Need Help With Plastic Trim

[jt99ford]

Thursday the plant I work at had a chemical release which covered up my 04 f150 I have removed all the residue off the paint and windows but the spots on the plastic will not come off. The residue was a mixture of catalyst and hydro-chloric acid in an oil form which left little white spots on the plastic. Does anyone know what I could use to clean it with.There is a detail shop that says when they get done you will not have any residue left but they are 2-3 weeks behind. If I cant find anything to clean it with, I am going to let them try if they dont get it off then the Company better be ready to buy me some new trim.

[Ford Lariat]

Sorry, don't know what to do about the trim, but how did it get on your truck??

[WVtrucker]

Are you sure the HCl didn't bleach the plastic? I don't know what particular catalyst you are speaking of but HCl on it's own (and to a greater extent when mixed with some things) is a ridiculously strong oxidizer. If it oxidized the plastic it may be a question of resurfacing the plastic and hoping it didn't penetrate too deep. I don't know what trim you are refering to but I would try something abraisve if it is something that is not easily scratched or maybe some sort of rubbing compound if it is painted. You may just have to remove the portion of the surface that is oxidized.

Hope that helps.

Your friendly neighborhood chemist.

[jt99ford]

The way it got on the truck is they have a large vessel that burns all the waste chemicals this vessel is around 80ft tall with a vent stack that is another 20ft not sure what happened but for some reason the vent stack was venting four times harder than it usaully does and the wind carried over the parking lot.

I am not sure what particular catalyst it is either, the trim I am talking about is the top of rear bumper, wheel trim, mirrors and all the trim with it, the trim from bottom of windshield to the hood where your wiper arms are. The plastic is a rough texture so something abrasive could be used. I might try a toothbrush but soap alone wont do it.

What would a toothbrush and baking soda do that shouldnt hurt the plastic???

[norman311]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Here is something I read earlier today about a guy that was having trouble getting a white spot out on his undercover tonneau. The plastic on the undercover and the plastic parts on your truck are similiar materials. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Tim Skelton

FYI: I e-mailed Versacover re the white stains. As usual, they responded almost immediately.

"Hi Tim,

The best way to rejuvenate the white spots is with a little motor oil at a time, dabbed on a rag. With this...just try to rub oil back into the cover.
This is a plastic based material, which is made originally from petroleum based products originally. When it turns "whitish" like this...it means that some "un-friendly material to plastic" has pulled some of the oils out of the cover that were originally in the matrix of the material on the cover. So take your time..(don't put too much oil at a time), but gradually try to return the oils back to the cover gradually by rubbing the tip of a slightly dampened rag with motor oil as you are trying to get oil to penetrate the surface to restore the original luster.

This seems to work in most cases.

Best of luck!

Mark
-------------------------------------------
VersaCover Tonneau Cover
8 www.versacover.com
( Phone: 1-888-377-2268
* E-mail: info@versacover.com"

I tried the oil thing last night and it seems to be helping.

[jt99ford]

Norman Thanks its raining like crazy, we are getting the remains of the tropical storm, when it quits I will go try that.

[jt99ford]

I tried the baking soda in four small areas it seemed to have remove everything but it is still cloudy so after the sun comes out I am going to make sure this is no color change and clean the rest, then I will put some Mothers Back to Black on it. I will also try the motor oil but I figured it would take something abrasive.