A pillar plastic trims looking very good. They have gone a shade of brown with what looks like water marks/oil stains on them, below the dash and behind the door rubber they are still the original grey, and the rest of the dash is the original grey/dark grey. It's smoke free and we had the windows/door open when cooking so I can only think sun damage. I have tried some basic interior trim cleaner, Cif cream cleaner, and neat washing up liquid. They have improved a little, but as they dried the stains have come back and they are still a shade of brown. Ill get some photos uploaded asap, but was wondering if anyone has had anything similar, and if anyone knew what could be a good cleaner/restorer to use on them.
Thanks

 

[the green vanper]

Hello,

I think it's a discoloration, you won't be able to do much about that. What helped was the typical dust / dirt removed, but that's all.

They are made of ABS, that's the most problematic plastic

 

[madlec]

Thanks the green vamper, after 15 minutes of scrubbing I did start to think that. Here are the photos of my best effort so far.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Try a little silicon spray on a rag and wipe a little area to test. Its a good basic plastic treatment.
Armorall do wipes which i have not tried but their products seem very good.
Armorall shield neat on black exterior plastic is excellent stuff.

 

[cid]

Hi, You could try Autoglym Bumper and trim restorer. It works brilliantly on my 1996 Ducato.

 

[the green vanper]

Try a little silicon spray on a rag and wipe a little area to test. Its a good basic plastic treatment.
Armorall do wipes which i have not tried but their products seem very good.
Armorall shield neat on black exterior plastic is excellent stuff.

Hi, You could try Autoglym Bumper and trim restorer. It works brilliantly on my 1996 Ducato.

The problem is that most of the plastics used in the automotive industry is not ABS. This material is used generaly in household appliencies. I thought it was used in the 90's and 2000's, but no I have a Philips humidifier I bought in 2018 / 2019, it's the same shitty ABS...

Is you still have one, look at the plastics that were white in fridges, washing mashines etc. They are yellow now, due to UV.

There is a possibility to revert the process, but it's not DIY workable. At least it wasn't a couple of years ago.

 

[cid]

Hi again, If you know the kind of plastic, can't you find a paint to suit preferably a spray. Ian.

 

[The Panda Nut]

The problem is that most of the plastics used in the automotive industry is not ABS. This material is used generaly in household appliencies. I thought it was used in the 90's and 2000's, but no I have a Philips humidifier I bought in 2018 / 2019, it's the same shitty ABS...

Is you still have one, look at the plastics that were white in fridges, washing mashines etc. They are yellow now, due to UV.

There is a possibility to revert the process, but it's not DIY workable. At least it wasn't a couple of years ago.

There is always the potential to get a can of well matched plastic paint and respray the panel aftter a thorough wash and dry.
Caravan front panels were abs and cleaned up with standard car polish. They were smooth and not textured though.

I should have read Cids comments - sorry. Its what I would do.

 

[the green vanper]

Painting is a possible solution, but there are lots of other panels made of same plastic / colour all around the cab, so it would make it much more expensive. I don't think that OP wanting to sell his van would consider it.

 

[madlec]

I had a closer look at them again today and the plastic is starting to degrade. One panel looks like it's perferating at the bottom and when scratching it gently it turns to powder and the other is similar but not quite as bad. I found a can of sonax cockpit spray, which seems to have masks the "water marks" so I may just see what a couple of goes with that looks like. The panels still have a brown hue, but do look better. Thanks all for the tips though, food for thought when our current van needs some tlc.

 

[airwave]

Hi,
I am cleaning our converted van ready to sell, but I can't get the A pillar plastic trims looking very good. They have gone a shade of brown with what looks like water marks/oil stains on them, below the dash and behind the door rubber they are still the original grey, and the rest of the dash is the original grey/dark grey. It's smoke free and we had the windows/door open when cooking so I can only think sun damage. I have tried some basic interior trim cleaner, Cif cream cleaner, and neat washing up liquid. They have improved a little, but as they dried the stains have come back and they are still a shade of brown. Ill get some photos uploaded asap, but was wondering if anyone has had anything similar, and if anyone knew what could be a good cleaner/restorer to use on them.
Thanks

Sadly your only option is paint . I'm fighting the same problem , and have already resprayed a number of trim parts . I will say mine are much worse , but interestingly , rather than brown they have turned more of a yellow . Strangely my shower floor also has several patches and even the fridge interior yet there are no windows , in the case of the shower only a small skylight . Some of my window trims turned brittle too , with a couple needing repair , leaving paint an only option . I use a specialist paint for such purposes , but this is expensive , and only comes in a couple of colours . Luckly i found an off white to be almost an exact match , but at something close on 30 quid for a 400 mil aerosol , it doesn't ease the pain .