Around the door handles, bed rails every where you get wax on plastic. It dries and does not look to good. How do you get it off?

 

Tooth brush, and Simple green

 

mothers makes a plastic polish that claims to take it off. it actually goes on like wax and you wipe it off.

 

Funny, I just waxed my truck this afternoon. I had the same problem for a previous wax job. Picked up a bottle of Mothers Back-to-Black. Worked wonders! Removed - covered all the wax residue. Also made the Plastic on the bumpers and mirrors look better than new. Give it a shot. Cost about $5.00. Hope this helps. Thanks,

 

The best way I have found (though time intensive) is to take a _soft_ bristled toothbrush and some cleaner (I usually use a strong mix of car soap such a Meguiar's). Get some _hot_ water and mix in some soap, and start scrubbing... The toothbrush will get into the texture and brush away the residue, and the hot soap/water will help soften it. One warning, it may take several attempts to get rid of it entirely if it's a real thick deposit.

When you are done apply some rubber/plastic conditioner (Mothers, Meguiars, etc.) to keep the trim in good shape after the abuse. Whatever you do, don't use a stiff brush or a harsh cleaner, it'll discolor/scratch the trim, and strip the wax off your finish if you slop it.

Most other "fixes" such as trim cleaner/wax or peanut butter just cover up the residue, and will eventually evaporate/etc. and the residue will come back. I suppose you could try a few commercial products, but I've never found one that works.

In the future, I'd suggest masking off your trim with painter's tape before you wax. It may seem excessive, but after spending 2-3 hours scrubbing wax residue off my trim the first time I waxed my new Exp (the new model Explorers have TONS of trim) I gladly spend 10-15 minutes to mask it off before I wax now =)

Hope this helps,
MilesTeg

 

thats what i was talking when i said plastic polish. thanks for the name of it. it was bothering the heck outta me. i've never actually tried it, but i think i'm going to give it a shot.

 

Thanks for the input. Going to work on it today.

 

Go to your auto paint supply store. Ask them for Prepsol. It is A wax and grease remover. It works great, check small areas first, sometimes makes plastic shiney. I have used it on bumper plastic and bed caps on my SD with no problems.
Steve

 

Great tips. Been having the same problem for years....

 

What worked for me was using a soft eraser (either the white or the light brown "gum" type ones) and going over the wax marks with that. You'll end up with a lot of eraser bits about, so wipe it off every now and then with a dry towel and go over it again until most of the wax is visably off the plastic. After going over it afew times, I used a soft toothbrush and some WD-40 to finish the job, giving it a quick wipe with the dry towel once I had scrubbed it a bit. Using soap like MilesTeg mentioned may work just as well in place of the WD-40, though.

 

...oh, and that having been said, I now use painter's tape. Picking up a few rolls of that blue stuff saves a lot of work later

 

Next time ya wax, just hit all those black textured plastic surfaces with some armorall or silicone. that way the wax won't stick to it

 

Well it sure seems like that would work except I have a hard time making that blue painters tape stick to anything, not even itself

 

Heh, true enough. I'd still rather wrestle with getting the tape on there than trying to get the wax off later.

 

I'm with RookiePete -

WD-40 and a toothbrush. Spray the toothbrush and scrub the plastic. Comes off in a heartbeat, and its something I have around the house, so I don't have to go to the store for another bottle of something else...