Removing Polish from Black Trims

mjsbrabus

A2OC Donor
Not on the A2 but on another car. I carelessly got polish on the black wheel arch trims / sill trims and an really struggling to remove it and get rid of the whitish stains it has left behind. I have read up a little and pure Isopropyl Alchohol seems to be recommended.
Anybody got any other tips for this and know of something that works? (Seen about peanut butter but I never live wasting that!!!!)
 
Panel prep. The stuff they use in body shops prior to painting. Cheap enough and I think alcohol based .
 
I have tried some U-POL system 20 that I bought from a bodyshop some years back but it does nothing - seems to evaporate too quickly.
 
Do these products actually lift off the errant polish or just cover it up?

I know the effect is the same but I was hoping to remove it.
 
The Meguiars appears to return the colour of the plastic back to OEM. It is a white coloured cream so does not look like a dye. Check it out for yourself and if it is suitable then go for it.
 
A pencil eraser, or a 'magic eraser' will remove rather than cover, although be gentle with the latter as they can be quite abrasive :)
 
Ok thanks. I'll try the eraser first and see what that does. Followed by one of the above products.
 
I guess another possible issue here is that I am still using polish from a 5 litre can I bought in ....... wait for it ....... 1986. (Clearly i don't polish my cars enough).

Not sure what they put in polish in 1986 but suspect there are a few ingredients that they don't use now!
 
Absolutely. Although many polishes can still leave white residue on black plastic, it is nowhere near as bad as products from that far back. Most manufacturers recommend removing over application immediately still, but more often than not, you can get away with it. Plastic fades at any rate, so a restoration product in addition to polishing the bodywork, only serves to enhance the finished look to my eyes.
 
It’s a painted arch at the end of the day, I, in my A2 ownership always used a pure Carnuba wax, it has no white residue and have used it on all bodywork including glass, except for the windscreen?, I’ll post a link up if ok with admin of the quality product shown here!
 
I've got a feeling that white polishes use a fine aluminum oxide as an abrasive agent. If you take, say, Autoglym and try it on a solid (non base-coat and clear) paint (actually hard to find now, try on your neighbour's Allegro), you'll see you cloth will go body coloured. A pure wax (like the Zymol Carbon I use (35% carnauba I think) or Jeffer's JDM won't do that.

Are they textured? If so I would try one of the vinyl restoring products but with a toothbrush to try and lift the white out of the grain, wipe with a cloth as you do it. If smooth, I'd just rub the restorer in quite hard but with a very soft cloth, then finish with a re-apply as normal.
 
Yes - they are textured. Got some improvement with a big Eraser. Will persist with that a little before trying 'wet' methods.

Only problem the quality German Eraser that I have also probably had since 1986 is rapidly disappearing.......
 
Yes - they are textured. Got some improvement with a big Eraser. Will persist with that a little before trying 'wet' methods.

Only problem the quality German Eraser that I have also probably had since 1986 is rapidly disappearing.......
Peanut butter (smooth) is the recommended option on DW , I have a bottle of peanut oil , one bottle will last a lifetime.
Hth
Keith
 
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