Car Care Advice

Although black plastic trim is not as common now as it was back in the 80s and 90s, there is still enough plastic and rubber (wich is actually plastic) on a car to cause you trouble. Wax can build up on these areas leaving white or cloudy stains.

There are all sorts of products to remove this wax residue, but basically they just work because they contain solvents that melt wax. The same is true of peanut butter… I know it sounds stupid, but there are people who treat their plastic trim with peanut butter. Peanut oil mostly hides the stains and is no different to putting as silicone based product on your car — peanut oil is also a mild solvent, so it will remove wax residue. All in all, peanut butter is a poor dressing for plastic, a poor solvent for removing wax residue, and it makes a hell of a mess. So don’t bother.

If you want to remove wax residue, get yourself some surgical spirit (rubbing alcohol) from the chemists. Alcohol is strong enough to remove wax, and mild enough not to damage. You could also use Methylated spirit as this will do much the same thing.

Not all stains are wax residue, some might be polish or other contaminants, in which case you should never underestimate the power of good old soap and water… along with a bit of elbow grease. I would recommend trying this approach first.

A quick word about exterior plastic dressings… ‘just say no!’
They are usually just silicone oil, and oil floats, so next time it rains they will probably just wash off and leave horrible looking streaks. If you get a summer shower, water droplets can settle and when the sun hits these it can burn spots into the plastic.

Although there are a few products that do seem to be okay, I have never found one that really works and THE best way for making exterior plastic and rubber trim look good is to use a quality Wash’&'Wax. This will make your plastics look new without looking overdone.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites