2003 Vanquish - Sticky plastics!

[haseebs]

Hi. I finally purchased my first AM. A 2003 Vanquish with 23k miles. I’m very happy with it and the condition. Just one minor annoyance: the rubber/plastic that surrounds the steering binnacle and houses the tweeters in the door are very sticky when touched and look quite unsightly. Anyone have any solutions for cleaning or replacing them? Thanks

[haseebs]

[KevinBird]

This should do it
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autoglym-AG-035001-Interi...

[oilit]

you may find chemicals have caused it in a cleaning process - Ive had this in another car - maybe worth trying soda crystals in warm water on a small area - but don't do over the white painted decals as it may remove/ smear them

[westhumbler]

This has probably been caused by UV damaging the structure of the polymers making up the plastics, a process called reversion (enables plastics / rubbers to be recycled that breaks the stronger polymer crosslinks, allowing the molecules to revert back to their smaller original chains). It's very common particularly in rubberised plastics / plastics with rubberised (soft) feel surfaces.

In terms of repairing your problem, I've read that some people use a rubbing alcohol, others claim to overcome the issue with an application of acetone or white spirit. You could try a paint on liquid rubber to cover it up - various companies manufacture this to repair UV damaged inflatable boats (I used this to fix the rubber seal beneath the bonnet and windscreen on my old MGB and it worked a treat and looked good for years - apply thin coats so it doesn't run / sag), but other than this - I've never tried any of the other options, so do proceed with caution and you may not want to be using your beautiful Vanquish to experiment on!

Edited by westhumbler on Monday 31st December 13:42

[Gene G]

Try looking for a company called sticky no more. Very common on soft touch coatings. Check on the Ferrari forums a lot of sticky parts on them. I had a Ferrari 355 with sticky parts. I took the parts off and soaked them in a 5 gallon bucket filled with a half bottle of simple green and a very strong solution of oxi clean overnight. The next day all of the sticky stuff came off. You can then repaint them if you want. I just left mine as they were black an looked good. Hope this helps.

[DB9VolanteDriver]

Look at this thread for US/UK companies that re-do your parts.

https://forum.amoc.org/post/steering-column-cowl-9...

[oilit]

it may be worth checking with AM how much new parts are/whether they are available - you never know it may be worth knowing that before you touch them ....

[djmac56]

The radio knobs on my wife’s 987 Boxster S went sticky and after reading that alchol and acetone turning plastics white I learned that WD40 allows you to remove the rubberised coating just leaving the hard plastic intact. I used it and it came up perfectly. However, some caution should be given regarding whether the writing on plastics is part of the plastic or painted on. WD40 won’t necessarily remove paint, but could depending on the type, age and chemicals that have broken down from the rubberised coating in the last 15 years. For large areas of black though it’s ideal. Just spray on the WD40, let it dwell for 5 mins then wipe off with a paper towel. Bingo!

[MarkM3Evoplus]

A few people on the Vanquish forum have used https://www.wickedcoatings.co.uk/

You will loose the symbols though.

Now you have a NP Vanquish (congrats by the way, a fantastic car!), you need to join the form, as I know one guy on their is remanufacturing many of the plastic components, including the door trim you have pictured and it will be for a good price!

Kind regards,

Mark

[ack0]

Thread resurrection

OP did you manage to slove the issue as I have exactly the same problem.

Thanks

[100 IAN]

Try some of this. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goo-Gone-Original-Liquid-...
A know people who’ve used it on 1990’s Ferrari’s (F355) & Lambo’s (Diablo) with good results. Plastics going sticky seems to be a common issue with cars of that era.

[haseebs]

I did get it resolved when I had the car valeted at Nicholas Mee. Not sure which products they used.

[MarkM3Evoplus]

V12vanquish.com have had some tweeter covers made. I had the prototypes fitted and they look good.



Should be available soon