# MK4 Interior: How do I get it clean????!



## Bickfed (Nov 9, 2014)

Alright so I have a MK4 Jetta that obviously has been neglected for a very long time. Dirt Road/Driveway driving, Winter Salt and Snow, Mud, and everything else has left this interior trashed. Im replacing the rug cause its completely trashed. Curious what products to use in order to get the dash and plastic interior pieces (black) to shine up and not show that nasty dirt/dusty look. Black leather seats arent really a concern, more concerned about the lower plastic pieces, dash, center console (cupholder) any help would be appreciated. Thing has 209k hard miles on it and shes trashed.


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## Coolkid (Jul 14, 2017)

Do you have the soft touch in mind? Even if the owner is careful, it is very easy to scratch. You can buy replacement parts, which is not really the best way to go about it or you can do what I'm about to do - take the plastic elements off, clean them with alcohol and spray them with paint and a clear coat, then put them back on, they will look as brand new.

There are guides on it all over the internet, you need sandpaper and alcohol or soapy water in order to clean them, its best done when you take them out of the car. I cleaned mine, I'm not sure if this is the most appropriate way, but I found it to work best, because the plastic itself wasnt scratched, just the soft touch cover, I used kitchen towels and the back of a kitchen sponge and a bit of alcohol ( 70% ). It wasnt very hard to clear, but its not very comfortable when the pieces are in the car. I first tried it with sandpaper and alcohol, but I didnt like how it turned off. Some people just clean the soft touch and leave it as it is, but in my car as I was cleaning some of the elements, they turned grey, because of the sandpaper/alcohol combination, thats why I used the sponge. It doesn't matter if you are going to re-paint them, it cost me a little under 10 bucks for 1 bottle of black spray paint and 1 of clear coat spray, not that expensive for such a drastic change in the interior. You can do this to a lot of elements - ashtray cover, main console, door handles, ashtray in the back, the glovebox cover, the cover under the steering wheel. But be careful before you start restoring everything, because the older parts might not look as good next to the freshly painted ones. 
I don't know how to take the plastic thats around the shifter though, if anybody knows - please let me know  
Not talking about the whole console, just the black plastic where the ashtray is seated in.


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## gti dreamn (May 18, 2002)

a lot of the black, soft touch "plastic" was never meant to shine. the soft touch coating always had a matte appearance/finish to it. the big mistake people made was applying interior protectants to it, which in most cases, made the soft touch deteriorate faster and gum up sooner...i.e. become sticky

I would first start by using warm/hott-ish water and a microfiber cloth and wipe down all the interior surfaces that you mentioned - dash, center console, radio cage, etc. In all honesty, the soft touch does better when nothing is applied to it except water.

I'm going through a similar thing with my 04 GTI. I am currently in the process of tearing out the glovebox, center conlsole, radio cage and lower dash/knee panels so I can replace my blower motor/blower motor resistor AND make sure my blend door is still in good shape/covered with the OE foam.

In the process of dismantling my interior, I've come across several pieces of the interior that has the soft touch coating that is knicked, scraped, and become sticky - ash tray cover, part above the radio, area surrounding the shifter, HVAC control trim piece, and radio cage. All of these pieces are damaged in one way or the other. My plan for them is to strip all of the soft touch coating and just go over them once or twice with Novus #2 plastic polish.

Yes, I will be removing the black soft touch coating and leaving bare plastic behind. I really don't care as the car is now 14 years old and who am I going to impress at the car show...

New pieces are r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s-l-y expensive. The ash tray cover alone is $25. Whaaaa...and it doesn't stop there. So, to save money, I'm just going the "easiest" route possible. No plasti-dip, no SEM, nothing.

If I'm feeling snazzy, I will hit the plastic with some superfine sandpaper/#00 #0000 steel wool and then plastic polish to give a piano black look to the plastic. That's it it. 

Oh, simple green works well on the soft touch if you are going to remove it.


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