Fixing a Scratched Interior?

[NKYTITAN]

Originally Posted by Devildog

Burn It!

Just don't pull a Richard Pryor.



Thanks for the ideas.... I think I'll try the dash foam (easiest) first, then maybe the spray/touch-up paint idea.

Mark

[pi3yeargrad]

Originally Posted by Devildog

When I had an alarm put in, the jackoffs used a screw driver to pop out the top dash and lower piece under the steering wheel. They scarred it all to hell. Another car audio place finished the project and used a lighter to melt it to near pre-incident quality. Had the original guys pay for the complete replacement of the top dash, bottom piece, and the door panel (was installing power windows and they scratched the door panel when they put it on ground) Cost them a cool 1,900 bones. You can hardly notice it now. So... in a hundred words or less the cheap way to fix the scratched up dash is to use a lighter.

I actually put a lighter to my scratches and to my amazement...THIS WORKED GUYS...

[stoneman]

My cheap plastic is so scratched it looks like the truck is 2 years old and i have
only had it for 5 months!! I hope someone comes up with a solution!!

[92TripleBlack]

Originally Posted by stoneman

My cheap plastic is so scratched it looks like the truck is 2 years old and i have
only had it for 5 months!! I hope someone comes up with a solution!!

Try the Meguires I recommended earlier in the post. I'm going to try a heatgun to "carefully" see if I can remove some of the leftover discoloration.

[pi3yeargrad]

Originally Posted by 92TripleBlack

Try the Meguires I recommended earlier in the post. I'm going to try a heatgun to "carefully" see if I can remove some of the leftover discoloration.

what Meguires??

[92TripleBlack]

IT WORKS!

Got this idea from the lighter trick. I used a heat gun. Its much more controlable and much less dangerous. Heated the area where the scratch was. Now keep in mind the scratch was only a discoloration and not a grove. Using the heat gun I fanned over the area heat/no heat a second on and a second off until the scratch disappeared. Did this on multiple scratches on the interior plastic that have been bugging me. These were on the soft parts, not had dash parts. Worked great. The plastic starts to soften and the scratch fades.

WARNING I haven't done it because I've been careful. If you aren't very careful you could melt or even burn the plastic. Take your time. You can always heat it up more, but can't undo too much. Don't try to overdue it and end up with something worse than what you started with. Again, I did this only on surface scratches where the plastic became lighter in color compared to surrounding plastic.

Good luck!

[92TripleBlack]

Originally Posted by pi3yeargrad

what Meguires??

Meguiars dash foam took out a lot of the scratches.

[Papa_D]

Originally Posted by 92TripleBlack

IT WORKS!

Got this idea from the lighter trick. I used a heat gun. Its much more controlable and much less dangerous. Heated the area where the scratch was. Now keep in mind the scratch was only a discoloration and not a grove. Using the heat gun I fanned over the area heat/no heat a second on and a second off until the scratch disappeared. Did this on multiple scratches on the interior plastic that have been bugging me. These were on the soft parts, not had dash parts. Worked great. The plastic starts to soften and the scratch fades.

WARNING I haven't done it because I've been careful. If you aren't very careful you could melt or even burn the plastic. Take your time. You can always heat it up more, but can't undo too much. Don't try to overdue it and end up with something worse than what you started with. Again, I did this only on surface scratches where the plastic became lighter in color compared to surrounding plastic.

Good luck!

Good idea. When I prototyped yachts for Regal Marine, we used to use a blow torch to put a finished edge on plexiglass/lexan. We would route then sand the edges and as the finishing touch, torch and high gloss polish. The plastic in the Titan is too coarse to require polish, just heat will do fine I believe.

[bestatchess]

What Heat Gun To Buy?

I have been thinking about getting a heat gun anyway (heat shrink tubing, etc.) Are the cheapo guns o.k.? For example:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47269


Or is it better to get something like this?

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS...gjj.0&MID=9876

The Home Depot link isn't working the way I hoped. You have to put "heat gun" in the search box at the top right. It pulls up a Milwaukee heat gun and accessories for the gun, total like $110 or something.

[92TripleBlack]

Mine was $20 from Sears. Cheapest they had. Unless you are using it commercially, the cheap one should be fine. The only feature that might be nice I don't have is heat adjustment. I need to adjust heat by distance away and how long I expose the piece.

[bestatchess]

Ahh, good idea, Sears! They have one with an LED read out & temp control for $99.

But of course 3 heat guns for 99 cents on EBAY is also attractive:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1PHG0-LOT-OF-3-E...QQcmdZViewItem

[Bayou Titan]

Originally Posted by bestatchess

What Heat Gun To Buy?

I have been thinking about getting a heat gun anyway (heat shrink tubing, etc.) Are the cheapo guns o.k.? For example:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47269


Or is it better to get something like this?

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS...gjj.0&MID=9876

The Home Depot link isn't working the way I hoped. You have to put "heat gun" in the search box at the top right. It pulls up a Milwaukee heat gun and accessories for the gun, total like $110 or something.

I bought a cheap heat gun at Home Depot for about $30.00. It has got a real workout for about five years and is still going strong. It is one of my favorite tools. Some of the things I have used it for are:

1. Thaw frozen pipes
2. Heat shrink wires
3. Heat up and bend PVC pipe
4. Melt thick coats of paint off furniture and baseboards.
5. Soften adhesives
6. Loosen fittings
7. Soften caulk for easy removal
8. Remove floor tiles
9. remove old gaskets
10. Melt ice off of windshield (be careful)
11. Quickly dry off things that need to be painted or glued (I do this a lot)
12. Melt wax off of candleholders
13. "Weld" the ends of nylon rope to keep it from unravelling.

I have used it for lots of other stuff. These are the things that came to mind.

[baseballfanz]

Originally Posted by pi3yeargrad

I actually put a lighter to my scratches and to my amazement...THIS WORKED GUYS...

With my luck I'll burn my truck down.

[bestatchess]

Originally Posted by Bayou Titan

I bought a cheap heat gun at Home Depot for about $30.00. It has got a real workout for about five years and is still going strong. It is one of my favorite tools. Some of the things I have used it for are:

1. Thaw frozen pipes
2. Heat shrink wires
3. Heat up and bend PVC pipe
4. Melt thick coats of paint off furniture and baseboards.
5. Soften adhesives
6. Loosen fittings
7. Soften caulk for easy removal
8. Remove floor tiles
9. remove old gaskets
10. Melt ice off of windshield (be careful)
11. Quickly dry off things that need to be painted or glued
12. Melt wax off of candleholders
13. "Weld" the ends of nylon rope to keep it from unravelling.

I have used it for lots of other stuff. These are the things that came to mind.

Hmmm, I hope my wife doesn't read this. I have burned up a few of her hair dryers over the years doing some of those things.

[Bayou Titan]

I'm a "myth buster" type guy and like to see if a particular "technique" will work. Once I killed wasp on a wasp nest that were on the house using a heat gun. The gun will singe their wings and they will drop off the nest. This is difficult however since the airflow of the gun will try to push them away before their wings burn. If you try this, try to aim the gun towards the nest so that the airflow will push the wasps against the nest.

Now, I just improvise and use a can of WD40 with the straw nozzle as a flame thrower. (do not try this yourself, you have to not know what you are doing to do this )