Interior parts refinished in soft touch.

So what is the stuff, and the application process? Would love to see a walk-through.

 

The real question is how long will this last? Will they end up sticky over time like the OEM?

 

Fantastic work, Nick!!!

The parts look great, they really do. We have tested a soft touch and it's very good and the manufacture promised me up and down it won't fail. I have customers willing to take the chance but I honestly can't take the chance myself without doing some long term testing (which the manufacture does has some data for).

We just can't risk our name on a product that might fail again.

You work here is excellent - very nice!

 

Nick, as usual your work is impeccable. I love it. Even if it doesn't last any better than the original finish (I'm betting it will), it will still last several years before it begins to fail.

Thanks for sharing the pics and please let me know the address where I can send mine for the same treatment.

 

Good on you for making the effort to truly refinish this stuff with a "factory correct " finish.

I have said in here numerous times that my phone case and tv remote have s finish on them that is more factory correct than any other refinishing being done. This coating on my phone case takes a real beating and it holds up well.

Great work

 

I have about 3 years on Alsa soft touch no issues. It is at minimum a 3 step process
~adhesion promoter
~basecoat
~soft clear, catalyst paint $$$ and messy.

Downside it has a high build on the switches, the toggle part my rub at the pivot point. I went very light there.




BTW mt skill saw has sticky on it. I used it yesterday and died laughing

 

Yeah Yeah I'm a Fruity Ass too

I use Alsa paints what do you have in the UK?

 

Interesting question, indeed. Our 2000 550 Maranello has just one sticky bit. I guess the OEM finish holds up better than one might be led to believe. I guess 16 years on a factory finish isn't too bad. Not to throw a rock in the pond, but who really knows what any of these new fangled finishes will look like after a decade or so of exposure to real life conditions?

 

Hey Mike,

So, my 2008 Maserati GT had one slightly tacky part last season. When I pulled the cover off the car (sorted in my climate controlled shop thru the winter) most parts are now getting pretty bad. The are no gooey but very tacky. So, those will get the full treatment come winter.

We have seen California and 599 parts here and have refinished them. So, clearly it's not taking too many years for the coatings to fail.

What's interesting: The hazard, parking light, fuel door and dome light buttons on 355's seem to last much better than others so it's pretty obvious that particular part supplier used a better coating.

People are furious with Ferrari for using these coatings. Can you imagine how they would feel if we used them and they failed? At Sticky RX, we certainly could use a soft touch that would make our processes 100% factory correct but customers are not going to take the risk and either can we.

I happen to have Rotel home theater equipment and the main remote is about 12 years old and it's been sticky before I knew what sticky even meant.

We will be posting a video soon of our coatings chemical and mar - resistance so folks can see the durability and that will represent real life conditions

 

After all I've been through - I've spent about $3500 per car multiplied by about 10 F-cars - to rid my F-cars of sticky trim pieces...

I say "soft touch" is a horrendous idea and absolutely unnecessary. Plastic is plastic. It's a necessary part of our modern world even if it makes us shake our heads. I don't discount the tremendous effort put forward by the original poster and others in trying to replicate the feel of the original materials used by Ferrari... but I consider it an exquisite expenditure of time.

How about refinishing these parts or offering a different solution at about half the cost of that which we've all been paying?

 

For those that feel professional refinishing is expensive, perhaps Nick can shed some light on his labor doing the work?

Our materials are very expensive but admittedly the amount used per each order is a small percentage. But, for us, the cost is driven by our very expensive equipment and the labor which is quite substantial. To do quality work, it takes time. No magic wand is waived and then the parts are done

 

Just to add I WILL NEVER do mine again, more cost effective to send them out.

A good 20 hours labor, $$$ in paints, clean up a huge mess.
If something does not look correct time to do it again.

Nope not me I have Dave's address to send them too. Plus he has the cool laser engraver.

 

Thanks Nick. Again, your work here is fantastic - really great job Please keep posting the fantastic work you do as I love to see work done by guys in the same OCD camp as me - again, it's a pleasure to know I won't be alone in the asylum

Haha - thanks, Tim and I'm certain we could always barter

Here are some photos of the Rotel remote I mentioned earlier. This sucker got bad in about 2 years IIRC. At the time I had no idea what was going on. I assumed I spilled coffee on it or something. I've been using a Universal remote ever since so I don't need to touch this.

I also have a Space Pilot (3D mouse for doing 3D CAD modeling) that has soft touch also. It's about 7 years old and it's held up very well. Recently I bought a new hair dryer and was shocked it has soft touch on it. While it's not sticky yet, it's started to peel within the first few weeks so it just has poor adhesion properties. My 2008 BMW 335xi has soft touch only on the steering wheel face. It's never become sticky but it has started to peel in the high touch areas.
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My experience with soft touch is as a user, and it has always eventually failed no matter what product I've had. It might take 10+ years, but it has always failed for me. A few examples:

My wife has a Canon SLR camera that we bought in 2006. Had soft touch on the areas where you grip the camera. She still uses the camera but the soft touch started to get very sticky to the touch and was peeling at the edges. It never did go goopy, but I think it was just a matter of time.

We have a DirecTV remote that's circa 2008 or so (yes, it still works), with black soft touch coating over black plastic. It was a very thick coating that eventually went sticky and peeled off.

My old 348 Challenge . . . bought the car in 2008 and the plastics were just starting to get tacky when first got it. Within 2 years the plastics had gotten sticky and within a year after that became goopy to the point where it was a thick tar-like substance that it was coming off on my hands. I redid the plastics myself with SEM products (and even started a thread about it several years back). But having done it once, I plan to leave it to the professionals when I redo my 355.

I have an older USB memory stick key fob (1 Gb, from close to 10 yrs ago). It still works but the coating went sticky last year and I had to peel it off.

I feel that the soft touch coatings look and feel great when new, but anyone that's trying to recreate the factory finish should probably plan on repeating the job once very 8-12 years.

 

Nick - Your finishing is terrific as always. I'm with you and originality is essential in my book. I did some of my sticky stuff three years ago. I did the donkey work removing the sticky stuff but then had it refinished by LaCarousel who use a rubber paint by Nextel from Germany. LaCarousel use the same stuff to re-coat all the European NATO helicopter Joysticks. I guess that these more modern coatings will be more durable than the 25 year old stuff.
However, in the pursuit of originality, I am quite prepared to go through the same exercise in another 15 years if necessary - however after three years it is still just like new.

I now have a few more parts to do this next winter - the steering column surround and two more dash vents. Hopefully, Dave will be willing to take my new soft touch vents and use his laser for the decals.
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Hello Clive,

Not that we would not be willing, but we need to apply a white first then laser off the black. So, you would need to do those steps and be sure the white and black soft touch are compatible. Then, we have the risk of something going wrong when we laser. So, that said, we can cross that bridge when you are ready but I'm not sure I'd be up for the risk.

Thanks for thinking of us though

 

The soft color is the stuff that gets sticky, the soft clear seems to be working for me. I did not research ot but looks like the pigment is cutting the binder in the paint causing the sticky gabbaly goo

So you would need to do the base then color coat, etch it then soft clear it

Seems like close to 30% more labor.

 

I have two sets of Martin Logan speakers (Quest & ReQuest) and the cabinets are covered in soft touch coating. That has now turned sticky. Really affects how they look.

 

Hey Tim,

Ferrari uses the clear soft touch for all laser etched, back lite parts such as HVAC panels and it's gets as sticky as the rest