Removing ballpoint ink stain from headliner

T

Turbopower4

Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2008
Location
Suburban Philadelphia Pennsylvania
TDI
2015 Passat SEL TDI
It had to happen! My wife accidentally bumped her ballpoint pen against the headliner before the car was in our hands one month. 2012 Passat SELPremium with cornsilk beige interior...now "accented" with a nice medium point black ballpoint pen ink stripe!

Any ideas on how to safetly remove this without making a bigger mess?p

Love the new Passat TDI just hate the revised headliner. ;-(
 
Dieselducky

Dieselducky

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Oct 13, 2011
Location
Dunnville
TDI
88 Jetta Diesel - 2000 Jetta TDI - 04 BMW M3 - 06 Kia Rio - F350 Superduty - 87 Buick GNX - Mobile Cranes
You can try Auto Glym Interior shampoo that stuff took out a oil stain on my seat and they say you can use it on a headliner right on the bottle ....do not use a solvent ,you can dissolve the glue on the headliner and cause it to sag if it soaks in and attacks the glue. Also try not to get it too wet when yer wiping
 
F

firedwg1

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Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
CA
TDI
10 GSW, 12 Pass SEL, Tesla MS
I would try this first...

Ballpoint Ink Stains

If water-based stains are easy to remove and permanent ink stains are nearly impossible, ballpoint stains fall right in the middle. Just like in the examples above, start by laying your stained fabric on top of a clean dry cloth. Dab rubbing alcohol onto the ink stain. Begin blotting with a clean cloth. Continue until no ink stain remains. Rinse the clothing thoroughly. Now apply normal liquid laundry detergent onto the area and let it sit for between 3-5 minutes. Wash in the hottest water that is safe for the fabric.
If rubbing alcohol doesn't work, try nail polish remover, following the same instructions above. Be sure to rinse the fabric completely between using rubbing alcohol and nail polish remover. These items shouldn't be mixed. Before drying, make sure the stain is completely gone. If it is not, repeat the previous steps until the stain is removed, or you decided to call it quits.

http://housekeeping.about.com/od/stainremoval/a/inkstains.htm
 
snakeye

snakeye

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Joined
Dec 13, 2009
Location
Montreal, Canada
TDI
2003 Jetta and Wagon, GLS 5sp
firedwg1 said:
I would try this first...

Ballpoint Ink Stains

If water-based stains are easy to remove and permanent ink stains are nearly impossible, ballpoint stains fall right in the middle. Just like in the examples above, start by laying your stained fabric on top of a clean dry cloth. Dab rubbing alcohol onto the ink stain. Begin blotting with a clean cloth. Continue until no ink stain remains. Rinse the clothing thoroughly. Now apply normal liquid laundry detergent onto the area and let it sit for between 3-5 minutes. Wash in the hottest water that is safe for the fabric.
If rubbing alcohol doesn't work, try nail polish remover, following the same instructions above. Be sure to rinse the fabric completely between using rubbing alcohol and nail polish remover. These items shouldn't be mixed. Before drying, make sure the stain is completely gone. If it is not, repeat the previous steps until the stain is removed, or you decided to call it quits.

http://housekeeping.about.com/od/stainremoval/a/inkstains.htm
Click to expand...
I would try a few other solvents like mineral spirits and naphtha before acetone. Also don't dab, blot or whatever. Just soak, vacuum, and repeat. Once the stain is gone, it's gone. No need to wash anything that's not even there with laundry detergent and water.
 
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