isopropyl alcohol...

**imported_Ivan Rajic** · 09-28-2006, 09:59 PM

might be a dumb question but i`m curious....

i am planning on detailing my car over the next 3-4 days

i have some polish all over the trim from when i did my roof and trunk a few weeks ago that i was too lazy to wash off thinking i`ll finish everything soon

anyway, tonight i went out to clean the interior, engine a little bit and dress the trim with mother`s back to black

i was looking around for stuff to clean off the polish... i heard peanutbutter i think and some other things, but this was just polish and not caked on wax and it came out pretty easy even with water... did require a little buffing though.... after water, i tried windex.. worked better but not good enough for me... finally, i spotted a bottle of 70% isopropyl alcohol that i had used for touching up some chips before.... i used it on a small area of rubber which seals the trunk... worked like a charm... i did the rest of that piece... just rub it 1 or 2x over the piece, everything comes off, and the alcohol dries out in a few mins...

before doing anymore though, i came here to ask you experts... is the alcohol ruining the rubber/trim or no??

i assume it eats at it a little but how bad is the 70% one??

TIA,

ivan

**Rockpick** · 09-28-2006, 10:03 PM

Ruining? No. Probably not. Degrading the rubber slightly? Probably. This is probably more of a `case specific` type of item in my opinion.

If you have tested it out on an inconspicious area and had luck with it, there`s probably little worry in trying it again. I wouldn`t make it a habit of it and, I`d make sure to recondition that rubber with a nice water-based conditioner/protectant like Vinylex or similar after application of the Isopropyl.

Remember for the future, it`s always easier to tape off or take a few extra minutes around trim when it comes time to wax verus trying to remove a bunch of over-wipe or similar!

Blue painter`s tape is your friend!

RP

**imported_Ivan Rajic** · 09-28-2006, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by Rockpick

Ruining? No. Probably not. Degrading the rubber slightly? Probably. This is probably more of a `case specific` type of item in my opinion.

If you have tested it out on an inconspicious area and had luck with it, there`s probably little worry in trying it again. I wouldn`t make it a habit of it and, I`d make sure to recondition that rubber with a nice water-based conditioner/protectant like Vinylex or similar after application of the Isopropyl.

Remember for the future, it`s always easier to tape off or take a few extra minutes around trim when it comes time to wax verus trying to remove a bunch of over-wipe or similar!

Blue painter`s tape is your friend!

RP

haha yea i`ve already started looking for some tape for tomorrow when i start polishing again

thanks for the reply

**abbeysdad** · 09-29-2006, 08:42 AM

You can use denatured alchohol or mineral spirits to remove wax or polish that gets on rubber or plastic trim. It won`t damage the parts.

I`m with Rockpick though...easier to tape off or otherwise protect than clean up after. Also, it can be just as easy to apply a protectant to these so the other things just won`t stick. As a matter of fact, if you have a good protectant layer (I use 303) tape won`t stick to it.

Footnote: realizing this doesn`t work for other polishing efforts, but one of the things I quite like about the Klasse twins is that there are no worries with trim because you apply it there too!

**imported_paradigm** · 09-29-2006, 10:39 AM

what surprises me is how people jump all over the "dawn wash" saying it will dry out trim, etc...but then IPA solutions are ok.

i think alcohol will dry or damage trim FAR faster than a detergent would. of course, in moderation...everything will be fine.

**paul34** · 09-29-2006, 02:20 PM

After wiping down my whole car with a mix of water + iso alcohol, I happened to just try it on my mudguards (they are a black plastic with a hint of rubberiness), which have quite a few wax marks (little embarrasing, but its just cosmetic).

I wiped it down with a MF towel and my mix, and wow it got rid of it! NOT. lol, it looked great for what seemed like 1-2 minutes, then I just happened to come back and its still there! argh. But, it looks like it got rid of a little bit and in some ways sorta spread around the existing wax a little bit more. Perhaps my towel was already full of wax from the rest of the car and such. I`ll try it again and some point with a clean towel.