Scratches on the Interior Trim

[neanders2]

Anyone have advice on how to make these go away? I have the Saddle colored interior and I noticed that it scratches pretty easily. Are there any good products for removing light surface scratches from the plastic / vinyl trim pieces?

[OCDetails]

Not really. Scratches on the plastic aren't just going to wipe off. You can sand down the really deep ones, but if they don't come off with rubber/vinyl protectants like Armor All, then they aren't going to come out at all. Obviously there are better things out there than Armor All, but you get the picture. For the most part products like that just protect against UV damage and don't do anything for scratches. 303 Aerospace Protectant is one of the better ones that I'm seeing available off the shelf now, but even that isn't going to remove scratches from plastic. That would be like using Pledge to remove gouges in your piano. Its merely a cleaner and a protectant, not a scratch remover.

There isn't a dash polishing product that I'm aware of. Since most surfaces in the car are textured it just doesn't make sense to polish them. I bought my '03 Pilot used and apparently the previous owner had a dog that liked to scratch the side pieces between the front seat and back seat. I've got all kinds of scratches in the plastic that simply do not come out. I've used 3000 grit sandpaper to get rid of some of the annoyance, but the scratches remain.

[Rib]

I would venture a guess, based on my own experience, that the scratches on the plastic panel between the doors is caused by releasing the seat belt and letting it retract on its own, it hits the panel and scratches it. I noticed the gouges when the truck was fairly new but the damage was already done. When you release the belt, hang on to it.

[jay]

Several owners have reported good success at getting repairs to scratches done by Dr. Vinyl.

[CMasten]

This is going to sound strange but I have found it useful for all of the various scratches in my plastic interior

take a wooden chopstick and (using a sharp knife) slice off the end so you have a nice sharp wooden edge. Now use that edge to rub the the scratch, so your rubbing it parallel to the length of the scratch, the wooden chopstick will beging to help fold the edges of the plastic back into the groove and fill it back in.. I have done this maybe a dozen times around my Pilot and Im hard pressed to tell there was even a nik or scratch. Obviously this wont work as well on really bad scratches, but for the day to day stuff it works well.

I learned this from a friend of mine that details cars for a living.

Hope it helps!

CMasten

[OCDetails]

Originally posted by CMasten
This is going to sound strange but I have found it useful for all of the various scratches in my plastic interior

take a wooden chopstick and (using a sharp knife) slice off the end so you have a nice sharp wooden edge. Now use that edge to rub the the scratch, so your rubbing it parallel to the length of the scratch, the wooden chopstick will beging to help fold the edges of the plastic back into the groove and fill it back in.. I have done this maybe a dozen times around my Pilot and Im hard pressed to tell there was even a nik or scratch. Obviously this wont work as well on really bad scratches, but for the day to day stuff it works well.

I learned this from a friend of mine that details cars for a living.

Hope it helps!

CMasten

That is a good tip! I don't detail cars for a living, but it is a second income that I rely on, so I'll be trying this out the next time I come across it. I have a few scratches in the Pilot that I may need to give it a shot on to see how it works. Thanks for that suggestion!