[tampabaymarkey]

Greetings from hot sunny Florida. My name is Mark, and I have just posted my 1st thread as a new Beetle owner in a different area of this site. I wanted to take a moment to tell you about a problem that I resolved this weekend. I just traded a vintage car for a New Beetle. I was a but apprehensive, as the interior of the car seemed destroyed by the Florida heat, or so I thought. I was not sure what the problem was, so i just attemped to clean it with "The Purple Power" cleaner available at Auto Zone. I have used this many times for different reasons. This stuff will take the crome off a trailer hitch!!! It cleaned all the black grime out of the gooey, stickey plastic interior, but every single piece of interior plastic still had that weird feeling of 3M rubber cement-like texture. After reading this forum, I tried a remedy that worked MIRACLES!!! Rubbing alcohol and the green scrungie pads from Walmart. The interior of my NB is sanatized better than the local hospital operating room now, from all the alcohol. It took a few days, but well worth the efforts. Thank you to everyone who posted their efforts and suggestions. I would not have thought alcohol would work. Alcohol belongs on ice in my cocktail glass, not on the interior of my car! (wink)

 

[Volkswoman]

Alcohol is good for MANY things, including detailing cars!

 

[h_2_o]

i've came to the same conclusion but to save some $$$ i use denatured alcohol, buy it by the gallon it is great for cleaning all sorts of stuff.

 

[ClaireW]

I'm gonna have to give this a try. I've got peely plastic coating crud on the upper door panels.

 

[Titchy]

Hi Mark, Welcome

I am doing this too, got the door panels and sides of the dash done with the same stuff with the help of some of those plastic razor blades. Takes a while but the results are well worth it! Almost like a new interior.

Tracy

 

[L33]

That is very good information. The rubberized trim surface treatment VW has chosen for certain production years just does not hold up to normal wear. It is not just a problem in FL.

 

[StoonTDi]

Mexican Armorall Immoral Ammoral

That gooey, sticky, shiney then scuffy, mexican armorall auction detailer quick fix mess maker crap. IT HAS GOT TO COME OFF!
This product was designed for tires, not dashboards. Are you listening detailers.
STOP DOING THAT.
I'm going to use diluted acetone. Yahoo Ask says the dilutant for acetone is water...
I'm giving it a try right after this post.
Pure undiluted acetone is too strong and not only removes the Mexican Armoral (should be Are Immoral) it removes the black paint top coat. That can be found on the new beetle black dash board.

 

[Titchy]

Yeah, mine pissed me off enough, I traded it but I like my new to me Mini

Tracy

 

[Albert'sLove]

Problem FOREVER solved...

So, after hours of cleaning my doors and trims I decided my time was worth more. Went to a auto trimmer and got some quotes to cover the doors. Haven't quite finished it (still have to get some chrome interior door handle covers to set it off) but... judge for yourself....

Old door trims at the top, new ones underneath, the day after.

 

[mactdi]

wow, it looks really good! the top part in black came out awesome!
Excuse my ignorance but where do you go to get this kind of work done ?

 

[Albert'sLove]

Thank you, I am rather pleased with the result. I am having all four panels done the same - will post when i do.

It all came about due to lack of time to remove the awful stuff myself (you can remove with rubbing alcohol) but you have to be careful the rag doesn't touch anything as it will stain.

I rang several motor auto trimmers near my area and explained the problem. I came on Org, got the instructions on how to remove the door panels and printed them off the guy who got the job. He went ahead and that was the result. I was guided by his advice with UV rays and vinyl in Australia (where i live) because i made it clear that i did not want to be doing this whole thing again in 5 years time!

I wanted the overall effect to be somewhat like "factory" appearence - that you open the door and think it was always like that. The people who owned my bug before me had done the same thing BUT! they put a BMW or Merc carpet finish on the arm rest (see top photo). My opinion - looked terrible! Good luck, let me know how you get on!?

 

[njjoeg]

Smells like crayons?

Hello and thanks to all for your comments.
I live in FL, and I guess the heat contributes to the sticky breakdown of the plastic interior. In addition, this car has always smelled crayons! Did any of you ever notice that?

 

[Bratgirl]

Yup, that smell comes standard on all New Beetles . (It is the insulation under the carpet that causes the smell).

 

[h_2_o]

found another thing that works rather well on that gooey stuff and can not take credit for it. if you have a dollar tree store around you look for this stuff called "la's totally awesome cleaner" use that and a green scouring pad and it does a great job at removal. The best part is it is cheap. On a side note about that cleaner i've found that is really is a good cleaner, but if you run across something it has a hard time with just stop because it either works great or not at all.

 

[caramell]

StickyNoMore: Fixing sticky dashboard/ melting dashboard. Easy and safe way - YouTube
I got the same problem and found this on the youtude, a non corrosives treatment and it removes the sticky residues within mins.
this is for those who needs help on sticky interior to share.

 

[scarabY2k]

StickyNoMore: Fixing sticky dashboard/ melting dashboard. Easy and safe way - YouTube
I got the same problem and found this on the youtude, a non corrosives treatment and it removes the sticky residues within mins.
this is for those who needs help on sticky interior to share.

Pardon me for being skeptical, but i'm not buying that product as convincing. The interior of the new beetle is beyond a sticky film, but a degredation of an applied surface known as a "soft touch" interior.

