458 How to clean sticky buttons

Where do you live?

I live in Colorado and have no sticky buttons in my 458 Spider.

If you live in high humidity , go west young woman. Heaven.

 

Not very helpful... any other answer how to clean sticky buttons ? I am also interested.

 

They do it
https://stickynomore.com/

 

I discussed this very topic today with Fonzie of J. Scuderia Automotive in Rockaway NJ. He swears by a product called WURTH ECO SUPER SPRAY ALL. He said it works great on stickies. It also is a fantastic car wash and is safe for Spider soft tops.

I didn't ask him but it also may be a reasonable floor wax and desert topping...

 

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/sticky-buttons-and-knobs.453312/

It seems not too difficult to remove ..but the pro's then refinish them with something hard so the problem doesn't come back ...

 

A few years back before StickyRx was around I used a product recommended on this forum (do a search) called Greased Lightning. I remember it was tedious and took a bit of time but worked well enough to remove that “sticky” feel from the controls. Be careful around labels etc. not to wipe them off. I was preparing the car for Cavallino where it took a Platinum award for what it’s worth. I did everything in situ (didn’t have to remove anything). Hope this helps.
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I use 99% alcohol and a lot of time. Be careful on labels and parts where the label is etched out, you'll scrub them right off. Somebody put a clear varnish on top of it that did the trick, I'm going to try this method next as it seems like the most simple solution.

 

My recommendation - have them removed and send them out to have professionally done. There are several who advertise or post on this site. Your dash will need to come apart, along with mirror assembly, seats, etc.

I tried some of the products advertised on the plain (non etched buttons), including IPA. Wasn’t happy with the results at all.

So I went with Plan B. Not the cheapest way, but by far the best. Yes, high humidity and heat accelerate the process.......

 

Easy off oven cleaner and q-tips. Proceed with caution. Try a test spot first. I don't recall who advised this would work, but it does. Try a search here as well. I'm guessing it's the lye in the cleaner that does the job.

Although, given the risk involved, I'd rather just send them to Robbie at stickynomore.com he's a sponsor here.

 

I've used Oxy Clean with warm water for my buttons, door handles, vents and ashtray on my 360. It worked fine. But be careful with the decals on surfaces - rub lightly. It's been 2 years and stick surfaces have not come back, I live in the NY area.

 

You should check out the laser etching that Sticky RX does.

I'm all about DIY and I have done a lot of stuff on my cars myself, but in some cases certain jobs are best done by people who specialize in certain areas. Dave over at Sticky RX does the highest quality work on Ferrari buttons of any one out there.

If you demand perfection, Dave is your guy:



Ray

 

This is spot on.

 

Why is he banned ?

 

No idea, but Dave is one of the most well liked and respected members here. He nearly single handedly created the business of restoring buttons for Ferrari owners worldwide. I'd kinda like to know why also. Wasn't he a Ferrarichat sponsor?

Ray

 

Wasn’t Robbie with Stickynomore around first? Not trying to be argumentative, it’s a genuine question. I used Robbie back in ‘11 with my CS parts and they came back perfect.

 

I think it's elbow grease and alcohol or oven cleaner to get it down to the bare plastic, but that will not match the factory finish and may cost you the lettering. StickyNoMore and StickyRX offer a more OEM-style finsh, and in particular I'm impressed with the laser etching by StickyRX. Depends on how picky you are.

I wonder how much of this is related to the owners' body chemistry. I know from being in the guitar business that some people can utterly trash a set of new strings in one gig, or mar the finish on a guitar neck in just a few minutes, or even corrode metal parts on the guitar just playing it, while others -- like myself -- can go for months without changing strings. I put 15k miles on a California with no trace of this issue, but I've seen low mileage Californias with terrible stickiness around the climate control buttons, etc. And I had a guy come in the shop recently and play a few guitars for just a minute or two each and I had to wipe down the necks on everything he touched after he left.

 

I don't know. I've never heard of Stickynomore. I'm sure there are other companies doing it, but isn't Sticky RX generally considered the market leader in that area? Kinda like yeah Friendster and MySpace were first, but then Facebook came along.

There are other companies out there doing crappy work. I've seen some real junk. The quality from Sticky RX can't be touched; it's amazing. I mean Ferrari dealers use Sticky RX to refinish customers cars; so that says a lot.

Back to the topic at hand, my point was that as skilled as I or others are at DIY stuff or maybe taking a stab at refinishing or cleaning up the knobs ourselves, there is something to be said for letting the pros handle it. I'm not saying don't try it yourself. I think everyone should and it's a great way to learn. However, if the wheels come off the bus, then at least Dave's got your back.

I will say this (if I remember correctly on my 360): my window control buttons started to peel and I had very good luck cleaning the junk off with WD40 as I recall. They weren't sticky like some people's buttons get, but just peeling. So that might be something to try.

Ray

 

Maybe a better question isn't who was been around the longest, but who does the best and most durable refinishing. Here's an interesting video I came across just now on Sticky RX's YouTube channel:



This one is also interesting to watch. It shows a chemical test and stuff:



Whatever they are using for their surface finish, it appears pretty durable.

All I can say is that I'm glad I have never faced this issue on any of my cars. I did see a 355 a few months ago, just before car week here in Monterey, which suffered from this issue. It was owned by an older gentleman and he had parked outside one of the local shops. I went over to look at the car and was shocked to see how bad the panels and buttons looked. Really sad to see the interior decaying like that. That cannot be a fun job to do.

Anyway, if you're bored and have some free time on your hands, Sticky RX has a lot of interesting videos on their YouTube channel these days. From what I can see, they do pretty amazing work.

Ray

 

I meant to ask.. do the newer cars (like 458, 488, 812) still have this problem? Or was this a problem on older cars or like a past supplier of parts that Ferrari was using or something?

Anyone seeing this with cars such as the 458 Italia for example?

Ray

 

Thousands of us have used Stickynomore with great success. No doubt StickyRX might be better or might not be. Like the saying, there’s always someone faster. I was simply asking a question that you obviously have a deep passion about. I’ll use Robbie, you use Dave. I’ll eat tomato’s, you eat tomatoes. Options aren’t a bad thing.

 

I think maybe you are reading too much into my post. I've never used either company for switch restoration. Who you or anyone else uses to redo their sticky switches isn't any of my business. I was simply providing information regarding the stuff Dave does, because I've seen his videos before and I've used their wheel mounting tool on my 458. They are well known in most Ferrari circles.

I've never heard of Sticky no more until you mentioned them on this thread, but if they do work you're happy with then great. If it were me, I'd go out and wipe my switches down with rubbing alcohol just to be certain.

Like I mentioned above, it sounds like a nightmare and I hope I never have to deal with it on any car I ever own - Ferrari or otherwise.

Ray

 

From an owner that has used both I can tell you the Dave at StickyRX is superior in all facets.
If you are a perfectionist with your cars like I am then StickyRX is who you want to use. Every piece of trim on my 430 was refinished by them and the craftsmanship is beyond compare. My 575 was done by the other company and my trim is getting sticky once again.
Now I have to disassemble and send those off to StickyRX over this winter season so it comes back perfect once again

 

there must be a better solution than this

what about a spray on material, like scotch guard, than would dry and no longer be sticky?