Interior Plastic & Trim

Interior Plastics and Trim

The interior of your vehicle is where you spend a lot of your time and has a big impact on your overall driving experience.
A fresh smelling, clean and dressed interior can brighten your day and allow you to enjoy your own space that little bit more, but where do you start?

 Let’s work out firstly what we don’t want. OK, a greasy, reflective dashboard is off the list. Last thing we want is dust magnet that also reflects on to the glass which can be dangerous and interrupting when concentrating on the road ahead. Also let’s rule out stained plastic trim from makeup, sun cream, moisturizer and oils. Add to this coffee or drink stains in cups holders. (yes, some people eat and drink in their cars)

To get a better understanding of how best to look after the interior of vehicles, we should examine the materials used to make the surfaces themselves. The padding in dashboards and trim is most commonly polyurethane foam, while the surface can be a mix of polyvinyl chloride and thermoplastic olefin. Basically it’s plastic. Plastic generally will repel oils and liquids. With that in mind, it doesn't make sense to put another oil type product on the surface.

There are two main steps to looking after interior plastic, vinyl and trim
• Cleaning
• Dressing/Protecting

 

Cleaning

In the cleaning process we are looking to strip all oils, dust, dirt and grime from not only the surface but in the crevices and pattern on the trim. An all purpose cleaner, alkaline based, will do this, however we do not want to have any residue from the cleaner left, nor do we want the cleaner too strong they could cause a stain or dulling. Here we turn to specific chemicals, interior cleaners that are designed for the task at hand.

 

Below we have a 50:50 comparison of the left side uncleaned, and right side cleaned and ready for a dressing. Notice the matt finish on the cleaned side. 

 

Dressing & Protecting

As we now have a naked surface to work with, we can look at dressing the surface to give the look we are after, as well as protecting the surface from UV radiation to prevent fading. There are products that will allow you to both dress and protect the surface. There are also products that will leave different looks;

Here the choice is up to you and we have different products to provide the exact look you require.

 

Below we have 3 different products to show how different dressing can alter the look of the surface. From Left; Scholl Concepts Purple, Poorboy's Natural Look & Polishangel Natural Look.


We also have some products that can provide both cleaning and dressing in one. These are a great time saver and work well in a maintenance situation. Polishangel Intimate and Einszett Cockpit Premium are both examples of this.