Be it known, from experience of many orgers who've posted in these forums, that the sticky will emerge again & the soft touch will continue to break down until removed. Furthermore, if anyone tries to paint their interior surfaces using the "sticky no more" method, will discover the bubbling of their newly painted surface, for the paint has been applied to the soft touch finish & not on the plastic substrate, which is the bare surface in which primer and paint is to be applied. Basically, you're painting over a poor grade of rubber, which wlll break down when the primer & paint is applied. The keytones in the paint will eat up the rubbery stuff in a New York minute, frustrating the painter over their ruined work, having only to paint again.

Do the job right and strip the rubbery stuff off the dash and panels.

This product probably works well for a non-new beetle car. Until I see this YouTube video demo demonstrated on a new beetle, I'll remain skeptical.

Our new beetles aren't your everyday, blanket statement-oem car. This vid was posted as though it is. And by the looks of the one & done post of this quoted vid.... this smells like spam.

Prove me wrong & i'll retract with my apologies.


Sent from my SGH-T679 using AutoGuide App

 

[caramell]

Pardon me for being skeptical, but i'm not buying that product as convincing. The interior of the new beetle is beyond a sticky film, but a degredation of an applied surface known as a "soft touch" interior.

Be it known, from experience of many orgers who've posted in these forums, that the sticky will emerge again & the soft touch will continue to break down until removed. Furthermore, if anyone tries to paint their interior surfaces using the "sticky no more" method, will discover the bubbling of their newly painted surface, for the paint has been applied to the soft touch finish & not on the plastic substrate, which is the bare surface in which primer and paint is to be applied. Basically, you're painting over a poor grade of rubber, which wlll break down when the primer & paint is applied. The keytones in the paint will eat up the rubbery stuff in a New York minute, frustrating the painter over their ruined work, having only to paint again.

Do the job right and strip the rubbery stuff off the dash and panels.

This product probably works well for a non-new beetle car. Until I see this YouTube video demo demonstrated on a new beetle, I'll remain skeptical.

Our new beetles aren't your everyday, blanket statement-oem car. This vid was posted as though it is. And by the looks of the one & done post of this quoted vid.... this smells like spam.

Prove me wrong & i'll retract with my apologies.


Sent from my SGH-T679 using AutoGuide App

This dashboard was treated one year ago, the sticky melting condition had totally disappear. There are many forum on the sticky melting condition for many many years. If you fully understand how the sticky melting conditionis formed. You will be able to formulated a solution to treat it.
SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT, USE LESS PLASTIC BY NOT CHANGING THE PARTS AND THAT WILL SAVE YOU MORE MONEY.
When a sticky surface is formed, you just need the right non corrosives checmical to wash away the sticky surface and the checmical used will not eats into the basic material itself. Acetone, adhesives remover and etc, are corrosives checmical that will eats into the basic material when over applied.
The solution treatment will also leave a layer of water base wax to protect the dashboard.
People who had since used the solutions are American, Australian,Singaporean, Malaysian,middle-east and south east asia country.
It doesn't matter if you use this solution, in forum people are looking for solutions. If you can't just keep it to yourself. the posting was out of goodwill for those who may need help only.

 

[scarabY2k]

I did not keep it to myself, because everyone needs to know all sides of their solutions. My post was in goodwill, with no intent of being mean spirited. All sides of the issue should be addressed, even the skeptical ones.

I'm glad that your solution works, that's great and I have no objections to that. We here in this forum want to provide the members with as many options possible, ascertained form trial/error and overall experience - it is for the reader to do the research and choose for themselves.

All information is welcome and appreciated here. For that we say thank you.

Cheers.

 

[bme]

This dashboard was treated one year ago, the sticky melting condition had totally disappear. There are many forum on the sticky melting condition for many many years. If you fully understand how the sticky melting conditionis formed. You will be able to formulated a solution to treat it.
SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT, USE LESS PLASTIC BY NOT CHANGING THE PARTS AND THAT WILL SAVE YOU MORE MONEY.
When a sticky surface is formed, you just need the right non corrosives checmical to wash away the sticky surface and the checmical used will not eats into the basic material itself. Acetone, adhesives remover and etc, are corrosives checmical that will eats into the basic material when over applied.
The solution treatment will also leave a layer of water base wax to protect the dashboard.
People who had since used the solutions are American, Australian,Singaporean, Malaysian,middle-east and south east asia country.
It doesn't matter if you use this solution, in forum people are looking for solutions. If you can't just keep it to yourself. the posting was out of goodwill for those who may need help only.

Everything I have seen shows this is a "service" you pay for and the website does not even sell a product. It sounds like they want you to send your parts in to be cleaned.

This makes it totally useless to the average orger. Most people on here want to do things themselves which was the intent of the original post.

If they were selling a product I would probably give it a shot.


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com App

 

[Weirdo1949]

Sticky interior in my 01 tdi

So the sticky grey and blak interior can be fixed with rubbing alcohol? Does it come back over time?
The dealership said its a know issue with beetles between certain years. The material the manufacturer used breaks down over time and becomes sticky. They havent done a recall and there's never been a class action lawsuit, which is still amazing to my they haven't done anything about it