Hi, I bought ginger vinyl paint for the arm rests, but I want to clean off all the dirt and grease first. We tried soapy water and that didn't work. I don't want to use anything that might damage the vinyl. Do any of you have any recommendations? What will work to remove the dingy, black/gray smudges, wihthout causing any damage to the original finish? Roz
The ones I gave to Earl, I let sit in scolding hot water for about an hour. I figgured that would help to loosen the dirty and sticky crap up. Then I used a little 409 on a paper towl and scrubbed hard on the dirty spots. Then cleaned them with soapy water and rinsed them off. They looked good afterwords, Earl's happy with them.
I use a product called " Tough Stuff " and a soft bristle brush. I just spray the stuff on, let it work for a minute or two and scrub the armrest to lossen the grime. Sometimes and old toothbrush works good in tight areas. Then I wash the parts off with some warm water and as a rule, that's all it takes. Tough Stuff can be found in any auto parts store, but I'm sure there are other upholstery cleaning products out there that will do the same thing.
I use a soap and water mixture to clean them and get all the loose pieces off. I then use 3M Adhesive, Grease, and Mark remover to clean them before prepping and painting. What are you planning on using for painting?
I bought a can of medium Ginger vinyl dye from the Paddock. I discovered that the arm rests didn't match the interior color, which is ginger. The arm rests had been replaced with tan, but they were so dirty I didn't notice the mismatch for 6 months Roz
I use Goop hand cleaner. If the dirt/grease is really ground into the grain, I will scrub Goop in with an old tooth brush or something similar with fairly soft bristles. If you are going to paint, then you will most likely need to clean them again with soap as Goop has oils in it and will affect paint adhesion. Good luck Dave
