On Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 8:20:09 AM UTC, Chris French wrote:
In message , ChrisK
writes
Seem to be a widespread problem with rubberised plastic finishes, they
often turn into a gooey mess eventually for which there seems to be no
obvious solution - all the usual solvents don't touch it or make it
worse. Seems to happen on expensive stuff as well. Searches don't seem
throw up a cure other than a messy temporary fix with talcum powder.
Some suggest IPA but this does not work IME.

As a last resort, on trying more of the assorted fluids in the garage,
brake fluid seems to work well. Polishing with a cloth soaked in brake
fluid seems to remove the sticky component selectively without damaging
the rest of the surface - or even affecting lettering and other markings..

Anyone else tried this?

This recipe sounded so unlikely that when I found some ancient brake fluid tidying up in my father's garage I had to try it on a plastic vacuum cleaner casing that had gone all gooey I was about to take to the tip. To my utter amazement it works as advertised and removes the tacky residual leaving clean plastic underneath with a slight loss of the original matt finish as a result of polishing the goo off. But it worked and the plastic was renovated.

Only really any good on nice smooth moulded shells but amazingly it does seem to work and doesn't affect the typical pigment paint used on the plastic..
(although that must be marginal)

One for the FAQ perhaps?


ISTR a thread on this a little while back

I am surprised how selective a solvent it was - just the right properties to dissolve the unwanted short chain polymers and plasticisers but not enough to attack the sound plastic or printing inks on it.

Swarfega is good for removing the final traces of brake fluid afterwards.

Regards,
Martin Brown