AutoDetailing
Used all purpose interior cleaner on my screen
Anybody have any tips on how to get rid of this? It feels like it’s on the inside. I don’t know how but I understand shit happens. Anybody HELP!!!! I’m so pissed tbh
Discussion
Sharing what cleaner you used may help.
Oh Jesus Christ.
Literally was just reading a thread about how nobody should use Armorall, and the only reason they have market share being due to their availability at Walmart.
It's like a prophecy was fulfilled just now.
Don’t say that man 😭😭😭😭😭
There’s a reason that the one thing I’ve learned more than anything else in this sub is that Armor All is very much disliked by detailers. They know infinitely more than I do, so I trust their judgment as a whole.
Dude no offense but ya gotta read the bottle at least. Nowhere does it say it can be used on plastic screens? Plastic =/= plastic screens
If you look at the pictures in the post you can see that it was used on plastic and not a plastic screen.
The post literally says "on my screen"
The instrument cluster is viewed thru a plastic screen, which is very fragile. Idk what is the confusion
I don’t know where you’re confused either, the picture is right there. Who cares what they said, people say the wrong things all the time.
Dude the picture is of the instrument cluster
Yep. The detailing equivalent of napalm.
Not to be completely unhelpful, but that is very clearly NOT all purpose cleaner.
lol I mean it does work on plastic. Wouldn’t that be the area thats affected?
Says on back of bottle "Do not use on or near clear plastic surfaces"
Why did the front lie? Lol
Lol I don't know. Those infotainment or intrument panels are very fragile. I've been learning a lot lately about all the different car cleaning products out there. Got to read the fine print on everything.
This would have been fine on other interior plastic, just not clear plastic.
For those instrument panels, you almost just want distilled water and a microfiber.
Optimum no rinse can be used on all surfaces and should be fine for the instrument panel.
There's lots of interior cleaners out there that clean lots of stuff but aren't allowed for your instrument panel.
Interesting. What do you suggest bro?! Or am I screwed glued & tattooed?
You're screwed. It reacted with the plastic. Your options are to live with it or replace it. Sorry man!
If distilled water and a microfiber won't work, you could try maybe a drop of baby soap or a very gentle hand soap. I'd steer away from alcohol but if you want to try it dilute it first. Or probably best of all, just buy a cleaner that's safe for infotainment screens. Like I mentioned earlier onr can be used on all surfaces and is great for exterior as well.
The anti glare coating is damaged. Your options are to live with it, remove the rest of the coating by polishing the clear plastic GENTLY with PlastRx or similar, or try a PPF/screen protector to hide it. I've had success with options 1 and 2, never tried putting a film on it personally.
If you remove the rest of the coating the plastic will look uniform but you will get more glare. So decide what you want before committing because it's not an easy or cheap thing to replace.
Honestly I just wanna hide it from my eyes it hurts me lol. Didn’t know they made screens protectors for that type of shit may do that. Imma try plastX first tho
I'm not experienced enough to know how to fix this. Might be cooked on this one. I'd ask or search around. Worse case, maybe you can replace that plastic panel?
Good thing is, I bet you won't let it happen again. 🙂
Its for dashboards, not screens
Meguiar's PlastX, a fresh micro fiber buffing disc, and a shit load of elbow grease. It happens to the best of us, just buff it out and it will be perfect.
Bet man I appreciate it. Is the plastx only online?
That is not a cleaner, it's a protectant for rubber and plastics. A silicone based product at that and silicone based products should never be used on a gauge cluster. Lesson learned but it sucks there has to be damage associated with the lesson.
You got double whammied. Armour All Protectant is virtually taboo among the more knowledgeable community and it's a silicone based product applied where a silicone based product should not be applied.
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Do not do this. The alcohol will attack the plastic further.
Car wash place did this to my GF's Civic. I have no clue what they used, but I'd love to know any possible fixes.
They replace it for damaging it?
No, happened years ago.
That sucks. Someone recently said a screen protector will hide a lot of it, but of course that might not exist for speedometer displays. Hmm, brb, starting an amazon store of Speedometer protectors.
Try Meguiars PlastX and a hand polishing pad.
So it looks like it’s a chemical burn. As others have already said, say away from this product. Ive seen this countless times unfortunately.
You could try Meguiars PlastX or Polywatch. It’s used for removing scratches off plastic watch crystals.
