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View Full Version : My Review of Some Plastic Cleaners and Dressings



imported_phareous
07-08-2003, 10:47 AM
I just had my lower steering wheel column trim replaced (all scratched up) and I thought that would be a good opportunity to play around with the stuff in my cabinet using this old plastic.



First off I tried One Grand Plastic Polish. Well I`m not sure what "burnishing" was but I figured it was close to buffing. So I put it on there and waited for it to dry. It streaked while it was wet. Once it sortof dried it was a very dull matte (hazy almost) and when I wiped it with a dry cloth it just kept smearing...it never would gloss up. Also it had a horrible smell...like burning plastic or something.

My opinion: :down



Next up I tried Zaino Z14 Plastic Magic Cleaner and Polish. Well it flunked the cleaner portion as all it did was bead up when I put it on top of One Grand. I tried it on some clean plastic and when I wiped it off I could not tell I had put it on so I guess the polish portion flunks. It did have a nice bubblegum smell, but I`m afraid it gets a :down



Next up was Vinylex. This has an obvious gloss but it took FOREVER to dry. It was too easy to wipe off while wet leaving it looking no better than before it was put on. If I allowed it to sit for like 5 minutes and wiped it off it did leave behind a slight gloss. But I give this a :down for too much trouble.



Then I tried Detail Depot Pro-Tex-All #114. I wiped it on then immediately wiped it off. It left a slight gloss and the smell was not objectionable. :up



Next was Meguiar`s #40 Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner. It has a nice leather/new car smell and when I wiped it off it left a slight gloss. :up



I tried Novus 1 Plastic Cleaner on top of the One Grand and it took it right off. I also noticed dirt/black stuff on the rag. :up



I also tried SONAX Cleaner. It doesn`t have any polish/dressing abilities but it took One Grand off too. :up



So out of all of these I am going to use SONAX or Novus to clean and either Pro-Tex or Meguiars #40 to dress. I have Plexus too but I forgot to test it. I did use Plexus in my engine compartment and I felt it did a good job cleaning although it didn`t seem to leave any gloss...I prefer a tiny bit of gloss. So when I used Plexus it just left it looking life nice new original plastic.