$12.42 and 13 hours of labor is all it took me to rid the F355B interior of that sticky gooey rubberized crap. 24 oz 91% Isoproply alcohol 2*500 cotton swabs 1/2 roll of paper towels I got all the switches (8), all the plastic bezels (4), the ash tray, air vents (3), the dash vent hold down screw caps (6), and the parking brake handle. And now its on to the care of the leather and carpets.
How did you remove the e-brake handle??? I couldn't figure it out when I sent my parts to Robbie. Do you know how to remove the engine bonnet release latch? Mine is horrible but I couldn't figure out how to take it out.
Did you refinish or leave them as is without the goop? If you refinished, what did you use? Pls post pics
I used the easy off oven cleaner...worked decent, but still went through a ton of rags. Then I painted with Napa spray on plasti-dip.
On the 348 I had the e-brake handle just slides off (with some effort). It is held on by friction. BT
I used the oven cleaner method on my 348, and left the raw plastic for a while. The plastic with nothing on it looks okay, but a little on the cheap side. I'm so glad I decided to send the whole lot (parts I didn't tackle, along with the stripped parts as well) to Robbie. I think I'm coming up on a year and they still look fantastic!
Just to be a bit more expansive so others can try the same thing... isopropyl alcohol (i.e. acronym: IPA) has several different names that can appear on the bottle. Here are a few alternative names I happen to know of (there may be more): propal-2-ol 2-propanol isopropanol (rarely printed, often spoken) During a work placement as part of my PhD studentship, I worked with some chemists who would use all these names interchangeably not only throughout a day, but during a single conversation and sometimes a single sentence! I hadn't realised at first that it was the same stuff and my meticulous notes on when to use four seemingly different compounds seemed rather silly. Anyway... just thought that might be of help to someone when shopping for their car care products. All the best, Andrew.
Ernie: The goop would disolve and be absorbed into the cotton swab. It takes 15-18 swabs per light switch as an example--just make sure none of the goop goes down into the switch itself. For the air vents, I disassembled them and used paper towels, For the other bezels I mostly used swabs but you could experiment with paper. BLAMPEE: I left the parking brake as it was and just wipped it down with towels. Some minor precautions and protection for the leather is in order. I did unsnap the leather cover on the PBrake. Acemaster: I just removed the goop. Under the goop is what I would call a plastic to goop primer layer that is basically flat black. The IPA gets the goop and leaves the primer. The plastic comes out looking good all by itself. I sort of agree with spiderman that it looks a little on the cheapo side, but it looks miles better than pure goop.
This removal process does not work on all models or all parts. You were very lucky that it came clean down to the plastic and the plastic wasn't scratched or gouged underneath. Some of the plastic under the coating is gray and not black..... Love to see pics...
^ He's right. Seat back handles on the 348 (not plastic) are gray underneath. I sent my stuff to Robbie too. For me, it made more sense than gumming up the driveway with that black tar.
All I can say is that it worked on mine, a 1995 with some new plastic around 2004-1005 time frame--which gooped up again--which caused me to ge rid of the goop once and for all. The original plastic (switches, bezels) and the replacements (air vents) all cleaned up good. Not so much luck as care. Care to pick out a car (in 2001) that was in proper shape, and care not to ding, gouge, whang, dang, or otherwise abuse the soon-to-be goop covered plastic over the duration where the car was under my care. soon...
There is no substitute for Robbie's work. After all, it's a Ferrari, and well worth the investment in the long run.
