THE BEST gummy plastic parts remedy !

HEY DARRON, after you remove the gooey crap, how are you refinishing ?? example, center console area..

 

which brand?

JD

 

So do I understand you correctly: you are removing the trim, spraying on the cleaner, waiting for (say) a minute and then wiping it off and presumably removing the sticky residue with it. Then you are painting the trim? Presumably with a flat black paint otw it would contrast with the finish of the parts around the trim?

Which parts have you perfomrd this remarkable breakthrough upon? I will have to do it to the entire interior door handle and the window switch panel as well as the center console intrument holder on a 512TR

Thanks

 

I also used Goof off 2 (in a plastic spray bottle from Home Depot) and Qtips to get the goo off the A/C vents and center console with good success. I used about 50 Qtips on each vent and maybe about 80 for the center console. The plastic looked good afterwards without repainting, so I left it alone. I mention this in case anyone wants an alternative without removing the parts for cleaning the goo off.
BT

 

How do you remove the plastic parts - is it easy?
Finally - I'm intrigued by the painting? I was thinking it might look cool to paint the parts the same color as the exterior. I've seen some pictures of some Porsche's that have that and I also once saw someone did it to a Lotus Esprit. It looked gorgeous - added some color to the interior and stood out from the teams of boring looking black. I've some web site advertise carbon fiber inserts but I figure those have got to be pretty expensive. And, I'm not sure whether the carbon fiber 'bare' look really even looks good.

Thoughts?

Scott

 

Cool! My only sticky bits in the 348 (and I consider myself VERY luck) are the two vents way up near the windscreen. I'm not sure how I'll get a tiny little screwdriver small enough to pull them out, but the EZ-OFF sounds like a great idea. Lemon fresh, or regular?

 

I found that Boraxo did a fair job of removing the goo on my 348 vents. You still have to work at it, but it helps.

It's pretty disgraceful that a problem like this comes up in the first place.

 

You need:
Beer
Blow dryer
Goo-Gone
Rags or old, soft chamois
Cleaning sticks (Q-tips are OK - if you don't want to scratch, use proper chamois-covered VCR cleaning stick)
___

Heat offending sticky surface area
Clean with Goo-Gone & rag/sticks
Wipe
___

Important: Take occasional swig from beer

 

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53754&highlight=oven+cleaner

I found this out also and posted it awhile back. I will not take credit for this, it's is an old model car trick that popped back in my mind while looking at a model car that needs a repaint. Then I did a Google on it and found the links that I already posted.

It works perfectly. It will not damage the plastic and will leave the original finish untouched. Be careful taking apart the vents on the 355, pull the diverter vanes straight back. On the side vents you will need to gently seperate the horizontal vanes to remove the movable diverter vanes.

Minimal scrubbing with a plastic fingernail brush. I loaded the parts up with oven cleaner in a plastic bag with a aluminum pan inside, closed the bag up and let them soak for an hour and them took them out and scrubbed them for less than 10 minutes a piece. The first trial I allowed the parts to sit overnight and they dried out...didn't work.

You can bet your bottom dollar I called to find out how much these things cost before doing this. Middle vent was the cheapest so I popped apart the glued seams and hit it with the oven cleaner. No problems.


ken

 

new to Fchat and a new 355 owner. I did not however see this thread before attacking the goo myself. I used WD40 and a new terry cloth. I started with the area surrounding the shift gate. It definately got worse before getting better but the good news is you do not have to repaint anything at all. Once all the goo came off there was hard beautiful black plastic underneath. I did my air vents next. I did not remove them and had no issue with them looking excellent. My A/C swithches are ok so I did not do them either. I have a replacement set of switches for the lock unlock etc. so i am not doing those. Seems like the WD may be an easier job. Time per center console piece was under 10 minutes. Hope this helps.

 

When various interior parts in my 348 Spider did that, my remedy was to replace them with new ones and then only cleaned the new parts with water and used no "shine" products. The new parts did not get gummy over the several years i owned the car until I traded it for my current BB512i.

 

Since MDshore posted his solution to remove the sticky stuff off of the plastic, I'll post my solution to replace it.

It's very simple. I went to Harbor Freight Tools and bought their black rubberized spray paint. I read and followed the instructions, sprayed the parts, and I think they came out pretty close to OEM low sheen finish. Just make sure you give them 3 good wet coats, or you'll get an "orange peel" finish.

I also tried HFT's rubberized brush on paint with mixed results. If you thin it with Naphta, you can spray it with a paint gun, and you can apply it a little thicker than with the rattle can.

 

Unbelievable. I just took a sticky, gooey, black "melted" rubberized plastic instrument bezel from a 512TR and used the above method to strip the goo. I mean, it was nasty, with all sorts of dirt stuck in the factory coating. I sprayed EASY-OFF oven cleaner on it (it says "Fume Free" on the can), waited exactly one minute, and then rinsed it in warm water. All the goo - I mean every last molecule - washed off. No soap. No brush. No acetone. Within 90 SECONDS of the first spray of EZ OFF, I had a shiny, pristine smooth black plastic instrument bezel that would look fantastic installed just as is. Amazing. To think of all the mess I made and time I wasted with acetone and other solvents.

After I recovered from my disbelief, I wiped the piece once with grease and wax remover, and then sprayed it with Plasti-Dip Black Rubberized coating (3 coats). Now it is better than new. The Plasti-Dip creates a satin black finish that will never become sticky and has the texture of the original (pre-goo) coating. Total time, start to finish - maybe 6 minutes. Unreal. Whoever figured this out deserves a medal. Or at least a T-shirt. Thanks.

 

Here is a photo of the finished piece (I hope)
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Cool.

Ferrari's plastic parts stock just took a hit.

 

No lie. I can't wait to do the door pieces.

 

Actually, I did not remove this part from my car - I received it with some other interior parts and a steering rack I bought from a fellow on E-Bay. I will swap this one out with the sticky one presently in my car. I believe you have to remove the whole leather pod (screws underneath) to get access to the back, and then there are two screws that hold the plastic piece to the pod (see two tabs on either end in photo).

 

I used the oven off method on all my vents. It worked great. Wonderful post. Got to be careful removing those vents. They want to break. I used a needle nose pliers with two pieces of cloth over the teeth of the pliers. The vents pulled straight out of my F355. Too bad the previous owner broke the adjustable blades on both of the side vents not being so careful. So this must be the second time (or maybe more) they have been de-gooed. Makes me wonder how many more times I'm going to have to do this. So I have bought new vents to replace the broken ones. Can't wait to de-goo them in the future. Pleasure spiked with pain!

 

What exactly is this goo? And are the parts somehow distorted (damaged) from the gooing?

 

The "goo" (technical term), refers to the factory coating applied to 90's vintage Ferrari plastic interior parts (vents, console) that gives them a flat black "rubber" feel. Given time (some say exposure to heat, UV light, Armor-All, aliens, Paul Sloan), the coating begins to "melt" and becomes a black, sticky mess that holds dirt and feels nasty (you can scrape it off with your fingernail). The plastic underneath is not distorted. Ferrari just picked a bad coating. With the above method (henceforth officially known as "the Shore Technique"), the problem becomes a mere annoyance, and, more importantly, one that can be rectified permanently. Now all we need is a witty "catch-phrase". Gentlemen...

 

I had nothing to do with it! It is a Conspiracy I swear.