Sticky plastic interior

[Tweety16]

I have a 2001 Jetta TDI. Much of the interior plastic pieces, both the beige ones on the dash and console and the black ones around the steering wheel and A/C vents etc. are sticky. I don't know if the plastic is deteriorating or what. It looks terrible and is impossible to clean the dirt and debris from it. Any ideas?

 

[cmitchell]

This is VW's special "soft touch" crap that is supposed to make the interior nicer. I HATE the stuff. It's the worst feature of my car. It looks nasty and is a pain to get off. I'm going to try covering mine when it gets too unsightly. There have been some ideas on here about how to get it off, but I can't remember. Try searching "soft touch" and see what pops up.

 

[AUGSX]

Just removed mine over the past week end, scotch brite green pad and mild soap, lots of elbow grease.

 

[kazzx]

Goof Off worked for the plastic on the drivers door that holds the switches. Took a couple times but it worked.

 

[ProStreetDriver]

I've heard brake cleaner works well too. I hate the stuff too, it scratches so easily. I'm debating on painted around the shifter and around the hvac/stereo silver, but I have to remove the stuff first. The plastic around my steering column where the key goes, the previous owner scratched it up pretty good, so I have to remove the coating now instead of buying a new one.

 

[Seatman]

Lol I thought it was just us europeans with Seats that had this issue, I'm in the middle of stripping my door handles and giving them some paint, should perk them up.

 

[Tweety16]

Not the "soft touch" that just peels off...

The soft touch, I think is the paint that is used on the door handles and driver side window switch bezel etc. That junk just scrapes/peels off. The plastics I am referring to are the black stuff around the steering column, the ashtray area and even the beige parts of the dashboard, like the glovebox door, near the footbox area and console pieces. Are these also coated with soft touch? The plastic gets very sticky, like it is decomposing. I used carburater cleaner on some of it and it took the gooey surface stuff off but if you are not careful it will dissolve the plastic!!
Thanks for the info!!

 

[snakeye]

I think all the panels have some kind of coating. Not sure if they're all soft touch, but I know the handles and the steering column cover are. So is the ash tray cover, and some black plastic parts around the radio.

I have a feeling cigarette smoke has something to do with the deterioration of the soft touch material.

 

[nellis003]

I had the same problem on my 2000 Golf - that sliding door that covers the ashtray and the power outlet felt like syrup had been pured on it. After a lot of scrubbing and not getting anywhere, I finally exercised the nuclear option and put the door in my blast cabinet. Got that sticky layer off, and then soaked it with Armor-all. It actually came out looking pretty good, and no longer feels gross.

Nick

 

[Tweety16]

Thanks!

Thanks for the info! If most of the plastic stuff has soft touch on it, that explains the problem with the lower dashboard and foot areas. I do not smoke but do live in Florida where maybe the heat causes the soft touch to break down quicker.
All I know is it sure is a sticky difficult to clean mess!

 

[snakeye]

Thanks for the info! If most of the plastic stuff has soft touch on it, that explains the problem with the lower dashboard and foot areas. I do not smoke but do live in Florida where maybe the heat causes the soft touch to break down quicker.
All I know is it sure is a sticky difficult to clean mess!

This is exactly what I'm dealing with right now. Sticky panels under the dashboard. If it was just plastic, I doubt it would be sticky. I was thinking it's the previous owner's smoke that caused the stickiness, but you say you don't smoke so I guess we can rule that out.

 

[rockwood]

This is exactly what I'm dealing with right now. Sticky panels under the dashboard. If it was just plastic, I doubt it would be sticky. I was thinking it's the previous owner's smoke that caused the stickiness, but you say you don't smoke so I guess we can rule that out.

Do you use Armor All or similar? My car's previous owner smoked (like a chimney, it seems) and while the soft touch is scratched in a lot of places, it's certainly not stickey. I know Armor All tends to do bad things to plastic after a while...

BTW, my magic cure-all for interior cleaning is baby wipes. Amazing things. Even cleaned grease off of the headliner without damaging it.

 

[colinoz]

I have had a problem with the rotary operation of my light switch on my 2005 Mk5 Golf TDI in Brisbane Australia. The soft touch coating has gone gooey and caused it to bind up. I have just removed the switch from the dash, and the outside bezel from the switch. I cleaned off the adjoining surfaces with wet steel wool. I realised too late that bits of steel left behind may cause shorting. I only saw the Scotchbrite comment above afterwards!

The main problem is that the soft touch coating provides a mask for the back-lit symbols. I don't know how to deal with the problem. With the coating removed a white plastic blob is visible. At night with the lights on a much bigger bright area is visible. Its quite distracting. My wife's 2002 Audi has a real problem with the center console. All the aircon buttons are blank white blobs.

 

[silverBull]

So thats what it is called; SOFT TOUCH

I know this is old but I'm just getting around to dealing with the sticky interior parts. I dont smoke, car is garaged, never anything on the dash but a California duster. Dash is gooy to the point of leaving a well defined finger print in it permanently. One hour plus to clean a square foot area with googone wipes by "smearing" the Goo off. I have come to the conclusion there is no easy way to remove this without damaging the smooth plastic under surface. What a piss poor idea!

 

[Prairieview]

Ya, but, the flies that stick to it come in really handy on days you forget to pack a lunch...…..

 

[dwheil]

This is an old thread but somebody mite see this.

I found that good old Dot 3 brake fluid works great. If you take the panels out of the car, just spray with the fluid and let it set 10 or 15 minutes and hit it with a pressure washer and a majority will be gone. Just get the rest off using fluid and a folded up paper towel. This will remove the sticky stuff and the rubber gunk off the top of the doors also.




i

 

[Figit090]

This is an old thread but somebody mite see this.

