UV discoloration on upper door panels

[dosbricks]

I have the tan interior in my wagon and that color seems most vulnerable to an ugly, splotchy, rather orange discoloration atop the door panels next to the windows. It seems to be deep into the vinyl not just on the surface. No cleaner or restorative I've tried has done much to remove it, and it grows worse with time.

What surprises me is the car has been garaged night and day for most of it's life. It sat in the sun for the first two years and besides that, only when on the road. I've seen examples that are far worse than mine, but regardless, this is an unsightly issue that is the first thing noticeable about the interior when walking up to the car.

So if anyone has any methods that have actually worked on this problem, I would be really interested in learning from your experience. Thanks.

dos

[dosbricks]

Well, after 90 views and no response, you guys confirm my suspicion that this is a problem without a solution. This condition must be worse in hot sunny climates.

Probably time to get the limousine window tint job I've always wanted to have done. That would at least make it hard to notice from outside the car.

[IG-88A]

Mine gets really gross and dried out and seems to get all sorts of gunk adhered to it. Dust and whatnot from having the windows down or dirty arms, is my only guess. I tried diluted Simple Green, and it actually seemed to lift some of the color of the vinyl into the rag I was using and didn't really work. It also seemed to leave the surface a bit tacky and my thought was that it would just attract more grime. I wouldn't recommend that. I ended up using Goop hand cleaner on a basic toothbrush and gave all of my vinyl a good scrubbing. Then I rinsed the toothbrush and did little circular brushing all over the surface, rinsing the brush in water repeatedly, followed by a few wipedowns with wet rags to get all the dirt out, and then finished it all off with some dry rags. You'll be amazed at the dirt that comes out. I think that as the vinyl dries, it becomes porous and lets all sorts of nasties into it. The Goop seemed to lift that stuff out, and actually appeared to rehydrate it and made it look really good, faded or not. The fade will look even at least. Mine are still very faded up top, a lighter shade of tan, but its far less gross looking than it was before. They actually look clean, and don't have that blotchy dirty thing going on anymore. I read on a boating forum that Goop is supposedly what a lot of folks use on their vinyl interiors, as well as guys who restore old vinyl interiors in cars. So I thought I'd give it a try. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was quite impressed with the results. Bear in mind that this won't offer any UV protection, or restore the color that was lost. But for me, it did a great job cleaning the door panels and making them look nicer than they had. Just make sure you get the traditional white container, and not the orange one. Its quite cheap. And it'll last you a good while. I even used it to get some stains out of my carpet mats. The stuff is quite impressive for how cheap it is.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/16880683?wmls ... 28&veh=sem

[dosbricks]

I used to use Goop to clean hands after working on a car when I was a teenager. If it's mild enough for hands, it ought to be OK for vinyl. Thanks for this tip--I will give it a try.

dos