If you sprayed the products directly onto the gauges, it is possible that some of it went behind the lens. Always a good idea to spray a microfiber with the product and wipe the surface, especially on gauges and screens.
Might be worth trying that PlastRX stuff. I chemical burnt my dash once and it came right off
I heard it may or may not work. Really don’t wanna waste no money. It looked fine when I first did it, but then I got back in the car later and then it looked like that.
Mine looked 10x worse and PlastX fixed it completely
Same it will work. Novus also works the same if you can’t find plastx.
If it’s not too expensive or hard, I would replace the lens and just never use products on the gauge cluster just dust it with a microfiber.
interior rarely needs anything stronger than water on a microfiber
Chem etch
Same thing happened when a detailer wiped my matte gauge even when I told them not to. Scratched the shit out of it (tried to tell me that it was impossible for him to scratch it 😂). I had great luck with ScreenProtech, they make PPF for this exact situation and other parts of the interior in both matte/clear films. Bit pricey but worth it! It can be hard to install depending on the gauge setup, but is very DIY friendly. Hid my scratches and now I can actually wipe it to clean.
Try olive oil, helped for me.
Did it also feel like it’s on the other side of the plastic?
No, just had a dealer spray something that marked the screen. Got rid of the marks though.
Following. Just happened to mine too but not this bad 😭
Lol why you gotta say not this bad. Make me feel ugly lol
same shit happened to me
This the first time so I thought nothing of it smh. I’m so pissed
Use a polish compound and lightly rub the spots off with a microfiber. Then, apply a carnauba wax.
What’s that exactly? & what’s carnauba as well?
I’m not quite sure if you can get rid of that, but I will tell you that you can buy those plastic covers straight from Mopar (since you have a Charger). The one in my Challenger was cracked when I bought the car so I bought a brand new genuine Mopar one and put it in.
It’s not too hard to install either. You just have to take that front dash piece off that goes around the gauge cluster and radio (held in with clips), and unscrew a few bolts holding the cluster in.
Like I said, I’m not sure if you can get those dots out, but if you can’t you can always buy that clear plastic piece and have a nice, new, clear cover to look at :)
It happened to me, but there were only a couple of big drop burns in that case (don't know if it was APC or dashboard dressing but it ruined the plastic surface. Even if you quality stuff, chemical residue + sun can damage a clear plastic which scratches itself just looking at it). I fixed that by gently rubbing a new, very soft mf cloth with polish (compound + finishing) with my finger until clear. It required a lot of time and patience for a a small spot, as you have to be careful to not stain surroundings and to make gentle pressure. Once finished I cleaned very well using a very damp mf cloth for screen glasses and diluted glass cleaner barely making any pressure. I made a small test at the beginning to ensure I wouldn't make the situation worse, then went for it. Now every time I clean and dress the dashboard I only use the spray on towel method.
One guy reported applying PPF to the screen fixed it
What’s that?
Paint protection film.
Had the same issue with the car I just bought, meguiars plastX on a microfiber with a little finger buffing took most of it off. It's still there if you're looking for it, but it's certainly much better.
The only safe chemicals to use on the interior, especially on screens is water. And soft cloth.
Use a lot of platix (get it from auto zone for like $9), be patient and polish it over and over again. Top it off with a coating of WD-40 (spray on a microfiber towel). Mine was exactly like yours, now is 90% clear.
Wd 40?
Really?
Yeah, just use it as a top coat. It’s been 2 weeks and no chemical reaction.
Don’t soak it, just a very thin layer applied by microfiber towel after you polished it with the Pastix.
I made exactly this mistake years and years ago on my husband's '97 Escort.
Meguiar's PlastX saved my life. It got rid of 100% of the spots and made the lens look better than when I started. And it's great on exterior plastics too - taillight lenses, shiny black pillar trim, etc. It made the B-pillar on my old Grand Caravan look like brand-new!
Rinse less wash! First, NEVER spray inside the interior, too much overspray to other parts and spotting chemical burn because of the small specks drying up quicker than we think! Second, I use an edge less microfiber from Harbor Freight (Grant’s Plush Towels) rinsed out fully of rinse less wash. With that damp towel you can wipe lightly and with a second DRY towel you wipe off the extra rinse less. I use DIY RINSELESS WASH but Absolute by P&S OR ONR are fine!! Let me know if you need anything cleared up, but RINESLESS Wash is safe on ALL INTERIOR SURFACES (as everything… READ THE LABELS; dilution ratios and instructions should be on there to avoid damage
idiot
I know
I found some plastic polish at a local plastic store and it restores light scratches
SHAMMY. A dry SHAMMY ONLY
Never spray directly on the gauge cluster or dash board. Spray directly to the towel.
