My house cleaning lady cleaned my car last November before I put it into storage for the winter. She gave it the feminine touch my hanging one of those cheap pine tree air freshners off the emergency brake handle. Here is what the plastic silver trim on the console looks like after the solvents in the air freshner has eaten through the plastic.

OUCH

 

Try mothers or 3M plastic polish, that should be able to get it out and plastic should be like new again. I use it all the time on the plastic bezeal for the headlights and tailights to get off the road funk and haze.

 

Ugly! Why not remove the console and have it repaired and painted piano black to match the dash. I'm considering doing that myself. The silver color seems out of place.

 

HOLY **** BRO!!!! Sorry to hear about that. I will never let that happen to my car. Thanks for the warning.

 

yeah, thanks for the heads up. If I saw that I'd have to clean up 2 spots :-(

 

There is nothing to clean, it ate half way through the plastic. The solvents in the air freshner dissolved the plastic.

The part is replaceable and that is the least expensive route to go.

 

What part of my post did you miss? The part where the solvent ate half way through the plastic?

 

At first glance, the pic looks like the surface fibers and black ink from the freshener are merely stuck to the surface of the paint, like a sticker. I bet thats what the previous poster was thinking when they made their reply.

 

so he misread what you said, he was offering help however...

 

Just about anything scented will melt plastic... Incense sticks do the same. I think it has something to do with the oil in them.

 

Dude!!! RX-8 is meant for driving not storing! And how dare you let someone else touch your 8. Wait was the house keeper hot or something. tsk tsk tsk....

 

I'm not sure I would ever be comfortable with my house cleaning people detailing my car. However, I wouldn't want the guy who details my car to clean my house either. IMHO.

Sorry about the damage to your car though.

 

LMFHO

She said she used to detail with her brother a bodyshop owner. What do I know I think these frshners tell you to leave the plastic (cellophane) cover on and only expose a little of the freshner as required,

 

So how did it smell after all that time? I think those air freshener things are often way too powerful and leave your car smelling like a public toilet. I can only imagine the cloud of scent that must have wafted out after being closed up for months

 

Suprising enough, after being in storage for 5 months, it smelled like leather. Also, because I hadn't driven it for 5 months, it felt like driving a new car.

I figured at this rate, I won't have to buy a new car for a long time because this could become the 'poor man's' way to satify the urge to go buy a new car

 

I'm with you... paint it black. Probably an easy DIY.

 

If you really like the air fresheners you can buy one that clips to one of the fresh air vents.

 

This would be a nice addition to the DIY section... necessary sanding, what paint matches, anything else needed to be done to make it a perfect match for the piano black...