98 GTV Dashboard / Consol deteriation

[Dim]

After giving the centre dash board of my 98 GTV a wipe down it has become sticky to the extant you can leave deep finger marks by accidently touching it. The area i am talking about is the large piece of plastic that wraps around the ciggie lighter then moves up around the gear stick and then the radio and dials. I suspect there was something in the rag i was using (metho or turps) that has reacted with the plastic to make it soft.

Is there a way to reverse the reaction or is my dashboard / consol doomed?

If its doomed what are my options you think?

[Brad M]

Certain kinds of plastics will melt or become sticky when they come in contact with turpentine.

Not sure how (or if) it could be reversed. One of the chemists may have a suggestion.

[spieret]

I've had the same problem with my 98 GTV as well as another club member from Queensland. It can't be reversed, however you can get rid of it. In mine I spent the better part of an afternoon scraping away all the sticky goop. Then I used nail polish remover to clean it up, in saying that however, nail polish remover was a little bit too harsh for the job and i need to use some black shoe polish to restore some of the colour. The other member who had the same problem used turps after scraping away the goop and his turned out much better. So basically, carefully scrape away as much goop as you can and rub it down with turps. It should work a treat.

Cheers

Tony

[alfa_luver]

Hi

I have a Alfa '99 166 - certain parts of the dash have become like thick vegemite - apparently this is caused by the car having been in the sun and the interior becoming very hot on numerous occasions. 

I scrapped the glovebox cover 'clean' but could never get it perfect - bought acetone and it hardly worked - bought some thin  black leather and covered it but not a great success - bought some black vinyl 'paint' for the other sticky parts and that has set over the surface, but is shiny so doesn't look very good. 

I think the only solution will be the auto trimmers ($$$!)

[Alfa166]

I have the same problem , fix is remove the rubberised material and take it to a good panel shop and get them to re-spray it black same goes for the console that house the gauges. It has been done many a time by guys on www.alfaowner.com. I have to do the same to mine but haven't go around to it.