I found that good old Dot 3 brake fluid works great. If you take the panels out of the car, just spray with the fluid and let it set 10 or 15 minutes and hit it with a pressure washer and a majority will be gone. Just get the rest off using fluid and a folded up paper towel. This will remove the sticky stuff and the rubber gunk off the top of the doors also.




i

Awesome, does anyone know if that fluid will hurt the plastic?

I'm getting close to removing all my soft touch since my interior is taken apart, and I was actually considering bead or sand blasting. some of the parts will be gloss black plastic after the removal and I like the matte black look. However, I'm hesitant to blast anything because I don't know if it will leave an uneven finish.

 

[utleytj]

Oxi Clean

Came to the forum to check on this because I only just got around to trying to resolve it. Tried a few things, but it all took a lot of elbow grease... checked here, then searched for other cars with the issue because the solutions here seemed a bit hazardous.... turns out I found a guy restoring an old mustang with a similar issue. He used oxi clean in water and a scrub brush to get the sticky off the interior... probably not exactly the same issue as newer VW, but I gave it a shot anyway, and it worked like a charm. Give it a couple minutes after applying and came right off. Shined it all up with Armor All afterward and it was perfect! And probably less toxic than brake fluid.

 

[sriracha]

Came to the forum to check on this because I only just got around to trying to resolve it. Tried a few things, but it all took a lot of elbow grease... checked here, then searched for other cars with the issue because the solutions here seemed a bit hazardous.... turns out I found a guy restoring an old mustang with a similar issue. He used oxi clean in water and a scrub brush to get the sticky off the interior... probably not exactly the same issue as newer VW, but I gave it a shot anyway, and it worked like a charm. Give it a couple minutes after applying and came right off. Shined it all up with Armor All afterward and it was perfect! And probably less toxic than brake fluid.

I’ve never used oxi clean. I’ll have to try it.

I used isopropyl alcohol and non-scratch scotchbrite pads to remove the sticky soft touch from all the interior plastic parts in my wagon:

 

[Taco8v]

I’ve never used oxi clean. I’ll have to try it.



I used isopropyl alcohol and non-scratch scotchbrite pads to remove the sticky soft touch from all the interior plastic parts in my wagon:

Wow that looks very clean. Was it hard to remove? Does the alcohol dissolve the paint easy?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sriracha]

Wow that looks very clean. Was it hard to remove? Does the alcohol dissolve the paint easy?


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Thanks! I agree, it looks and feels much cleaner than before. If the soft-touch is really gummy and rubs off with your fingers, the isopropyl alcohol works great. It was rather easy, just a bit time consuming. Grab a 6-pack of beers, a bulk package of non-scratch scotchbrite pads and spend the evening scrubbing and cleaning. Also, have some clean rags on hand to use after the scrub pads, to remove the final haze of soft-touch left behind.
However, I also picked up some lower dash panels from the junkyard to replace my cracked panels. These were not as gummy; I did notice that the soft touch was more tenacious and was more difficult to remove.
So, if the soft-touch is gummy, it’s easy but messy to remove. If the soft-touch is rather fresh, it is a little more challenging.

 

[Figit090]

Alcohol is a destroyer of soft-touch. I first used it cleaning off an electric lantern that was covered in soft-touch. I didn't actually KNOW it was going to remove it, but it sure made the thing sticky and gross!

scotchbrite pads would have helped a lot trying to clean it off, lol. I wasn't sure turning it to a sticky mess would be the best for the VW but apparently it works.

I'll try both that and oxy-clean when I do my interior. most of it's out so I'll be doing the lot.

 

[Bengoshi2000]

There's a thread around here somewhere that suggested oven cleaner. I was planning using that to remove the soft-touch in my Golf.

I can attest to the fact it works... I used it to clean the console in my '66 Mustang that was in bad need of a repaint. Took it straight down to the plastic with little more than a rinse with a hose.

 

[Andyinchville1]

Hi
Great thread I had no idea what was happening when I bought a junkyard glove box and ended up with a sticky residue including gray color on my hands ...
At first since the part came from a junkyard and it was slightly dirty to start with I thought somebody had spilled Coke or some sticky residue on it but after hosing it off with a garden hose and rubbing with a sponge I got all the dirt off of it but ultimately the surface was so sticky I could literally leave my fingerprint in the gray color of the glove box...
I'm going to try some of the cleaning methods mentioned above... great thread I'm glad I stumbled on this...
Andrew

 

[compu_85]

In my 99.5 the base plastics themselves were starting to break down. Even stuff that wasn't soft touch had turned gooey / sticky, and brittle.

-J

 

[jokila]

I have black interior and used the scotch brite to clean the plastic and remove the coating. I followed up with matte black rattle can spray. It looks as good as it did before and no more peeling.

If you don't repaint it, it looks shiny and odd compared to the rest of the interior.

 

[sriracha]

I have black interior and used the scotch brite to clean the plastic and remove the coating. I followed up with matte black rattle can spray. It looks as good as it did before and no more peeling.

If you don't repaint it, it looks shiny and odd compared to the rest of the interior.

I deleted the sticky soft-touch off all of the interior plastic in my wagon, so it’s all shiny black: upper and lower center console, dash panels, door grab handles, steering column ... dare I say piano black? It looks great!

 

[zaeli]

Goo gone or goop(f)? off for cars, scotch brite and elbow grease

 

[Rob Mayercik]

A credit card (or hotel door key card) works as a scraper to take off the soft-touch paint without harming the plastic underneath - just did the driver's door handle on my Jetta last weekend this way...

 

[snakeye]

A credit card (or hotel door key card) works as a scraper to take off the soft-touch paint without harming the plastic underneath - just did the driver's door handle on my Jetta last weekend this way...

That only works when the soft touch coating is sticky all around. Scraping the stuff when it's in good condition is a PITA.