Doesn’t this also indicate you used way too much?
Always use plain water for the gauge cluster
Try a dedicated screen cleaner such as Whoosh from Amazon. I use it on all my screens from computers, LED TV screens, dash and my Alpine car stereo screen. Love it.
Happened to me, I had to take the entire infotainment/gauge cluster out and wet sand it off. I think I used 600,1000,2000, and 3000 grit. It shouldn’t be hard to take apart. Couple clips, couple screws, 1-2 wire harnesses to disconnect. It’s likely the only way it’ll come off. Them chemicals etch and embed themselves into the plastic. For future reference, keep your interior cleaners very simple. One trusted interior cleaner, and follow up with a protectant. Spray the cloth, not the surface. That plastic is just held on with a series of clips. Remove the plastic from the gauge cluster, wet sand it, then it simply pops back on.
I know you're pissed. But just an fyi - these gauge clusters usually don't cost much. I don't know what car you have and how popular it is but I think I paid 35 bucks for a used bmw gauge cluster. It's usually two screws and one cable, so worst come to worst, should be easy and (hopefully) cheap to replace.
Update: it looks a 100x better after applying plastx. can still kinda see it but only if you try to.
Wondering if I’m able to get the rest if I kept going at it or it’s just like that forever nonetheless I’m grateful for yalls help. Can’t thank yall enough.
I use Koch chemie APC and I’ve never had this issue but n gauges, I spray on wipe off within seconds, maybe it sat for too long?
Only use a dry micro towel on plastic screens
how you got a retired police charger?
Lol private seller
The dash doesn’t say 180 nor 200 you I think your good 🤣 jkjk polish it off by hand and rag with compound will buff right off
Never EVER touch the gauge cluster lens unless you have to. Things are made with the cheapest clear plastics imaginable for some reason. I had to replace them on each used car I've purchased bc everyone does the same thing and wipe them with a cleaner or a dirty rag. The only way to clean it properly is with compressed air or if it has any sort of water stain then with a lightly damp towel and even then it's gonna scratch a little bit.
This needs to go higher up in the comments. I learned many many years ago to not touch this lens with anything other than water AFTER i use a microfiber towel like a brush to very very lightly whisk away any dust on there first.I don't even wipe the lens now or use any water. I just lightly whisk the dust away and leave it at that.
Oh and to give an idea how soft that plastic is. My phone case which is silicon which I rest on it to watch videos during lunch break scratched that. Silicon scratches that lens.
The silicone case didn't scratch your plastic lens, the dust/dirt/grit caught between them did.
When I sneeze on my car I make a big deal to aim (away) from the garage cluster i feel like that’s the only thing that really gets that thing dirty. It has no other reason to be
I do the exact same thing LMAO
Maybe it’s because I always have my windows down and drive down dirt roads. Im constantly using my finger to clear dust so I can see how much gas I have
Ahh gotcha, yeah that could be it I'm one of those people that HATE driving with my windows down. I love the peace and quiet with the windows up
Shit my bad I didn’t even realize what sub I was in. I thought I was in the Silverado Reddit, to much weed smoke lmao.
Regardless I live in a tiny ass town so I like to hear the silence I get daily
Exactly this. I freaking hate acrylic because of this. My used Ford Focus's gauge cluster lens was ruined exactly like OPs because the previous owner used Armor All to clean it. Ended up getting rid of it, buying one from a junkyard and putting a clear plastic film on it to mask the scratches
This response finally answered the questions as to why I have a weird mark on my gauge cluster that I cannot get off lmao
I believe you can get the dust and dirt behind the glass if you use compressed air.
Oh come on, it's easy to not damage shit. Be gentle. I use a ton of spray cleaner, a fresh microfiber to mostly dab and spread it then compressed air.
Maybe i'll try that because just clean microfiber wasn't even doing the trick.
Do your best to blow away any debris before you do anything, also. Be gentle
Ive been using glass cleaner for years and never had an issue. I have damaged a cluster with foaming cleaner spray though...
See this is why I don't peel the plastic off them to begin with.