Sticky interior trim

[darbuck]

Hi All, has anyone any idea how to clean the door trim, I think the lacquer has failed and it looks like a soft crust of dirt on it , it 's sticky and looks nasty I'm thinking on taking it apart and bringing it in and trying to scrub it off but I don't want to make it something similar happened to the trim on my old MK1 C5

[darbuck]

Hi all it's the textured lacquer that's failed I am thinking on stripping it with thinners and repainting it with a gloss lacquer instead. Has anyone else done this? if so, how were the results?

[GiveMeABreak]

If you're talking about the door grab handles and the trim shells on the doors - then yes, a bloody nightmare. Covered in a thin layer of rubberised something or other. Anyone with a ring will eventually cause this to start flaking / or it will start perishing.

I had the Matinal Claudia full cream leather interior, so my door trims colour was a beige type gold and my vehicle was Mativoire Beige metallic. So I decided to take the lot off, strip them down and repaint them.

The worst bit (apart from the painting) was the trim removal. The shells are fixed at various locations with different types of clips and angles, so inevitably tyou may loose a few of these, so I would advise extreme caution when removing.

The next part was removing all the grease prints after they were stripped sown. I had to do this several times as the primer kept bubbling, so after 2-3 attempts they were ready for painting. I decided to use the same paint colour as my bodywork, so went to halfords to get some custom paint mixed. It was a great match. Several coats and then several coats of lacquer did the job. Then gently re-attaching the trim without breaking anything else and the job was done. 1000% better than what was there originally and it now has a nice body colour-matched hard shell.

I kicked myself for not taking any pictures, but at the time I was more concerned about the bubbling and blistering of the primer!

[darbuck]

Yeah it's the nasty lacquer I'm talking about it's a disaster. What you did Sounds like a plan Marc thanks. I have the majority of the trim off, I still need to remove the bits that are in the curve of the door.Do you remember how you got that section of trim off.

[GiveMeABreak]

It's just a trim piece, but they have very thin mouldings that can snap:

If it's the piece above, then here's a photo that may give you a little idea of what's on the inside - as you can see a non conforming multitude of fixings!

Click Image to Zoom

[darbuck]

I got that bit off its the bit in the bit further in I was on about the bit circled it runs the length of the door card. I am not sure what mine is called its a black hard wearing coarse cloth material not velour it's a bit like a kind of moleskin or canvas, if you know what I mean.Trimmed with silver.

I can't get a spec sheet for my car.

[GiveMeABreak]

That's part of the door card trim and doesn't come off as far as I can see - except as part of the door card Darren.

I'll get a spec sheet sent to you.

(now sent - check your email).

[darbuck]

Thanks Marc

[Jay-Bruce]

I've looked into this before, my plan is to remove the grab handle parts, and mask up the rest of the door cards, then spray those arcs on the door card in situ on the door cards, while I have the door cards off to do the speakers. What colour is your interior? If you have the cream leather, I'll let you know how I get on looking for a match to the off-gold accent color, although mativore beige is a front runner. However, if you've got the black interior, you're going to be on your own for matching the colour.

[darbuck]

Mine is black with silver trim. I wouldn't trust my masking I am a disaster with the likes of that. It might work but by all means post up pic's.

[darbuck]

Update lads I done a lot of googling and found rubbing alcohol removes this lacquer I can verify it works well with out stripping the paint with some elbow grease I used clean room alcohol wipes. It clumps first then just wipes off.

[Paul-R]

What is rubbing alcohol? I've heard this term before as used in the USA.

Is it the same as methylated spirits? Is it maybe Iso Propyl Alcohol (propan-2-ol)?

[darbuck]

It's isopropyl alcohol

[KennyW]

Well done Darren, the car is going to look fantastic and drive like a dream probably better than when it was in the show room.

Marc, Would it be worth putting this in the how to guide or some where easily accessed for future reference.

Kenny